Diligent exceeded hiring targets for Ireland during the pandemic, thanks to its interactive, tech-led onboarding experience for new recruits.
One month ago, US-headquartered SaaS company Diligent officially opened its new flagship office in Galway’s Bonham Quay development.
Around six weeks prior to its opening, Diligent employees began coming in to get acquainted with their new office. For many, it was their first prolonged in-person office experience with the company.
Diligent first began hiring in Galway and the surrounding region in 2020, in the middle of severe public health restrictions and nationwide business closures. The company found itself in the unusual position of having to recruit and onboard its Galway staff entirely remotely during a pandemic.
It’s been an interesting journey. Recruiting and onboarding that level of staff fully remotely has certainly come with its challenges
– RUAIRI CONROY
And yet, Diligent exceeded its initial target of 200 hires in Galway. It has hired 275 people since 2020 and its office opening comes with 50 additional vacant roles. The Galway team is key to the company’s European business, with around half of its EMEA business conducted through it.
As a software company, Diligent is part of one of the sectors that was best suited to remote working. Its distributed West of Ireland team provides clients with software for their ESG, governance, risk and compliance needs.
The relative ease with which it built up its operation here in Galway over the past two challenging years is testament – in part, at least – to its very successful onboarding programme.
Ruairí Conroy, site lead for Diligent’s Galway operation, has a lot of experience in leading onboarding programmes.
He told SiliconRepublic.com that Diligent’s onboarding programme over the last two years was the “by far the most successful” he has seen to date.
“It’s been an interesting journey. Recruiting and onboarding that level of staff fully remotely has certainly come with its challenges,” said Conroy, adding that he and his team had to carefully consider the best way to bring new staff into the company.
“We had to totally reimagine what previously was a three day induction in person where you got the lowdown and everything, and then you’re out working with your teams and straight into it, we had to really take a step back and think about the mindset and the experience people have.”
To make matters more complicated, Diligent was also opening a Product Innovation Centre in Budapest around the same time. That centre required more than 200 staff, all of whom were also hired and onboarded fully remotely. As Conroy pointed out, Diligent hired almost 500 people and onboarded them remotely in those two European locations alone.
So, how did they do it? Careful planning, outside help and a lot of thoughtfulness. For the outside help part, Diligent partnered with a consultancy based in New York to create an interactive, multimedia experience for new recruits. The process took a number of months.
There’s so much happening when you start a new job, it’s really important to keep it diverse, keep it interactive, ensure that there’s high energy and a high degree of differential experiences happening. That’s certainly what we designed
– RUAIRI CONROY
The main thing to achieve, said Conroy, was to create a process that eased the nerves of new recruits who were embarking on a process that is intimidating at the best of times.
“When you start any new job, there’s a great deal of anxiety. But when you do it without those physical touch points of being around your manager and building relationships more naturally, in a face to face setting…. We really wanted to be a lot more thoughtful about how people experience that onboarding, even before they even start.”
“There’s so much happening when you start a new job, it’s really important to keep it diverse, keep it interactive, ensure that there’s high energy and a high degree of differential experiences happening. That’s certainly what we designed.”
The week before someone started at Diligent in Galway, they received a welcome pack from the HR team. Conroy referred to it as “week minus one.” The welcome package included the agenda for the worker’s first week, so they knew ahead of time what to expect. It also had the company’s policy book, written by CEO Brian Stafford, as well as things like t-shirts and water bottles.
The first week – week one – was broken down into a series of different sessions. Each day revolved around a different theme. New staff were either led by a facilitator or they were split into smaller groups.
In their smaller groups, new staff were given different tasks that they had to work through. They worked on a customer simulation on their third day, which involved them getting a product overview before being plunged into a simulated situation where a significant PR issue is starting to evolve for a company. The challenge was designed to encourage staff to use Diligent products and work together with their team members.
As well as the instructor led and group activities, there was also several self-led sessions. According to Conroy, employees had the opportunity to listen to podcasts that were designed specifically for new recruits by the company’s executive leadership team. These podcasts offered short briefings about the history, culture and future of Diligent.
Soon after, new recruits were brought into sessions to meet their managers. They were also assigned a buddy and a “starter network,” or a group of three of four people that they’re going to be working closely with.
Managers took the opportunity to reach out and welcome new hires to their respective teams. The workers had to complete a few tasks for their managers, which included filling out a welcome slide and putting in a picture of themselves.
As part of this exercise, they had to answer questions about how they like to work, such as what motivates them and how they learn. Managers also helped each employee to figure out a three month plan for their first few weeks at Diligent.
Conroy said he likes to personally welcome all new starters over Slack. “I do a welcome every Monday morning for all the new staff and you get your high fives and all of those emojis from strangers that you’ve never met.”
“But it’s a nice touch,” Conroy added, “to start to fuel integration into the business.” Once workers hit their first working day, they had to attend an an IT session for 90 minutes. Conroy said that this is the time new staff get everything they need to do in terms of setup and the different apps that are pertinent to their role.
New staffers also got welcome sessions at 9am each day for their first week. These sessions offered workers a broad introduction as well as a chance to look back on the previous day’s learning.
There’s “some fun icebreakers as well, so you can start to build those connections and relationships with different breakout room activities,” said Conroy. The overall aim is to keep things engaging and stimulating for people.
After about one month at the company, new staff were put back into their week one groups to discuss their experiences and how they found their first month.
As Conroy pointed out, the onboarding experience Diligent has created is all about “embracing technology” and providing “different interactive opportunities to mix folks from the Galway office, different teams from Budapest, from the UK, from other parts of Europe that might be joining at one time.”
As for the future of onboarding, Diligent plans to retain some of its hybrid and remote aspects. Conroy acknowledged that when everyone was remote working, it was more of “an even playing field.”
Now that offices, including Diligent’s own in Galway, are opening, the company’s top priority is “ensuring that everyone’s facilitated in where they work and how they like to work.”
“There isn’t a degradation of the onboarding experience because you’re not in the office,” said Conroy. “It will be really important that the standard of the onboarding experience is kept super high.”
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Source by www.siliconrepublic.com
