Sharing Company Values In Remote Onboarding

When I thought I’d done enough hiring, I missed one small but big thing, and it cost a great employee. Last quarter, I filled an important position in just 11 days. It felt like a win. But 6 months later, that person quit. And I realised, the mistake wasn’t in how fast we hired, but in how little we understood what truly motivated them. I did everything right, job description, skill match, reference check, offer letter. The candidate joined happily. They were talented and responsible. But what I never asked was: 👉 What will make you stay here beyond one year? During his exit talk, he said, I wanted more challenges, a clear path, and a stronger sense of belonging. That’s when it clicked, we hired for skills but didn’t show them the growth journey. Here’s what I should have done from day one: 1️⃣ Growth Plan: Explain what their 6, 12, and 18 months could look like, including new learning or team exposure. 2️⃣ Culture Talk: Share how our company lives its values daily and how they’ll be part of it. 3️⃣ Ownership Chance: Tell them what project they’ll own and how it will make a difference. Because employees don’t just quit jobs, they quit environments that don’t meet their expectations or values. Recent reports also say: Professionals now value purpose, growth, and belonging more than just salary. A good onboarding and role clarity are now key to retaining employees in the first year. So I changed my process, Now ask them: ✔ Why this role? Why now? during interviews. ✔ Share a short growth roadmap at the offer stage. ✔ Have a First 90 Days check-in on culture and impact. ✔ Explain, What success looks like in Year 1 and review it at month 6. Results: ✅ Fast hiring (under 20 days) ✅ Better offer acceptance and retention rate Key lessons for HRs and recruiters: 1️⃣ Start with why, understand what drives the candidate beyond the job title. 2️⃣ Talk about culture and belonging early, not after joining. 3️⃣ Show the path, people stay when they see how they’ll grow and make an impact. Simple frameworks: Why-Impact-Roadmap: Explain the reason, result, and path. Environment Check-In: Discuss clarity, culture, and growth before hiring. 90/180-Day Review: Set early goals and revisit them at 3 and 6 months. #careers #careeradvice #hr #linkedinnewsindia #linkedin

I never answer team member Slack DMs.   Instead, I ask them to repost it in a public channel.   I can practically hear the confusion through the screen. Did the CEO just...redirect me? Yes, I did, and for a very specific reason.   Questions, decisions, updates, discussions...everything happens on open channels where others can see it. This is an unwritten rule at Smile.io that throws new hires for a loop every single time.   When you work in an office, you overhear conversations and learn without even trying. Someone chatting over coffee, a teammate sharing a win, a question shouted across the desk. You pick up context just by existing in the same space.   But when you’re working remotely, all that knowledge gets trapped in DMs and 1:1 calls.   The sales team learns something important about customer behavior, but product never hears about it. Engineering discovers a workaround, but support is still manually fixing the same issue.   You only hear what you’re explicitly told, and that’s dangerous for team alignment, context, and growth.   That’s why, at Smile, we live by one core value: If it doesn’t have to be private, say it in public.   As a result, we’ve seen:   • Faster onboarding: New hires don’t need hours of training sessions; they ramp faster by observing real conversations as they happen. • Shared context: Teams better understand each other’s workflows, roadblocks, and the ripple effects of their decisions. • Better questions: When you know 50 people might see your question, you think before you type. • Searchable knowledge: Everything becomes documentation. That debugging session from six months ago? It’s right there in the thread, open to all.   When information lives in DMs, you're building a company where only half the team knows what's happening.

Most onboarding programs focus on the what and the how... But they forget the feel. I’ve been there. Years ago, I’d tick all the boxes—logins, training schedules, org charts—and still wonder: why do new hires feel lost? Turns out, onboarding isn’t just about information; it’s about experience. Here’s what I’ve learned to focus on: 1. Safety: Make them feel prepared and welcome. A small touch—like logging in early and playing music—sets the tone. 2. Belonging: Help them feel connected. Values should be shown in action, not just words. Say everyone’s name and welcome them as they join sessions. Start with a 15-30 minute stand-up each morning so the cohort can connect, ask questions, and build camaraderie. 3. Trust: Share a clear plan and connect their role to the bigger picture--give them shared purpose. And senior leaders showing up? Game-changer. When you focus on these 3 elements, onboarding goes from surviving day one to thriving from day one. If you’re building (or rethinking) onboarding, I hope this helps. I’ve been there, and I’m always happy to share ideas or answer questions—just drop me a note. Because a great onboarding experience doesn’t just welcome people—it makes them stay.

“How do we behave when no one is looking?” I love this question because it cuts to the core of what values really are in practice. Values aren’t just what we say we believe - they’re how we show up every day. It’s the “how we behave” part of your company operating system. And those behaviours need to be felt, seen, heard, and actioned across the entire employee experience - no matter a person's location. That’s why this week’s "Hybrid How-Might-We" is: ❓ How might we operationalise our values across locations? So, here are some ways to make values a lived reality, not just a list on your website: 1️⃣ Define your behaviours framework Be crystal clear about what behaviours your team accepts - and what it doesn’t. Create a framework that outlines what each value looks like on a "good day" and what it looks like on a "bad day" (after all we're all human). Use key moments and scenarios across your day to stress-test them; think about "how would we behave if..." 2️⃣ Design your "high-value" moments Values need to show up at every critical point of the employee journey: → Hiring: Attract and hire people who align with your values. Build values into interview questions and decision criteria. → Onboarding: Demonstrate early on “how we do things here” through values-led stories, rituals, and clear expectations. → Recognition: Celebrate and reward behaviours that reflect your values - publicly and often. → Feedback: Anchor feedback to behaviours tied to your values, so growth is always aligned with what matters most. → Performance: Assess and develop people not just on what they achieve, but how they achieve it, through the lens of your values. → Offboarding: Often overlooked, but how you say goodbye matters. Offboard in a way that honours your values and provides clarity to the team. 3️⃣ Document, communicate, repeat It takes at least seven repetitions before something sticks and someone takes action - and even then, you’re probably just getting started. Weave your values into daily communications, team rituals, and decision-making processes. And please, make sure everything is documented in an accessible place, integrated into people’s workflows (and not hidden in the depths of an outdated intranet). 🔎 What would you add? How have you embedded values into your team’s daily behaviours? Share your experiences in the comments for others to learn from. -------- Like what you read here? ♻️ Repost or follow me for weekly hybrid-culture hacks. Together we can create kinder, fairer, better designed companies. #HybridTeams #CompanyOperatingSystem #DesignThinking

A comprehensive check-list from AIHR | Academy to Innovate HR ✅ for #onboarding and this is important for increasing the employee's sense of belonging to the company. But making this process more interesting and adding #gamification 🎮 mechanics will increase employee interest. Getting to know the #companyvalues earlier and aligning them with the values will increase the productivity 🚀 In this respect, I wanted to share how Empactivo can rocket the onboarding process with additional engagement ideas to this check-list: 🤝 Pre-boarding: Make sure candidates recognize company values; It will be best for everyone to join a company that is compatible with their values❗️ 📲 Work environment and equipment: Inform about the internal communication and culture platform where social ties are developed. Make sure employees download the company app 😎 Even seeing past posts on Empactivo will help to adapt the new employee to the company's culture. In Empactivo, contents and videos focused on company values will be much more meaningful for new employees. ☝🏻 Orientation Day 1: Engage the employee to the "orientation community" on Empactivo and let them see the whole process easily. Share a welcome card with social information about the employee on Empactivo and allow them to be recognized by the whole company. 📆 Week 1: Ask how the employee's first week went; what was well / bad, what could have been done better... And there is no need to set a time limit anymore... You can add lots of gamification mechanics to the process... 🎁 Run a prize-winning Answer & Win contest about company values, how the company works, and even social ties about teams. Don't forget to give a meaningful prize to the winning employees. 📸 You can organize a photo contest where employees will share on various themes. Factory environment, office, field, store or remote work... There are many enjoyable photo contest setups for each working model. Encouraging participation in these competitions and ensuring that especially new employees share will improve social ties. 👏🏻 In the meantime, a message of appreciation and thanks to be issued by the team leader within the team, including the new employee, will make a very important contribution to developing the spirit of teamwork and making the person feel that he/she belongs to the company. These ideas are just a few of the successful use cases on our platform. Stay tuned for much more 🙋🏻♂️ #onboarding #employeeexperience #gamification

Without operations, your remote work culture goes to die ☠️ Here's the reason: Company culture is the ongoing expression of a company’s values through its artifacts. An artifact is any memorable event or object that is created by an member of the company. You might wonder, what are artifacts? And where do they present themselves in your organization? Here are some examples: ➡ How the office looks - interior design, colour use, desk setup, etc. ➡ How the office feels - the vibe ➡ How people communicate - from the tone of the team leader in the 9:00 meetings to the stickers on your office's whiteboard ➡ How things are dealt with - who do you speak to for what ➡ How people dress/behave They are mostly unwritten rules linked to *the vibe* and they are quickly picked up by newcomers. Every piece of your organization tells a story. Now, when you work remotely, on your own, in your own environment you get a completely different experience. There’s no office vibe, hip coffee, or Spotify playlists that decide the culture. We can even say, that except daily communication there are pretty much NO artifacts that will withhold the company culture. Instead, culture is written down. Culture is equal to the values you write down, and what you do as a leadership team to reinforce those values. Here are some ways this can be done: ❇ Clear documentation; onboarding, culture values, SOP's, etc etc (TIP: get yourself a good knowledge base!) ❇ Set the tone for meetings - dealing with latecomers, camera on/off, phone usage during calls ❇ Be intentional about informal communication ❇ Dedicate time for networking and team building activities - preferably more than 1x per year. You want to stimulate non-workrelated conversations, it builds different kind of connections ❇ Teach people how to collaborate and work asynchronously ❇ Have clear processes and workflows to enhance team collaboration So, in order to re-create artifacts in a remote environment you will need strong operations to back up the company culture. No operations = no culture What’s your thoughts? What's your experience with remote working culture? --- 🙋♀️ Hi, I'm Mischa - your Integrator and fCOO 🚀 I help startup founders and agency owners #scale with ease 🗯 DM me if you want to build strong (remote) operations and culture

We take our onboarding process seriously… Because we know there’s no second chance for a first impression. When someone starts at your organization, they’ll find one of two things: 1. A passionate company that's serious about teamwork 2. A detached group of people only concerned with their paychecks That first impression lasts throughout their entire time at your firm. And we want to be the first option — every time, for every employee. Here’s how we do it (even while being fully remote): 1. All-hands call In our monthly call, we remind everyone why we're doing this. Both newcomers and folks who’ve been here from the start — everyone’s equal here. We zoom out from the day-to-day and show we're more than just jobs. We talk about the bigger picture, our progress towards it, and why it matters. We pick out Prezentians to celebrate, too, with awards every quarter. It keeps us aligned. Reminds us we're a team. Because our goal? It’s bigger than any one of us. 2. Ongoing feedback In some sense, no employee ever truly finishes onboarding— We’re always learning, always improving, always striving for excellence. This is why an open, non-judgmental feedback culture is non-negotiable. For things that need to improve, we have our quarterly pulse survey— Everyone gets the chance to anonymously share feedback for things that need to change at Prezent — we cover these together during our all-hands. And for things we need to celebrate, we have our Wall of Love. 3. Our semi-annual offsite. Nobody’s truly onboarded until they meet their team face-to-face. So twice a year, we meet, have fun, and celebrate our shared journey. So, to sum up: 1. Monthly all-hands calls 2. Workstyle + personality assessments 3. Semi-annual offsites to sync up and celebrate These three strategies combined? They create a team that’s not just working toward a paycheck— But a world-changing vision. That unity? You can’t beat it. Because together, we're unstoppable.

Your company values could be killing your culture. I know that sounds dramatic, but here’s the thing: if your values are just words on a wall or a webpage, they’re doing more harm than good. Why? Because when values aren’t lived, they lose meaning—and so does your culture. Having values isn’t enough; they need to be visible, reinforced, and on display every day. When they are: ✨ They guide decision-making. When everyone understands and believes in the company’s values, they act as a compass for making tough calls. 🤝 They strengthen culture. Values shape how we treat each other, our customers, and our work. They create alignment and foster trust. 🎯 They inspire accountability. When values are actively reinforced, they become the standard we all hold ourselves and each other to. But the real magic happens when we move beyond just talking about values. That's why it is essential to: 1️⃣ Display them. Incorporate values into onboarding, meetings, and even the physical environment so they’re always top of mind. 2️⃣ Reinforce them. Share stories of how values are being lived. Use real-world examples to bring them to life. 3️⃣ Live by them. Leaders set the tone by modeling values in their actions—not just their words. 4️⃣ Reward them. Recognize and celebrate team members who embody the values. Make it clear that living the values leads to success, not just for the company, but for individuals too. A company that lives its values doesn’t just say what it stands for—it shows it, every single day. When that happens, those values become a powerful force for connection, motivation, and achievement. These are the core values of Snappy Kraken. What are your company’s values, and how do you bring them to life? Let’s share ideas and inspire each other to lead with purpose. 👇

Those working in HR and People teams - this one's for you. Earlier this week, I had one of the best onboarding experiences of my career at Zinc. What was it? All new joiners present a 15 minute Lunch & Learn on anything and everything we've learnt during our first couple of weeks. It's a blank canvas and gave an opportunity to reflect and consolidate my knowledge. I opted to focus on the following themes: Values in Action - where values from the org have been displayed practically and by who Key Learnings & Reflections - what are the main things I've learnt Sales Process and Strategy - how is my sales process going, what's the strategy, and some examples of calls Feedback - Apple, Lemon, Sponge - we run a weekly team meeting where we share the good (apple), the bad (lemon), and the learnings (sponge) from the past week Looking Forward - what I'm most excited about in the future (retreat to France has got to be up there!) -- If anyone from my network in the HR/Talent space is keen to learn more about how we use lunch and learn's, drop me a DM. Are there any other tools you use for a smooth onboarding?

BUILDING BELONGING FROM DAY ONE: WHY ONBOARDING MATTERS MORE THAN EVER Walk into a room like the one pictured above, and you can feel the energy: new faces, focused attention, sharp questions, and shared stories by seasoned professionals who care. That’s not just a classroom—it’s a launchpad. And when done right, onboarding isn’t a process—it’s a promise. At Cameron LNG our commitment to excellence starts when a new hire walks through the door. We believe orientation isn’t about paperwork and passwords—it’s about purpose. It’s about welcoming people to a role and a culture. That first impression? It sets the tone for everything that follows. As leaders, we must remember that our new employees are our future leaders, operators, engineers, and innovators. We owe it to them—and to our company’s long-term success—to get it right. TOP 5 BEST PRACTICES FOR EFFECTIVE ONBOARDING: 1. Connect Culture to Purpose Don’t just explain the “what”—inspire with the “why.” Introduce company values early and let employees see them through real stories and people. 2. Invest in Live, In-Person Engagement Emails and e-learning have their place, but nothing replaces the power of human connection. Live sessions allow for real-time questions, introductions, and relationship building. 3. Provide Role-Relevant Training Early Onboarding should reflect what new employees actually need to succeed—systems, safety expectations, and team workflows. Front-load the tools they’ll use day to day. 4. Showcase Cross-Functional Collaboration Involve leaders from multiple departments. When new hires see collaboration as the norm, they feel empowered to reach across functions without hesitation. 5. Assign Peer Mentors or Coaches Nothing builds confidence faster than having a go-to person for early questions. Peer mentorship accelerates integration and boosts retention. WHY IT MATTERS I’m proud to be part of an organization that gets this right. You know you're building something substantial when you see engaged employees listening to senior leaders, asking sharp questions, and already showing signs of ownership. That happens when onboarding isn’t treated as a checkbox but a cornerstone. Great companies don’t just hire talent. They cultivate it. They don’t just fill roles. They build futures. #ProudToBeCameronLNG #LeadershipDevelopment #OnboardingMatters #WorkplaceExcellence #EmployeeSuccess #FirstDayForward #CultureInAction #EnergyLeadership