Category Archives: Dos and Don’ts Guides

The Anatomy Of Seamless Colleague Onboarding

If you run a business, you know how hard it can be to get a new colleague up to speed on how your organisation works. There’s a lot of administration and effort involved, and you sometimes wonder whether it’s even worthwhile.

Many companies do a poor job with onboarding. Low-quality firms often leave it mainly to the person who has just joined, expecting them to figure out how things work and what they should do next. That approach is a great way to increase churn. People don’t like staying at companies that don’t appreciate them or show them the ropes.

So, what are some ways you can improve your onboarding and make it easier?

Use pre-onboarding skeleton

Large companies that bring on dozens of new staff every month often have a pre-onboarding skeleton. The goal is to build systems that make onboarding easier.

For example, you could add a lightweight welcome portal to your IT system so that when new staff get their login credentials, they can start work almost immediately and feel productive right away. You can also use administrative de-risking, such as pre-filling forms for banking deposits or benefits enrollment. That can speed up the process and let you get more done faster. If you have blank profiles ready to go, all you need to do is type in the new colleague’s name.

Find a reliable partner

The next step is to find a reliable partner for your onboarding. You need the best ID card printer you can find to ensure you always have the components required to integrate the new staff member. 

Don’t choose the cheapest option, like a lot of brands do. That usually doesn’t lead to the best outcome, and you may end up regretting the day you decided to go with the person offering the lowest price.

Instead, check the quality and make sure you understand your partner thoroughly before bringing them on board. Make sure they can deliver new ID cards and credentials quickly, so you’re not left waiting.

Respect the new colleague’s nervous system

Seamless colleague onboarding means respecting the new team member’s nervous system. Do not dump them into four hours of compliance training right away. They will not be able to absorb that information, along with everything else they need to do that day.

Instead, optimise the day so they feel like they belong. Get them set up on Slack if needed, and assign a welcome ambassador someone they can go to with basic questions, even something as simple as the location of the bathroom.

If you can implement a buddy system, that helps too. When colleagues have a peer mentor who is not their manager, they are better able to get a handle on how the company operates and what they should be doing.

Provide tooling and integration

After the first couple of days, the final task is to provide the new colleague with the tools and integrations they need. This helps build their operational muscle. For example, you could offer short training on your tech stack or provide more clarity on their specific role over the next 90 days.

The Dos & Don’ts of Classic Car Restoration

Classic car restoration has become a popular hobby in recent times and it is easy to see why. It can be incredibly rewarding restoring and improving a beautiful classic car as well as a fun and interesting process to go through along with the obvious benefit of having a classic to drive upon completion. Classic car restoration can certainly be an expensive hobby, but there are ways to make it more affordable too. There are also some important dos and don’t of classic car restoration – read on to find out more.

DO Choose the Right Restoration Type

Perhaps most important is choosing the right type of restoration. If this is your first project, you should always start off with driver restoration where you simply make it operational and make cosmetic upgrades. This is followed by street show restoration, show car restoration and finally concourse restoration.

DON’T Skip Making a Budget

Another common mistake that people make when it comes to car restoration is not setting themselves a budget. You need to work out how much you can afford to spend right at the start otherwise the costs can very quickly spiral out of control. If you know roughly how much you can afford, you can then find a vehicle, restoration level, tools and equipment and materials to fit within this budget.

DO Read the Owner’s Manual

Once you have found the right car to restore, you should then spend time reading through the owner’s manual. Skipping this step would be like working on the car with your eyes closed, so you need to get to know the vehicle first and re-read this if you are ever confused about anything.

DON’T Underestimate Time Required

Another common mistake that people make when it comes to classic car restoration is underestimating the time required to complete the work. Even a basic restoration will require a lot of time and effort, so you need to make sure that this is something that you can fit into your life and around your responsibilities. Without this, it is likely that this becomes a project that never gets completed.

DO Take Out Classic Car Insurance

There is no feeling like completing a classic car restoration, but before you get behind the wheel, you need to make sure that you have classic car insurance in place. Classic car insurance will provide you with financial protection if you encounter any issues as well as peace of mind knowing that your investment is protected.

Hopefully, this post will help anyone considering classic car restoration and stop you from making a few of the more common mistakes that people make. This can be a fun, rewarding and interesting hobby to start, but it is also a big commitment to make.