My #1 Secret for Nailing Employee Onboarding Timelines
My #1 Secret for Nailing Employee Onboarding Timelines
While I was frantically e-filing my taxes at the very last minute yesterday, I checked in with my newest hire, Delilah*. She sat behind me, diligently clicking through Trello boards and spreadsheets and QuickBooks.
"How are you feeling, one month in?" I asked.
"Other than getting COVID and having to use sick leave right away?" She answered.
Yeah, that happened. Two weeks after her start date, Delilah tested positive for COVID and spent the next week too exhausted to play with the puppies she was sitting with her boyfriend. Her third week at my company, she started working from home. Yesterday was her 1-month anniversary with us.
She glanced at the Trello board with its sunny green, yellow, and blue labels, and said, "Actually I think I've pretty much got it now. I had a moment last week when it all just clicked!"
Shocked, I turned to her supervisor for confirmation. "Yeah, I'd say she's about 95% onboarded," Gulia* said.
It blew my mind.
Here's What Everyone Wants to Know: How Long Should It Take to Get a New Employee Up to Speed?
Obviously there's no one answer to this question, but here's a key I've learned: Double the time you expect. And communicate that timeline, up front.
The time it will take is based on two key factors. They are:
The complexity of the job
Their skillset coming in
Of course cultural onboarding can take a while too. But I'm talking specifically about the skills to successfully thrive in their new job. And I'm also talking about quality hires, who are coming into clear-defined roles and being given proper support during onboarding.
Determining how long to expect onboarding to take is rough. If you're a small business owner or solopreneur who's finally handing something important off, you may have learned how to do the job over a period of time, and I imagine that like me you may struggle to imagine someone else doing it.
So take 3-6 months as a baseline for a qualified employee to get up to speed. And tell them that. Take the pressure off them first thing by making it clear that you're investing in them for the company long term, and you want the person they will grow into, not just the person on the first week of the job.
Normalize within your company that good things take time.
Most people will shock you with how much better/faster they are than expected, when set up well for success!
Here's an example: Delilah's Onboarding Process
When Delilah came on board as my company's newest Administrative Assistant, here were the givens:
Finally, our training process for this role is pretty well finished. Like, 60% complete, and she could help us finish it.
She had never had an administrative job before, so getting used to the computer screen, all the typing, and even sitting down or standing in one place all day would be new for her. I've observed it can take at least a month before people who, for example, worked in retail, are comfortable with a desk job physically.
I didn't want to judge her expected competency by length of onboarding. The person I'd last onboarded in that role did it in 3 weeks, but she was a VERY quick study. Delilah's personality was different.
This was the first time that all the training would be done by my team, and all I did was provide moral support and company orientation.
So the day I hired Delilah, I set her expectations low, and mine too. "Expect 3-6 months for onboarding," I said. And as I'd pinned her as prone to be hard on herself, I added, "And please don't beat yourself up if it takes a while to learn this stuff."
"OK," she said, and we repeated that conversation multiple times over the next weeks.
I also set expectations with her teammates who were responsible for her onboarding. (Including the last person, who'd been so quick.) "Give her time," I kept saying to us all. "Once she learns it, she'll have it down."
How did Delilah's Onboarding Actually Go? (Other than, COVID!)
Honestly the first couple weeks were slow, although she was an immediately strong cultural fit. The transition from working a customer service, retail job seemed to be difficult for her. She also hadn't used a Mac much before, and my company is reluctantly in the Apple-sphere. As well, the endless spreadsheets, Trello boards, and email chains for the Administrative Assistant role seemed to be pretty overwhelming for her.
However, since I'd set that expectation early, and kept reminding everyone (including her lightning-speed training teammate) that it was ok for the transition to take ACTUAL MONTHS, her onboarding progressed.
Then she got COVID. She was bummed about it, but we let her onboarding rest for her first week, and then when she signaled she was ready, we dropped off her laptop and she started back into training.
Interestingly, Delilah shared that she thinks it was her week of working from home in her jammies with a mug of tea that helped the whole job make sense to her.
Suddenly it all clicked.
She's 95% onboarded, in a month. With little pain on all parts.
It's so much fun to get THAT kind of surprise, when the rest of my day is filled with less enjoyable ones.
So, Give Me the TLDR; What's My Takeaway here?
Take away from this email whatever you want, my friend.
But here's the TLDR version: set onboarding timeline expectations low. You'll most likely be pleasantly surprised.