Onboarding for smooth sailing
iFor many of us, the new year also brings new staff to our organizations. Already this month, I've had a number of conversations with land trusts about hiring, selecting and welcoming new staff during the pandemic, when our largely virtual workplaces make such transitions challenging.
As a new manager I, too, am onboarding two new staff to our team of 10 in the Eastern division. So I asked several of my colleagues at the Land Trust Alliance — both new staff and managers who onboarded them successfully — for advice on what has worked well for them. Here's what they told me:
On or before Day 1:
1. Communicate early and often. As soon as your new hire accepts your offer, provide a formal offer letter that outlines pre-hire and near-term onboarding information, such as salary, benefits packages and relevant employment forms. They may not have read everything on the first day, but this will let them know what to expect.
2. Get your new staff fully connected, right away. Check this box ahead of time to ensure your new staffer is fully connected on Day 1. Make sure that they have the equipment, instructions and resources they need to be successful and integrated from the start.
3. Set up a solid Day 1. Hold a one-on-one welcome and orientation meeting on your new employee's first day. Review organizational culture and structure, policies and other relevant information to get them off to a great start.
4. Make a plan. Provide your new staffer with a 90-day workplan outlining expectations, goals, key meetings and key contacts. Review it together on Day 1, revisit it frequently and add to it as needed.
5. Provide the right information at the right time in the right place. In addition to key human resources and organizational information, make sure new staff know where to find important information about their work. Create a virtual file where you can place important programmatic content that is well organized and labeled. This should also be a repository for resources to read during down time.
That's it for Day 1! In the next installment, I'll discuss virtual onboarding strategies through Day 90.
Jennifer Miller Herzog is Eastern division director of field programs for the Land Trust Alliance. Special thanks to Land Trust Alliance staff Jake Faber, Lori Faeth, Marcia Hickson, Geraldine Mohr, Diana Norris, Andrew Szwak, Fran Taylor and Elizabeth Ward for contributing.