At Microsoft, we found the more the onboarding buddy met with the new hire, the greater the new hire’s perception of their own speed to productivity: 56% of new hires who met with their onboarding buddy at least once in their first 90 days indicated that their buddy helped them to quickly become productive in their role. Meanwhile, the new hire is likely experiencing the tension between wanting to ramp up quickly but also needing to take time to learn the job. By filling the position, the company satisfied the need for a certain skillset and now wants to see a quick return on its investment. Speed to productivity is often a concern for both the company and the new hire. They can also shed light on cultural norms and any unspoken rules that exist, which could lead to a much smoother transition into the organization. For instance, knowledgeable onboarding buddies can help new hires determine who relevant stakeholders are, how to navigate the matrix of different organizations, and think strategically when problem solving. Onboarding buddies can give the type of context you won’t find in the employee handbook. Without it, a new hire will likely struggle to fully understand their role or how to contribute to their team’s success. For new hires, context is a precious commodity. For tenured employees, the context surrounding most of their work has been so well established, it’s in the folds of every email written, every meeting attended, and every PowerPoint presented. After piloting a buddy program involving 600 employees across the organization, we found that onboarding buddies help our hires in three key ways: While this may seem obvious, much like our findings on one-on-ones, it’s often missing in a new employee’s introduction to a brand new company. Through our continued research, we’ve also come to another conclusion: Onboarding buddies play an important role in ensuring a successful onboarding experience. At the outset, we learned that a seemingly simple action - managers having one-on-one meetings with their new hires during their first week on the job - has outsized benefits. Over the last few years, Microsoft has been working to improve its onboarding process. And while managers play a critical role in shaping a new employees’ first weeks and months, a broader team effort can ensure the experience is both positive and productive. It just takes planful management and the right amount of support.īringing a new employee onboard is both an exciting and stressful time. This usually involves prioritizing their workloads, communicating timing, and clarify reporting structures. Ultimately, successful onboarding doesn’t require an overcomplicated playbook. Companies that want to start a similar pilot should keep in mind what current employees need to be successful buddies, too. The company learned that these buddies help ensure a successful onboarding in three key ways: they provide organizational context, boost productivity, and improve new employee satisfaction. Over the past few years, Microsoft has been working to improve its onboarding process through a pilot program involving “onboarding buddies”: a dedicated current employee assigned to help a new hire’s transition. Bringing a new employee onboard is both an exciting and stressful time.
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