Onboarding Experience Pitch

[demi-johnson]

Problem

The recent reorganization of the design team has led to a need for more clarity around roles, responsibilities, and how the design team will operate as it continues to expand. Recent hires on the design team expressed a longing for a more standardized onboarding process equipped with a proper introduction to folks on the team, an organization chart, a consolidated list of resources, and a warm welcome.

In the coming months, the design team will be hiring seven new designers. The hiring process in the current job market has become increasingly difficult. We know that most designers have multiple offers, making it even more important that we stay competitive and when we eventually bring on a new teammate, they should feel that they’ve made the right decision and are happy with their choice. Creating a joyful and thorough onboarding process can be an exciting start for new hires. It can help them easily access all the necessary resources and manage their expectations of what’s to come.

We can take inspiration from companies like InVision who have adopted an interactive, exciting onboarding experience. New hires at InVision receive an interactive file that functions as a home for all the onboarding material they need, a warm welcome and intro videos from the team, a roadmap for both the new hire and their manager, and a place for them to introduce themselves to the team by creating a personal mood board.

Appetite

About three weeks.

Week 1: Initial research and gathering information from current design team members. Begin compiling interactive file.

Week 2: Complete the initial design of the onboarding file. Add in intro videos from the design team.

Week 3: Usability testing – start to show a few of the newest members of the design team to get their feedback on the overall experience.

Solution

Use an interactive tool, such as Miro or Figma Jam, to create an onboarding experience for new hires.

Scope: The scope is subject to change based on information gathered in the research phase, but it could include

• A calendar or roadmap
• A checklist of onboarding tasks for both the new hire and manager
• Intro video (or a photo and a written intro) by designers on the team
• A board for the new hire to intro themselves; something like a moodboard
• Teams channels
• Team-specific materials, like their working agreement

Rabbit Holes

We could go the route of collaborating with People & Culture to include things like the employee handbook, details about all the Unanet and Paylocity stuff, etc. For this first phase of the project we will stick to onboarding onto the design team vs. onboarding onto Bixal as a whole to keep the HR tasks separate.

We might run into delays when gathering information from designers, like their introduction videos. If there is a significant delay, we can use their bio and photo from the Bixal website as a placeholder.

The Bixal Library is a new resource the consolidates a lot of helpful information for new hires. Instead of recreating this, our onboarding tool can include helpful links to the library with descriptions.

No-Gos

People & Culture specific tasks.