Joining a new company to start a new role can be a daunting prospect. Even after the interviews, and all your research, you can never really know what to expect of your first few weeks. This is why it is so important for businesses to have the right processes and support in place when welcoming new people into the company.
At ZeroLight, we have an extensive onboarding process, aiming to ensure that every new starter gets the best possible start in their new role with support from their line manager and the Talent Team.
Our onboarding is handled by the Talent Team, with Melissa overseeing the full process from recruitment, until our new employees have settled into their new role.
To ensure consistency, and to assist with our process, we are lucky enough to use Hibob as our integrated HR tool. Hibob allows us to set up a schedule of tasks, automated emails and reminders, so that once we add a new starter into the system, the onboarding process starts automatically. This kicks off a flurry of activity, with IT ensuring that the correct equipment is purchased, Finance making sure that we have all the necessary information for payroll, and our line managers begin to put together short term objectives to guide our new employees through their first few weeks in their new role.
This automated process is simple to update and amend, allowing us to continuously review and ensure that information is always up to date, and all aspects of onboarding are covered.
Whilst having an automated process is a huge benefit, we also know the importance of new employees having that one point of contact to reach out to with any questions. Once an offer has been accepted, Melissa will schedule a call to run through the full onboarding process, and allow new employees to ask any questions about the process, and their first few weeks on-site.
We also feel that it is important to give new employees some structure during their first few days, especially as so much information is shared during those initial sessions. We therefore put together a bespoke onboarding schedule, which is shared with new employees prior to their first day. The schedule is tailored to each individual's roles and responsibilities to ensure that they are getting the correct information they require for their new role.
Our onboarding process has been very well received by all of our new starters, but we are always looking at ways to improve. To do this, we send every new employee an onboarding feedback form after they have been in their roles for 4 weeks. This feedback has been very valuable in adapting our process…
‘I've really enjoyed my first month at Zerolight and have felt very welcomed by everyone. I also felt like I've been able to learn things at my own pace which has been really helpful’
‘It’s a smooth process and the talent management team and everyone else I am working with is very helpful and always happy to answer questions’
‘Everything has been great! Thank you for a very smooth process overall. I have felt fully supported throughout’
‘Communication was great and Melissa was brilliant. Any questions I had, Melissa happily jumped on a call to answer and was incredibly accommodating. I felt totally at ease joining and it spoke volumes for the company culture early on’
‘Overall, my start at ZL has been brilliant - the company culture is fantastic and everyone is beyond helpful. If I've ever needed support it's been immediately given which has made me feel really settled, particularly as a remote worker. I've also learnt a great deal already, not only about ZL but also PM skills’