“Welcome to the Jungle,” a famous song by Guns N’ Roses has been heard across the world since it was produced in 1987.

You can also hear it in the early mornings at Phenom's Ambler, Penn. headquarters on new hires' first day of work, as a Slack message is broadcasted out to the employees: "Welcome New Phenoms in 5 minutes!”

Phenoms scurry to finish that last thought and hit “send” in an email before gathering at the main entrance to welcome the newest team members. The employee’s smiles are contagious as they prepare their spot in the hallway to throw confetti, light sparkles and give welcome high-fives.

The welcome vibe is electric, and as the new hires enter the decorated Phenom Blue hallway, another famous line from "Welcome to the Jungle" sends a message of "we’ve got everything you want, and we’ve got fun and games."

Welcome, Welcome to the Phamily!

COVID-19 could forever change how we live and work. Today's employee experience is different than it used to be, and although we cannot line hallways and give high-fives, we can make the experience just as engaging and memorable. At Phenom, our redefined process starts at the welcome (now via Zoom), and continues into a 2-day online experience.

Here are a few simple steps to redefine your employee onboarding experience in 2021:

Start small. What are the most important aspects of your onboarding program?

Take each of those nuggets and begin designing a process to move them online. If you are stuck figuring out the most important components in your program, look at the data. Past surveys usually draw out common themes, and you can determine what parts of your onboarding experience can be brought online.

If all else fails, just ask some of your recent hires. Each onboarding class at Phenom has their own Slack room. It’s a great way to stay engaged with past classes and to collect data you may need. Ask past participants what content stuck with them, and use it in the future.

Use content variety. When creating a new online onboarding experience, it is important to incorporate multiple forms of content delivery.

Start with having a variety of presentations. Utilize key leaders and incorporate live Q&A sessions on topics most relevant to your organization. For example, perhaps have your VP of Sales conduct a fireside chat with new hires; however, when new hires need to learn how to submit expenses, this is something that can be explained in a micro-learning piece.

Remember, you need to keep your new hires engaged and without seeing those smiling faces, sometimes we forget that a 8-hour Zoom meeting is BORING. Mix it up. Use video for some of the content, for instance. Prioritize the content and determine what aspects would be better in a live Zoom meeting, and what can be pushed to video and other mediums.

Keep mission and core values constant. At Phenom, our mission is to help a billion people find the right job.

That mission is now part of our online presence, our Zoom backgrounds, our Slack rooms and even in our email signatures. We keep it front and center. It is our purpose; why we come to work each and every day no matter our role. Our progress is tracked and broadcast to our employees every week. The mission makes us have purpose.

What is your mission? The mission should begin at the candidate experience and continue throughout the employee experience.

Reinventing the employee experience in 2020 was a challenge for many organizations. HR can be the pioneers in reshaping the employee experience by starting with onboarding. Phenom's HR’ team lets each new Phenom know it’s a new year with new challenges, and in the words of Guns N' Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle, we take it day by day!”

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