New hire onboarding is a key moment in the employee lifecycle: it’s a teammate’s introduction to their role and company culture, and determines performance metrics from time to productivity to retention. During a recent fireside chat, we had the opportunity to learn from Rubi Ali, Associate Director of Employee Experience at Axios, and to get an inside peek at their successful new hire onboarding program.

Rubi shared her framework for building an effective new hire onboarding program, and gave us a sneak peek at some of their most successful program elements.

Key Takeaways

1. Introduction to Culture

Rubi emphasized the importance of aligning new hires with company culture and values from the start. Axios achieves this through:

• A two-day virtual new hire orientation program
• Quarterly in-person new hire retreats dubbed “Axios Homecoming”
• A buddy program with 30, 60, and 90-day check-ins
• A “watercooler” Slack channel where new hires are randomly selected to meet with teammates throughout the organization to help build their networks
• A customized Donut Journey to embed culture throughout onboarding

2. Customizing Onboarding Plans

Rubi emphasized the importance of personalization throughout the onboarding process. Axios ensures that each new hire gets the human touch by:

• Emphasizing manager support and communication, including tools and checklists
• A pilot mentorship program that introduces managers to individual contributors
• Comprehensive resources and regular communication, from preboarding emails to a People Team “Help Desk” in Notion

3. Measuring Success

Soliciting feedback and reviewing data has been essential for Axios when it comes to understanding impact and iterating on the program. They measure success by:

• Collecting employee feedback through surveys at various stages (post-orientation, 30/60/90 days)
• Tracking retention rates
• Continuous improvement and adaptation based on feedback

Hot Topic: Remote and Hybrid Onboarding

We work with tens of thousands of teams at Donut, many of which are working hybrid or remote-first. Onboarding new hires outside of an office environment requires different tactics to keep them engaged, build their networks, and ensure that learning happens at a similarly fast pace. Here are some tactics that Axios has employed successfully for their remote-first onboarding program:

• Enhanced communication strategies (dedicated Slack channels, email communications)
• Implemented an orientation “rewind” newsletter
• Created a People Team help desk
• Developed comprehensive internal wiki pages

Rubi shared a wealth of actionable insights for improving new hire onboarding. By focusing on culture, customization, and continuous improvement, companies can create an onboarding experience that sets new employees up for long-term success, just like Axios. Want to learn more? You can view the full webinar below.

 

Ready to automate a world-class onboarding program for your team? Check out our Prebuilt Journeys for ready-made and fully customizable new hire onboarding content for full-time employees, contractors, and interns.