Onboarding buddies give your new hires off to a strong start from day one on the job. An onboarding buddy is an employee who is matched with a new hire to educate them about day-to-day processes, introduce them to the rest of the team, and answer questions as they arise. Here's how you can build your onboarding buddy program.
Setup
Roles
Define who will be a part of the onboarding buddy process to create the best new hire experience:
- Hiring Manager
- People Ops Manager
- Onboarding Buddy
Before launching onboarding buddy program
- Decide who can take on the role of onboarding buddy in your company (this can be anyone who is familiar with your culture and processes)
- Divide onboarding responsibilities between the manager and the onboarding buddy
- Define the role of onboarding buddy in an easy-to-access place (internal hub, G-Drive, Notion, Confluence)
- Create customizable message templates for People Ops or onboarding buddy to use, such as:
– Onboarding buddy's introduction message to new hire
– Daily check-in messages
– 30, 60, 90 days feedback questions
Checklist
Before new hire start date
Manager tasks
People Ops Manager tasks
- Share internal buddy program materials with the buddy
- Share news hires schedule with the buddy
On start date
People Operations tasks
- Introduce onboarding buddy and new hire
- Remind onboarding buddy to check-in with new hire during their first day and continuously during their first weeks
Onboarding Buddy tasks
- Send welcome message to new hire
- Have a quick get-to-know-you session
- Regular check-ins during the day
- Help with answering questions or pointing new hire in the right direction
- Help with cross-team introductions
After onboarding
People Ops Manager tasks
- Collect new-hire feedback after one week, 30 days, and 90 days
What's next
Read more on onboarding process enhancements in our People Operations Playbook.
And try running our Onboarding buddy workflow directly in Gather.
In case you are wondering why you should build and onboarding Buddy program in the first place, check out a piece on our blog on How (and Why) to Build an Onboarding Buddy Program.
