How do companies like Netflix, Salesforce and PepsiCo onboard their new employees? Learn from their awesome employee onboarding traditions!
Let’s take a quick look at the statistics. According to the Glassdoor, organizations with a robust onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.
Companies with weak onboarding programs lose the confidence of their candidates and are more likely to lose these individuals in the first year.
Employee onboarding is a significant primary indicator of your corporate culture. Delightful and unique onboarding experience keeps new hires hooked on your company from the outset.
New employees can be concerned, excited and aspiring to change your company for the better, but without an effective onboarding program that provides all necessary resources and tools for their professional growth, they can end up stagnating - failing to reach their own goals and subsequently, the main goals of your company.
Every HR team, obviously, would love to have such a company culture that supports early employee experience success.
Mission, vision and values are the essential building blocks of the company’s company culture. If you want your employees to embody these elements, you have to show them what that looks like.
The best time to do this - during the employee onboarding process.
And, another question arises:
What kind of employee onboarding done right and works well?
Let’s look at some of the best examples.
Happy reading!
David Ogilvy founded Ogilvy & Mather company in 1948. It is one of the most distinguished marketing and advertising agencies in the world. For the time being, there are 10,000 employees in 83 countries and 132 offices.
Get a load of their modern and stylish welcome kit. It really impresses. It has lots of paper stuff in it - brochures, cards, an office plan and a welcome letter.
The most secret thing in this box is a red book written by David Ogilvy. This book isn't available in any store. You can only get it if you are an employee of this company.
From the first day of work, this book becomes the handbook of each employee. They will find all the necessary information about the agency, its history, mission, vision and values.
Ogilvy does a great job, using a perfect method to increase loyalty, starting from an employee's first steps in the company.
Image source: Adweek
Netflix is an American entertainment company that provides movies and TV shows based on streaming media. There are 154 million memberships in over 190 countries.
They prepare everything for new employees in advance, so when new hires come, they are ready for new challenges and hard work. On day one Netflix engages new hires by letting them make an impact.
This company has its own special understanding of the dream team. Their version of the great workplace is not pizza and sushi lunches, regular parties, luxury offices or fancy gyms.
Their version of the great workplace is a dream team that sets ambitious goals for achieving the main mission of the company.
Image source: Netflix
Netpeak is an internet marketing agency that is located in Eastern Europe. There are more than 500 employees in the company.
The process of employee onboarding in this company is going through academies. It consists of two parts. They are called courses.
These courses are filled with lots of interactive elements and the essential information for new hires: the mission, vision and values of the company, the structure and rules of the company, stories and videos.
Why did Netpeak choose academies for its employee onboarding? Academies make the onboarding process fully automated. Moreover, they are time-saving.
Netpeak managers said that academies saved them 200 hours a month. As a result, all employees are happy and ready for hard but exciting work. At the end of each course, new hires have a test to check their knowledge.
Netpeak built an influential company culture with its traditions. I will name some of them:
Netpeak Pulse
It is a new format (in the style of TED talks) of general meetings of Netpeak Group companies where employees speak not about soulless numbers and graphs confirming the achievements of their companies and departments over the past period, but about people. They talk not only about how to be a productive employee, but also how to be a happy person.
Sports events
Parties.
Image source: Netpeak
PepsiCo is one of the oldest companies that was founded in the 19th century (in 1898). They employ more than 260,000 people.
PepsiCo has a very “tasty” tradition. When new hires begin to work at PepsiCo, they are invited to try the company's major products.
Some people might find that the company does not care about the health of its employees. That is not the case at all.
The company is concerned about the employees’ health - in addition to chips and soda, they give new hires a fitness tracker.
Image source: SwagWorks
Wrike is a company that develops an online service for collaboration and project management. It was founded in 2003 and now has more than 850 employees.
Wrike wants new employees to feel comfortable, so they make the first day of work special. The workplace of the new employee is always decorated to make it stand out.
In this way, they focus attention on the fact that there’s someone new on a team. Usually, Wrike puts balloons on their chairs and a welcome kit on their desks before they come in for their first day of work.
Wrike wants new employees to feel at home, so the welcome bag consists of some necessary things, like a coffee cup and a pair of socks.
Wrike keeps track of their employee count, and they celebrate every 50th Wriker. When they reach one of these milestones, they throw a party with food, champagne, and balloons.
They invite everyone into the kitchen on the new hire's first day. Also, Wrike has a welcome breakfast tradition. Welcome Breakfast is an informal way to meet colleagues, learn about new events and have a good time.
Image source: Wrike
Salesforce is the most significant SaaS company in the world. Since 2012, the company has been a global market leader in CRM systems.
This company employs about 35,000 people. Their welcome kit contains books, stickers, a name tag, a gift certificate, and, very importantly, a toy gun.
Why is a toy gun so important? Salesforce has a very extraordinary tradition. They organize “nerf gun wars”. Different departments of the company have a chance to compete among themselves and just have fun in their spare time.
Salesforce welcome kits regularly change and are often personalized depending on the different teams. The company creates for a new employee all the conditions for his personal development and for demonstrating his strongest professional qualities.
Image source: Salesforce
Natalia Chabanova is an editor of AcademyOcean, a corporate training platform.
Natalia is passionate about writing, and photography and fond of creating engaging content.
What unique approach does Ogilvy & Mather take for employee onboarding?
Ogilvy & Mather provides a stylish welcome kit with exclusive materials, including a handbook with essential company information, fostering loyalty from day one.
How does Netflix engage new employees on their first day?
Netflix prepares everything in advance for new hires, allowing them to make an impact and contribute to ambitious company goals immediately.
What innovative method does Netpeak use for onboarding?
Netpeak uses academies for onboarding, offering interactive courses filled with essential company information, saving significant time for both the company and the new hires.
How does PepsiCo introduce its products to new employees?
PepsiCo has a tradition of letting new hires taste the company's major products, coupled with a fitness tracker, showing concern for their health and well-being.
What makes Wrike's employee onboarding special?
Wrike focuses on making new employees feel comfortable by decorating their workspace and providing welcome kits with essential items, making their first day memorable.
