Remote Onboarding for Software Engineers: From “Forming” to “Performing”

Abstract

Onboarding is defined as the process when a new employee joins, learns about, integrates into and becomes a contributing member of a team. A successful onboarding is essential for moving a team from Forming to Performing stage. It helps increase the new hire’s job satisfaction, improve the team’s performance, and reduce turnovers (which bring the team back to the forming stage). With remote work being the new norm in software engineering, remote onboarding brings a unique set of challenges.In this project, I aim to identify the main challenges faced during remote onboarding for software engineers, specifically for role-specific onboarding that happens in the team domain, and provide recommendations on improving this onboarding process. To achieve these aims, I conducted a qualitative interview study and activity exercise with software engineers who have gone through remote onboarding. Nine interviews were conducted with software engineers ranging from junior software engineers to senior software engineers and software engineering managers. I analyzed these interviews to gain insights into factors affecting onboarding. From the interviews, I identified a hierarchy of needs, in which I classified the needs of the new hire into basic needs and needs required for excellence. Needs such as access to tools, clarity of tasks and knowledge were categorized as basic needs to do the work, whereas mentorship, relationship building, and collaboration transform the onboarding into an excellent experience. I then further linked these needs to 5 main themes that emerged during the interviews for having an effective onboarding: (i) having an effective onboarding buddy; (ii) the ability to create relationships with team members and other stakeholders; (iii) being provided with up to date and organized documentation and onboarding plan; (iv) the manager’s ability to listen and adapt to remote needs; and (v) a team culture which enables team members to communicate effectively and get unblocked quickly. Based on the interviews’ analysis together with insights from the literature, I developed checklists for recommended best practices for effective onboarding. A checklist was developed for each of the main onboarding stakeholders i.e., manager, onboarding buddy and new hire, along with a template of an onboarding plan. Using these checklists will help improve the effectiveness and consistency of remote onboarding for software engineering new hires.