The brief:
A flagship module that aims to give consistency to the onboarding process to ensure that all new starters, regardless of where they work.
Outcomes as defined by stakeholder:
The module should:
- engage managers to understand the Co-op expectations of the onboarding experience for both the new starter and the line manager
- communicate to managers the impact of investing time into onboarding new colleagues, versus the impact on colleagues, our Co-op and our reputation if the time is not invested
- how important this is and the impact on colleague experience (e.g., performance, engagement, inclusion, wellbeing)
- how important this is and the impact on commercial metrics (e.g., retention, absence, customer service levels)
- help managers to translate a great onboarding experience into their business area, and support them to know what it is they need to do
- help to provide the tools managers need to create Moments that matter for their new starters that are positive, pivotal, memorable moments in a colleagues’ career
- support our Co-op in moving our onboarding experience to being industry-leading
Approach:
Knowing that what the business espouses and how candidates can feel during the onboarding process is not one and the same, a story from two sides of the coin was designed.
Learners were asked to plot their perception of how the candidate was feeling from both the line manager’s story and the candidate’s.
Example script for learning:
Line Manager:
On her first day, she arrived a bit late and I was caught on a phone call because another member of my team had called in sick. But she was rescued by Amir, who’s very friendly and I’m sure he will have looked after her and made her feel really welcome.
Candidate (Ingrid):
I arrived a bit early on my first day, to calm my nerves. But everyone was really busy, and I didn’t want to be a nuisance, so I waited to one side. I must have been there about ten minutes before someone noticed me and asked if they could help. They seemed a bit surprised that I hadn’t said anything sooner, but they were really kind and took me to see our manager.
He pointed out loads of things on the way, like the loos and where I could eat my lunch but it all went by so quickly.
When we got there, the manager was busy with a phone call but told me to sit down. It was clear they were talking to someone who wasn’t very well and I felt a bit like I was intruding.
I didn’t know where to put my coat or bag, and I felt a bit passed around. I felt a bit of a nuisance to be honest.
Excerpts from final product: