Onboarding at Convergent

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Onboarding at Convergent:
how to increase the
level of successful
onboarding to 90%

This case is about our internal processes.
We build effective HR processes, starting with ourselves.

Onboarding at Convergent:
how to increase the level
of successful onboarding to 90%

This case is about our internal processes.
We build effective HR processes, starting with ourselves.

Insights

88%
of employees believe that their onboarding was ineffective (according to Gallup)
93%
of employers believe that good onboarding has a significant impact on an employee’s decision to stay in the company (according to SilkRoad Technology)
79%
of employees believe that proper onboarding of employees allows them to achieve the desired productivity faster (according to Udemy)

88%
of employees believe that their onboarding was ineffective (according to Gallup)
93%
of employers believe that good onboarding has a significant impact on an employee’s decision to stay in the company (according to SilkRoad Technology)
79%
of employees believe that proper onboarding of employees allows them to achieve the desired productivity faster (according to Udemy)

Objectives

Improve the quality of onboarding, so that more newcomers adapt successfully and show higher performance levels on the projects they work for (according to their peers' feedback and their own feelings).

Reduce the degree of manager’s involvement in onboarding new employees, for if hiring is intensive, the manager has to spend a lot of time doing this.

Beginner's Challenges

Working for an agency side is different as compared to working on the client’s side in terms of the number and diversity of tasks and the speed of implementation. d All of this might make the onboarding quite challenging.

All internal processes in Convergent, from cost estimations to managing tasks' flows, are automated. On top of understanding the processes, newcomers have to get familiar with the tools facilitating the work.

Supporting several clients' workflow requires jumping on the urgent and large-scale projects from day one.

Managers and experts are part of different project groups at a time, so it might be tricky for a new employee to remember all the roles.

Internal Processes

Volumes of multi-tasking

Flexible Communication Within the Agency

In digital, everything is volatile and real-time. Prompt response to new trends and customer requests is crucial. People "from the client side" might not be used to this kind of a pace.

Until 2020, we had two offices: in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. Now most of the team is combining remote and office, so there are fewer in-person contacts.

High Work Pace

Hybrid Work Mode

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Solution

We have developed our own onboarding tools to support probation employees via curated step-by-step adaptation. It is built around 2 flows: in-person and automated.

In-person onboarding involves meetings and trainings with various agency employees.

HR Experts

Throughout the probation period, HR managers actively interact with the new employee.
On their first day, besides paperwork routing, HRs introduce the history of the company, our core values, services and customers.
Every month, the HR manager connects with the new employee to find out how their adaptation is going.

Mentor

A mentor is in charge of the new employee’s training, assessment of competencies and a development roadmap. He or she helps the mentee to get the maximum from available resources and skills. Professional long-term growth is also guided by the mentor through connections on KPI feedback and performance evaluations.

Buddy

A Buddy is a friend from among the peers who is there to answer all questions on how things work in the company, drop a link to required information and simply listen to and support as a friend. Buddies have no impact on the growth and development of professional skills.

Automated onboarding concentrates on the knowledge delivered and controlled by software.

Modular Training System

In order for the training materials to be relevant to every employee, regardless of their specialty or grade, we have made trainings brief and spot-on.
The core learning pieces are targeted to all employees. It covers internal tools and infrastructure, principles of work, current year strategy and plans.
Additional trainings are devoted to specific clients or process flows.
For example, an account manager would be trained on document management and budgeting, while a designer would get acquainted with the project guide books and the design layout processes.

MyProgress

An internal solution that we have developed for our company.
This webware manages the process and accumulates feedback from the teams that the employee has worked with. Each position has its own set of performance parameters, goals setting and achievements monitoring.
Feedback is recorded twice: in the middle of the probationary period to have an idea about how the onboarding is going, and at the end of it to assess the result.
The new employee also receives a feedback questionnaire form to fill out, so we can immediately see self-evaluations.

Semyon the Chat Bot

Semyon is our virtual colleague. He answers the questions new employees ask frequently: for example, how to take time off or when the payment is due.
It also:

collects instant feedback from the peers;
conducts quick surveys to gain insight on how the team feels in general;
records time off and sick days;
makes team-wide announcements;
helps to organize online events.

Library

All important information and tons of knowledge are collected on one platform accessible to each active employee. All instructions on internal processes, principles of working with different clients, training recordings, as well as document templates that we use every day are stored here.

Result

By the end of 2021, the level of successful onboarding of new employees (those who have worked for more than six months) had reached 90%. This figure had grown by 25% as compared to 65% in 2020.

Smart onboarding affects the employees' performance rates. The share of clients who are absolutely satisfied with the agency's service (the share of the highest score of NPS) has increased to 70%*.

In 2021, revenue growth per employee in percentage terms almost aligned with the agency's revenue growth rate. This indicates efficient onboarding, with the agency not losing profit at the stage of team expansion and onboarding of new employees.

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*some experts consider figure over 50% as a successful result.

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