Last week, Juno CEO and Founder, Ally Fekaiki, sat down with the Co-founder and CEO of CharlieHR, Ben Gateley, to discuss how to onboard and reward your team today to make work better for all.

Couldn’t make it on the day or want to relive the conversation? Watch the recording of the Juno x CharlieHR webinar here, now.

This article will cover the insights shared on the webinar, further exploring the topic of onboarding and rewarding employees.

The Main Issue in HR and Onboarding Processes

Although there may be several more specific issues within onboarding processes, all of the issues that occur boil down to one main problem: we underestimate how much information overload new employees experience in their first few days and weeks at a new organisation.

So, what is the solution to this overarching problem?

The solution from Ally Fekaiki: “Feeding the right information at the right time, just like you when you’re onboarding a new end user of your product.”

The solution from Ben Gateley: “We need to remember that we are dealing with humans and every person is different. Be clear about who you’re onboarding and what type of onboarding process is going to be right for them in the way they learn.”

The Main Issue in HR And the Onboarding Processes For Remote Workers

The same issue presents itself when onboarding remote workers.

However, the isolation that remote workers may experience from not being physically present with other employees may make the onboarding process even more difficult, especially when it comes to the employee forming relationships with peers within their team.

Additionally, onboarding remote workers onto specific programmes and technologies can also take more time.

So, what is the solution to this issue of onboarding remote workers?

‍The solution from Ally Fekaiki: “I like to give people a lot of structure in their first few days and weeks by putting time in their calendars to meet other people in the business. This could include meeting the whole development team at the same time, for example. We must remember that when you’re not physically present at a company, it can be quite isolating, especially in the beginning.”

What Technology And Infrastructure Can You Use To Combat Employee Isolation?

In a world where remote working is becoming the norm, it’s especially important to look out for those in your team that may be experiencing employee isolation, whether they’re newly onboard employees or existing ones.

Employee isolation can cause low employee engagement and low workplace performance, therefore impacting a company’s culture and ultimately, its success.

Therefore, it’s essential to not only acknowledge when isolation may be happening, but put the infrastructure and technology in place to ensure that your team avoids experiencing it, from the very beginning.

There are several ways in which you can utilise technology to support the connectivity of your employees and reduce the likelihood of them experiencing isolation.

Ally Fekaiki: “We use Slack for communication, Monday.com for all our onboarding documentation and checklist for their onboarding process and Google Hangouts for virtual meetings.”

Ben Gateley: “We’ve used a buddy system for a long time. This works by pairing your staff up with somebody else that they don’t work with directly, not their manager and not another leader in the business and giving them the opportunity to catch up and discuss their onboarding experience and raise their hand to someone other than their manager to ask for help, if they need it. This can be a really important person for reassurance as you start at a new company.”

There Needs To Be More Consideration And Importance Placed On Employee Wellbeing Since The Switch To Remote And Hybrid Working

The future of work has changed considerably over the last few years, with many companies shifting the way in which they operate and support their staff working from home.

More and more people are now opting for roles that allow remote working, and businesses are learning that they can perform even better without the need for a physical office environment. Even when people are needed on the ground, many companies are implementing hybrid working.

Whilst there are huge benefits to remote and hybrid working, there’s also an increased responsibility for companies to support the wellbeing of their entire team, wherever they are.

Working remotely or in a hybrid environment can make it harder for people to have a good work-life balance. They may feel isolated and they may be looking for that extra bit of support from their employers to focus on their wellbeing.

In fact, findings in our Workplace Morale Study indicate that employee wellbeing is so important that 58% of respondents said that a better work-life balance or workplace culture at the rival company, improved access to benefits, and wellness tools were the factors in a decision to find alternative employment.

Therefore, employee wellbeing isn’t just important, it’s essential, for both retaining and attracting employees.

Ally Fekaiki:

‍“You can’t call yourself a progressive business if you don’t have something in place to tackle employee wellbeing head-on.” Wellbeing covers such a spectrum of ways to improve our lives and today, that means accessible, flexible options wherever you are, whenever you need them.”

“At Juno, we’ve set out to redefine what personal wellbeing looks like for our clients. Because everyone’s needs are different, Juno clients provide their employees with their own allowance to spend on anything that benefits their wellbeing. “As an employer, you now want to be more integrated in people’s lives to ensure they’re content and able to perform to their maximum at work.”

Company Culture: The Tools And Strategies CharlieHR Have Implemented To Scale And Grow So Successfully

Employee wellbeing is an important pillar in company culture and cultivating a company culture is not only essential to maximising business success, but also to lead a team of happy, loyal, high-performing employees.

So, how did CharlieHR scale and grow so successfully? Well, not surprisingly, they focused on building their company culture and implementing the right tools and strategies.

Ben Gateley:

“The first thing I’d say is to make sure you get the core fundamentals right when it comes to how you treat and look after people in your business. If you haven’t got your HR foundations, you’re never going to be able to scale your business in the way that you need to."

“The second thing is to have an actual plan for the type of culture you’re trying to build. Culture is something that you should be really deliberate about, being deliberate about the experience you’re trying to provide to your employees.”

“The thing is to help people to really buy into the vision of what you’re trying to do. I fully believe that a strong mission, a strong vision, a strong purpose, a strong reason why a company exists is far more motivating than any form of compensation.”

How Can You Measure Your Business Success And Cultural Success?

So, knowing just how important onboarding new employees, rewarding talent, and building a strong company culture is, how can an organisation measure its success internally and comparatively?

Ben Gateley shares how CharlieHR measures its success:

“We run team engagement tactics to monitor our staff wellbeing. Also we’ve noticed that huge numbers of job applicants site our clear employer brand as a reason for wanting to join Charlie.”

“We analyse our retention rate and check this against the industry average and also give all these things a monetary value to show the relevance of building a strong business culture in a financial sense.”

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Ally Fekaiki shares how other companies should measure their success:

“When it comes to organic marketing for communicating your business culture, companies will see better business outcomes if they focus on their employee wellbeing and team culture, especially now we’re so distributed.”

“I think it’s also important to be open and transparent about getting things wrong sometimes”.

Want to onboard and reward your people successfully today, with Juno and CharlieHR?

Juno gives your team the employee wellbeing support they truly want: provide personalised, unique, and flexible wellbeing benefits for your team.

CharlieHR software provides small businesses with the data, tools, and advice they need to make everyday admin effortless, keep their people engaged and equip them to do their best work.

As partners, Juno and CharlieHR can help support your company culture and take it to higher levels of success.

Join Juno For Startups now and get access to both Juno and 50% off CharlieHR for teams of up to 10 people.

Or if you've got a few more or a lot more colleagues, let us know you're interested in Juno here.