Interview: Cory Rose

Dado: What do you think the next big 'moments that matter' that HR people will focus on are and why?

Cory: I think onboarding will continue to be one of those critical moments that matter, but it will need to evolve over time.  As the “flexible work” environment becomes more popular in a (hopefully soon to be) post-COVID world, companies will need to figure out how they solve the question of “how to provide a unifying experience” for employees regardless of whether you onboard in person or remotely, one that takes into account the need to meet employees where they are and how they learn/work across a variety of different diversity dimensions.  And from there, you’ll see the domino effect of creating internal processes that scale for an organization who might not even have an office anymore. You’ll want something that can provide a similar look and feel for all employees all over the city, state, country or world.  Additionally, with more and more people suffering from Zoom fatigue, you’ll want a tool that helps to create this unifying experience, that provides the most seamless end-to-end experience for both admins and users without needing to “jump on a call to ask questions”. 

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How do you think COVID-19 has impacted employee experience?

I think COVID has had a big impact on the employee experience in the following ways:

POSITIVE: More and more companies are seeing flexible working options as another lever in the “total package” from a recruitment and retention perspective. Candidates are finding themselves with more and more options to evaluate not just competitive pay and benefits, but also where and how they do their work as a perk. 

NEGATIVE: You miss out on crucial “face time”, meaning not every employee is going to be the loudest or most expressive. It can mean that important contributions can be missed from those that like to listen first and then weigh in. When most conversations happen via zoom or slack, only those that jump in and share can be seen as contributors and space for others can be narrower.  

What are key principles of a good onboarding program?

I think a great onboarding program is one that understands that not all people “learn” or take in information in the same way.  Therefore, your onboarding program should be a healthy mix of silo’d learning (reading, answering, administrative things), being “talked at” or “presented to”, and 1:1s, where new hires have the opportunity to ask questions or go through things at a slower or faster pace than in the larger session.  Overall, employees want to feel like they belong from day one, so making what’s important to the company front and center during onboarding will help knit people together (while also being inclusive and flexible based on their style)! 

How does a general onboarding to a company work with a role-based onboarding? 

Great onboarding programs will include both an introduction to the company and the new hire's role within the company.  A general onboarding is a good introduction to the company, their values, and their mission, as well as getting through all of those baseline administrative things that need to be handled. Once this is done, you should then step your employees into their personal onboarding (which should be tailored specifically to them!). I think it is best when this is presented during the first week by the manager who, using the job description, then highlights what the next 30, 60, and 90 days will look like for those employees.  

What tips do you have for a company that wants to refresh their onboarding?

Are you still using a one-size-fits-all approach? If so, stop! Take a step back and think about the last 16 or so months. What has worked, what hasn’t worked, and what feedback did you get from your new hires? Is your onboarding inclusive of all styles of work? Before you can figure out how to refresh your program, you need to figure out what needs to be fixed.