Articles and tips on the topic of working remotely are growing at a rapid rate, but there are few posts from companies like Splice Machine who moved to a 100% remote work environment before the pandemic. In this post, we discuss the steps Splice Machine takes to welcome and onboard new team members.
The Importance of Onboarding
Research by Glassdoor found that organizations with a comprehensive onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent. Onboarding is a critical time for any new hire and is especially important when onboarding a remote worker. Remote-first onboarding should include training that compensates for on-the-job learning that traditionally happens through observation. Use onboarding as an opportunity to connect the new hire with each member on their team.
Splice Machine’s Onboarding Priorities
Splice Machine’s top priorities when onboarding new team members are to make them feel like an important contributing member of the team; introducing them to all of their teammates, giving them access with directions to all the content and tools they need to get up to speed quickly, and presenting a clear set of measurable goals to complete during their first 90 days. Onboarding begins days before a new hire’s start date to help them prepare and stay excited about joining Splice Machine.
What a New Hire Receives Before Their Start Date
A personalized New Hire Cheat Sheet containing a list of important contacts and links, and the name of their Splice Machine buddy.
A personalized Onboarding Workbook containing three tabs used to list their training materials, their training schedule, and 90-day goals.
A copy of the Splice Machine Company Playbook that gives a detailed play-by-play on how to work in our remote-first environment.
New team members are mailed a welcome box before they start that contains a Patagonia sweater jacket and a Timbuk2 backpack embroidered with Splice Machine’s logo. The box also contains a welcome card, stickers, pens, and other swag to build their anticipation to start.
First Day at Splice Machine
On their first day, the new team member’s manager sends a welcome email to the entire company that shares a few fun personal details about the new hire and the role they will be performing. At the same time, the new hire is encouraged to jump on a designated Slack channel to say “hi” to the company and introduce themself.
New hires start meeting their teammates on their first day. The new hire’s manager and People Ops create a knowledge-share training schedule assigning each team member a topic to cover during their half-hour session with their new teammate. The knowledge-share sessions serve two specific purposes; to begin building rapport with each team member in days that might otherwise take weeks, and to teach the new hire about something the presenter is either working on or has deep subject matter knowledge in.
The Buddy Program
Each new hire is assigned a buddy who welcomes the new teammate before their first day and continues to check in with them throughout their first few months. A buddy’s role is to answer questions and help their new teammate settle in by “showing them the ropes”; pointing them to team Slack channels, confirming that all their logins and tools work, and making sure they are invited to important recurring meetings. The buddy system is great because it provides another designated person to regularly check in with the new teammate as they get acquainted with Splice Machine’s remote culture.
People Ops Check-Ins
People Ops informally checks in with new team members during their first few weeks and schedules 30-60-90 day check-ins designed to collect feedback on the new hires’ experiences with training, learning, productivity, and overall happiness in their new role. If People Ops observes any signs for concern, they notify the manager and take action quickly. The average US employer spends $4000 and 24 days to hire a new employee whereas Splice Machine spends 3X - 4X the average time and expense on our new hires, not to mention the unforeseen cost of vacancy and lost productivity. While there is no guarantee that every new hire will be successful at Splice Machine despite how successful they were at their last company, we are committed to helping them achieve a successful and rewarding career at Splice Machine.
Watch for our next post that gives an overview of the importance and challenges of managing distributed teams. You may also view all of our posts on Splice Machine’s career page or download the Splice Machine Journey From Office to 100% Remote ebook that our posts are based on.
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