Kristen Buchanan

In any tech onboarding program, the general consensus is that new technical employees should be fully operational and independent within the first 90 days of their employment. But for most developers, this crucial 90 day checkpoint simply isn't reached. We break down how companies can set 30, 60, and 90 day goals to get technical new hires up to speed in less time.

One thing that metrics and onboarding systems don’t always address is trust. Specifically, at what point can a manager trust their new hire to own their new role?

Our team defined four essential pillars of any successful onboarding program. Does your onboarding program incorporate all four?

We've seen through experience that cookie cutter corporate onboarding programs aren't enough to support new software engineers and help technical teams thrive. Our three layer cake model easily outlines the essential parts of any technical onboarding program.

If you’re a startup tech company, or are looking to overhaul your onboarding system, it’s important to start with the foundations of good onboarding. Specifically, understand the difference between technical onboarding and orientation.

Rather than spending so much energy wanting HR to get onboard or get out of the way, we think it’s time to take a different approach.

While some companies are resuming in-person work, many tech teams are still operating from their independent home work spaces. The adjustment to remote work has left many managers disconnected from their teams.

You might know turnover in terms of attrition or nonfunctional turnover — whatever name you call it by, all of these terms but they all mean the same thing: employees aren't staying at your company for the long term. We've learned through experience that onboarding plays a critical role in whether or not employees stay past the one year mark.

When it comes to onboarding, "blind spots" are inefficiencies within the program that slip through the cracks.

To retain top-notch people and enable their best work, you need more than traditional company onboarding. A smooth transition from hire date to the one year mark requires a framework and process that communicates exactly what the employee needs to know, when they need to know it, in a way that will create a lasting impression.

Whether it's friction between team members, high turnover, or questionable behavior from a team member – even one who is a high performer – team obstacles are inevitable. A defined engineering philosophy can help teams navigate these obstacles and find the best path forward.

Onboarding mistakes happen. I’ve seen them with many of my clients, and I’ve made some myself!So, as I look back on the year, I’d like to share some examples of what the Edify team and I call “onboarding bloopers.”

I’ve seen through experience how thoughtful, strategic onboarding helps companies retain employees and reach new levels of success.

It’s no secret that my company Edify is all about onboarding, and our team was recently reminded of how much proper onboarding can lead to employee success.

New hire onboarding offers a unique window to address questions of equity head-on. Each time a company hires an employee, they have the opportunity to ensure the onboarding process is inclusive and equitable.

The cost of an employee doesn’t just include that worker’s salary. It’s a combination of the salary paid, the money and time invested to train that employee, and the cost of replacing them when they eventually leave the position.

When it comes to bringing high-quality talent to the team, there’s one question that should be at the top of any director’s list: How exactly do organizations encourage their technical talent employees to stay for the long term?

There’s really no way of getting around it; bringing on a new employee reduces the productivity of the team overall for a period of time.

When you can’t rely on your company to set you up for success, how can you ensure you have what you need to thrive in your role?

There’s no better opportunity to kick off onboarding than an employee’s first day on the job. The first day sets the new hire up with essential information they’ll need to be productive, and introduces them to the company culture and their team.

So often we see managers struggling with the holding pattern that comes with hiring. Even the best of managers can be left scrambling to collect onboarding materials at the last second, potentially missing important details along the way.

Email struggles apply to just about every realm in the working world, but they have an important impact on the workflow for the onboarding process.

Most companies assign a buddy to every new hire on the team. But how that buddy is trained, supported, and empowered is essential to their effectiveness in helping the new hire. Learn all about what buddies should focus on here.

Long before the Coronavirus outbreak, our team already noticed a trend: more and more companies were becoming more comfortable with remote team members.

When we focus on Learning and Development in employees, it can be easy to view the process as "training" rather than "teaching". But in reality we don't really train employees, because we need them to develop their skills over time.