We've talked about how to hire accountants and accounting staff and how challenging it can be. But the often ignored, yet critical step to success, is how these new team members are on boarded.
In this article, we'll discuss 5 steps to remember when on boarding a new team member. Step 1: How they will be measured First things first, the new team member needs to know how they will be measured. Too often we say "do an exceptional job", but never outline what that means. This is where target metrics and value communication is important. Ideally these should also be mentioned during your recruiting phase as well, but if not, be sure to mention them to the new team member. Here are two critical points to remember
- Does the new team member understand the company values (and example of how they're used during work?). For example, if a company value is "go above and beyond", do you have a story to share of someone on the team doing that?
- Target metrics: What are the core metrics you measure your firm success by? For some accounting firms, that's profitability. For others, that might be month over month growth. Or turn around time for your workflow. Does your new hire understand these metrics, and the goals they're expected to reach?
- When you have a question
- When you see something broken
- Contributing to the team
- Daily Huddles / check ins
- Weekly 1-1's
- Monthly Metric and team meeting
- I do, you watch
- I do, you help
- You do, I help
- You do, I watch
- Payments & Paychecks
- Common tools we use (and training for them)
- Benefits, insurance, PTO
- Company Holiday's
- 1 pager for mission, vision, and values
- 1 pager on how to pitch the firm