Extraordinary onboarding

Jenny Luo

Growth Associate

There’s a saying that a company is nothing without its people.

如果没有一种能让员工学习、发展和成长的文化，公司也就什么都不是. That culture starts with your onboarding process.

But what does that process look like? And how do you make it extraordinary?

Here’s how we think about onboarding at Sana.

What is onboarding?

每个在线资源都会告诉你，员工入职是一个整合的过程. 一系列的活动，帮助新员工加快速度，并在他们的角色中变得富有成效.

That definition is accurate, but it misses the point.

Employee onboarding is company culture in action. It’s more than an integration process. It’s an immersive experience. And done right, an unforgettable one too.

在Sana，我们希望我们的公司成为一个人们为之奉献一生的地方. A place you’d want to spend your entire career. Onboarding is key to achieving that goal. It’s where we set the tone and ambition of our organization. 这是我们在所有采访中证明我们是谁的方式. 最重要的是，我们如何为每个团队成员提供他们所需的工具和知识 achieve our mission.

And it starts before each new recruit’s first day.

The secrets to an exceptional onboarding experience Hint: it’s not about the SWAG.

Pre-boarding

Start immediately

在萨那，签名墨水一干，入职体验就开始了. 即使在第一天到来之前还有好几个月的时间，我们也想创造那种共同的兴奋感.

I remember my experience vividly.

A couple of days after signing the contract, I received an email from our CEO introducing me to the entire company. Within seconds the welcome replies were pouring in, 而我即将成为同事的苏菲已经在下周安排了一次虚拟咖啡. I had never felt so seen by a future team.

The welcome email is a pre-boarding ritual at Sana. It brings joy and excitement to everyone involved. Sure, it might be hard to scale org-wide beyond a certain company size. But you can always make it work on a team level. 无论解决方案是什么，你的最终目标都很简单:向你的新员工展示他们是多么受欢迎.

Invite them over

There are plenty of other ways to bring people into the fold. 我们喜欢在新员工入职前几周邀请他们参加午餐或周五的演示. These events can be in person or remote and are entirely voluntary. But new joiners almost always say yes, and we’re so glad they do. It helps us break the ice, 这通常会让第一天更轻松——因为周围都是熟悉的面孔.

Top tasks from Sana’s pre-boarding checklist
Send the welcome email to new recruits and all staff members
Collect their birthday and add it to the birthday tracker
Create the “first-day” event in calendar and invite them
Send a “what to expect during your first week” email
邀请你参加午餐或周五的演示，最好是在开始日期前两周
Match them with a buddy
Provide resources

In addition to pre-boarding events, we share pre-boarding material. In the what-to-expect email, we explain what will happen during week 1. And we also link to our company handbook, The Infinite Game, which lives in the Sana platform as a personalized course. Again, 提前参加这门课程完全是自愿的——所有新加入的人都在第一天参加. 但有些人觉得提前做点准备更有信心，所以我们就提供了.

Day One

This is the day they and you have been waiting for. Every minute of it counts!

Be the concierge

For those starting at Sana HQ, every new hire’s manager will wait at the door with Olivia, our Chief of Staff. 咖啡流了出来，开始参观办公室，然后设备就位. With the essentials taken care of, it’s time for the first manager 1:1. Building this relationship is critical, so why wait?

Up the energy

We like to keep the pace high on the first day. At no point should a new hire be left alone without knowing what to do. We want the vibe to feel a bit hectic but highly energizing. If it’s a Monday, we’ll get them straight into All Hands. Then we follow up with a few core sessions — company culture and values, led by our CEO Joel, and intro sessions with all team leads. There’s a welcome lunch, 我们通常在厨房自己做(通常是意大利面——意大利面是三年特餐), and a slot to take the Infinite Game course.

“我最喜欢Sana入职的一点是，我觉得自己是整个公司的一部分, not just my team. 与所有的团队领导会面，听取他们的长期目标和日常活动——这让我真正了解了全貌.” — Axel Danielsson, Summer Intern

And yes, there is also SWAG.

The first 2 weeks

Help them get a quick win

Ambitious new hires want to make an impact. It’s your job to create that opportunity for them as soon as possible. 这意味着要在入职培训和日常工作之间取得平衡. Whatever task you give, make sure you acknowledge the effort. Share the kudos publicly. 你的新员工越早感受到成就感，他们就会越有信心.

Ask them to tell a lie

把新员工介绍给团队的其他成员应该是有趣和有风度的. 在我们每周的All-Hands节目中，每位新人都会分享关于自己的“两个真相和一个谎言”. 每个人都喜欢猜测——哪个选项似乎过于详细而不真实? Which one seems too silly, or too run-of-the-mill? Making it simple for new hires to share their interests, and background. 这有助于建立联系，让他们感到舒适——这样他们就可以开始交付.

Get them into the product

At Sana, all new hires test the entire product within X days of joining. 我们这样做有两个原因:(1)巩固我们对用户同理心的承诺;(2)建立心理安全感. By encouraging new Sanians to experience the product as a user, everyone has a safe space to question it. They learn that we welcome challenges, reframes, and exciting ideas. 这有助于我们表明，我们从第一天起就重视他们带来的专业知识. They’ll experience our feedback structures, 并了解我们有才华的人有多么快地提出了出色的新想法.

Top tasks from Sana’s onboarding checklist

Schedule random coffee chats with the wider team
Schedule recurring 1:1s with their manager
Run speed friending with the whole company
Book in-product demo and feedback sessions

Make it social

Onboarding isn’t only about training. At Sana, we pre-fill that first-week calendar with plenty of 1:1s. They’re short—15-minutes long. 有足够的时间来打破僵局，而不会有让谈话继续下去的压力. 我们总是在全公司范围内进行快速交友，用有趣的提示和愚蠢的问题来激励. This isn’t about building skills; it’s about building bonds.

“During my first few weeks at Sana, 我不仅了解了这里的工作是如何进行的，还了解了为什么要这样做——了解了围绕萨那使命的更大图景, vision, and shared values. 对Sana来说，让我担任我的特定角色是一件既快又容易的事, team, and function... 但我感觉Sana花时间亲自投资于我，把我当成一个可以为每个团队带来一些东西的人.”—Katie Kirsch, Summer Intern

Highlights from Sana’s onboarding program

The full scheduled onboarding program usually lasts about two weeks. These are some of our favorite sessions:

Welcome lunch - Cook, eat, laugh
Sana culture and values - Live account of the Sana story by our CEO
The Infinite Game - Our company handbook, packaged as a personalized course
All-company speed friending - Rapid-fire chats and fun
Sales 101 - Because everyone is a salesperson
Storytelling and presenting - Tips and exercises on how to communicate well
Managing energy and giving feedback - How to feel at your best and be candid with others

The first 3 months

Extend the rope

90 day plans only work if you increase responsibility along the way. 在这段时间结束时，你的新加入者应该拥有一些东西. We see this as an incremental and iterative process.

从第二天尽可能小的任务开始，然后在3小时后再检查. Increase the scope a little on day 3 and review by the end of day. This is how you extend the rope.

“Extending the rope isn’t just about them; it’s also about you. You’ve hired this person to take over some of your responsibilities. That means learning to let go.” —Olivia Elf, Chief of Staff at Sana

Running this tight feedback loop is high effort but high reward.

Build cross-team connections

As you extend the rope, think about how tasks can aid integration. 例如，这个练习是否涉及与另一个团队的人合作?

Speaking of teams, turn your new joiners into a team of their own. 如果你有3-5人在同一天开始工作，帮助他们尽快组成一个紧密的团队. Let them arrange a fun activity to do together. 这些人连接得越快，他们就越能相互信任和支持.

Prepare them for change

Cross-team bonds are especially important for fast-moving companies. At Sana, we work with the DiBB framework. 以这种方式工作，我们可以根据数据、洞察力和信念大胆下注. 为了实现这些大胆的赌注，我们有时需要做出彻底的改变，而且要快. 在实践中，这意味着Sanians可能会转移团队，或者他们的团队可能会改变重点.

Aligning our teams to our company goals requires trust and adaptability. Change can be hard, 因此，我们必须尽早告知萨那的情况是否正常，这一点很重要, and what the positive benefits are for them and the company. If new hires learn that change is positive, and build plenty of cross-team bonds during onboarding, they’ll be more open to making the switch as and when the time comes.

Let them shape your company

You hired these people to make your company better. But new hires can worry about stepping on toes. 为了帮助他们克服障碍，要求他们改变公司的运作方式. 关键是允许——向他们展示改变是受欢迎和赞赏的.

Keep up the tempo

当你开始一个新的地方，没有什么比无事可做更糟糕的了. Our list of activities might sound long. But, in our experience, new hires are hungry, so we dare to overschedule. 我们通过保持15天、30天、60天和90天的活动清单来保持领先地位.

There are no hard rules for onboarding. Not really. Because every company is different. 重要的是你要创造一种符合你的文化的体验, valuable for your new hires, and fun for everyone involved.

That’s the real secret to extraordinary onboarding.