Meet the New Chief People Officer at ClubsNSW

Over the last 4.5 years at ClubsNSW and throughout my HR career, I’ve been involved in the recruitment of many great employees. In my experience, a great onboarding experience covers the following steps:

End of the Recruitment Phase

You’ve found the perfect candidate; they’ve got the skills and you think they’ll be a great fit with your team and culture. In this tight recruitment market, move quickly and keep up the communication:

• Make a verbal offer — tell the candidate how excited you are for them to be joining the team, advise them of the job title, salary, starting date, benefits and who they’ll be reporting to.
• Follow up with a written letter of offer — get it out swiftly and make it easy for the candidate to sign and return.
• Once you’ve received the signed employment contract, send a confirming email and tell the new employee what will happen next, such as any forms they need to complete or payroll information to supply ahead of time.
• Advise the hiring manager that you’ve received the signed letter of offer. Provide the new employee’s contact details so that they can keep the communication lines open too.

“Pre-boarding” (before the new employee starts)

• Circulate a checklist to relevant internal parties. My checklist includes: technology set up; security passes; updating org charts; handbooks; payroll; and announcements to the rest of the team.
• Call the new employee a few days before they start, advise what time to arrive in the office, what they should wear, etc.
• Prepare the team — remind them when the new employee is joining the team.

Commencement Day

• Orientation — introduce your new person to the team, show them around, point out the bathrooms, where they can eat and drink, emergency exits, first aid and any other important locations.
• Onboarding — I usually conduct a one-to-one onboarding session which runs for about an hour, on the first morning. We cover responsibilities of the job, how the role fits within the organisational structure; who the leaders are (with photos); floor plan; key policies and procedures; probation periods; payroll; office hours; security; discussion on values and culture; social events; and anything else that clarifies and builds confidence in the new employee.
• Connection — take the new employee to their team, manager, or buddy — ensure there’s someone to have lunch with on their first day.

Check-ins

• Set dedicated check-ins — at the end of their first day; at 30, 60 and 90 days in to review progress and gather the new employee’s feedback on the experience so far. These check-ins will likely coincide with mid and end of probation review meetings.
• Check in with the manager of the new person and assess “how are they settling in”. Ensure there is a regular cadence of one-to-one meetings to align for priorities, talk through challenges and to provide feedback.

Surveys

• I survey employees as they progress through their first six months. This allows us to further understand the individual experience, whether we’re meeting employee expectations and how we might improve as an organisation.

A good onboarding process is a roadmap which starts with a warm welcome and continues through various checkpoints that sees your new employee developing skills, feeling motivated, building relationships and working independently.