Initially, we discussed how your company can become better at attracting skilled IT developers and provided valuable tips and advice on how your organization can improve in this area. We then delved into the recruitment process, and now we'll discuss how we welcome new employees, using another term → onboarding.

Before the commencement day

Before your new employee starts their position with you, there are several things you can do to contribute to making a positive first impression. In addition to the obvious tasks like creating an employment contract and including related pension agreements and other types of agreements, there are preparations that are good to undertake.

A slightly fun and unexpected step is to prepare a small welcome package with a small accompanying gift. The welcome package can include the following items:

In addition to these more formal, fundamental elements in the welcome package, it's always nice to complement it with a small welcome gift. It doesn't need to be anything extravagant; a good bottle of wine, a gift basket with assorted foods, a bouquet of flowers, concert tickets, or something similar is sufficient. It's a good idea to gather some information beforehand about what the new employee might like, so as not to spoil the surprise, you could even check with their partner if they have one.

First day

Start by arranging with the new employee the day, time, and place you will meet and who from the company will greet them. Outline a plan for how the first day will unfold. Don't worry about creating overly detailed plans. It's better to be thorough than to forget something. Key parts involve the new employee meeting their colleagues and managers. Introduce the company's history, values, goals, and culture. Organize a tour of the workplace and introduce different departments and teams.

One thing that's always appreciated is assigning a mentor who takes extra care of the newcomer. Of course, everyone should welcome and assist the new employee, but the mentor has an additional responsibility to ensure both the business/professional and social aspects function from day one. The mentor can guide through the initial period, answer questions, and help them adjust to the workplace. These questions might range from how everyone does lunch – do they bring packed lunches to warm up or do they usually eat out at lunch restaurants? Does the team eat together or in shifts? It can also concern practical matters such as – where are the restrooms, break room, relaxation room, changing rooms? How does one book meeting rooms? And so forth...

Goals and expectations

One thing that often gets overlooked is clearly defining the goals and expectations for the new employee. Many companies have a probationary period of six months, so it's good to document goals to be achieved in the first half-year. Hold an initial meeting to discuss all these goals. It's important that both parties agree on the definitions and expectations. As always, the goals should be measurable and realistic so that you can track everything.

Schedule regular meetings for follow-ups on progress and which goals are met and checked off. Make sure to create very specific goals that are easily verifiable. One dilemma that might arise is that you might set a knowledge-based goal, like "should learn to independently create a Spring Boot Java application and deploy it in the testing environment." When you do your follow-up, the person might feel that they've mastered it. Then you could suggest they give a short presentation on how to do it for the team. This automatically accomplishes two things. One is that together you can verify that the goal has truly been achieved, and the other is that the team gains some insight into creating Java applications with Spring Boot.

Also, offer training and professional development opportunities for the new employee. This can include technical training, internal processes, or other relevant educational opportunities that help them succeed in their role and fulfill the goals you outlined earlier.

Getting to know each other

Plan social activities and team-building events to strengthen relationships within the team. This helps the new IT developer feel comfortable and included in the group. It's always good to get to know each other a bit outside of work since this also contributes to creating a psychologically safe environment, as we talked about earlier. This way, it becomes easier for all employees, especially the new ones, to ask questions even if they might feel a bit silly or naive at times.

Follow-up

Have regular follow-up meetings with the new employee to gauge how they're settling in and integrating into the team. Provide feedback and support to help them achieve their goals. Don't forget to have follow-up sessions with other team members as well to gain insights into how they perceive the new employee and what could potentially be improved or changed.

By creating a structured and welcoming onboarding process, you give new IT developers a positive start to their employment and help them feel engaged and motivated from the beginning. A good onboarding process promotes swift integration, reduces uncertainty, and lays a foundation for building long-lasting and successful relationships with your new employees. Be flexible and tailor the onboarding process to the new employee's needs and preferences. Everyone has different learning styles and expectations, so it's important to be responsive to their individual requirements.

Now that we've discussed the important introduction of new hires, let's move on to how you can develop and retain your skilled IT developers. More about this in the next article.