Setting up new hires for success is important, but it can take a lot of time. They need the right equipment, background on various teams, and training on your company’s different systems. Even then, fresh employees will often spend hours just trying to do simple tasks: finding the right file, looking up a stray acronym, or figuring out the right people to meet.
Luckily, Dropbox Paper can help make onboarding faster, simpler, and less confusing. Here are four ways you can use Paper to get your new hires up and running more quickly.
1. Company knowledge in one place
A lot of information winds up scattered across emails and chat histories, or lost in the depths of company archives. So with Paper, we set out to make information open, interconnected, and easily searchable. Managers can create an onboarding doc to get new hires started, then link to other Paper docs throughout the company. One doc might provide an org chart. A second could run down a glossary of company terms. A third might outline goals for the quarter. All three could then be linked together, with key stakeholders @ mentioned throughout. Veteran employees can benefit too, with the company’s people and info all connected and in one place.
What’s more, new hires can use Paper as a personal research assistant. Suppose the name of an upcoming marketing campaign keeps coming up, but new employees don’t know all the details. With Paper, new hires can search for the campaign name, then explore all related docs, so long as the docs have been shared across the company. Whether that includes details from early planning, current messaging, design briefs, or upcoming launch dates, new employees can quickly find the background info they need.
2. Looped in from day one
New hires can often feel isolated during their first few weeks on the job. Veteran employees, busy with their daily routine, will move through tasks and meetings at a fast pace while recent hires struggle to keep up. Meanwhile, managers can often become overwhelmed by a constant stream of questions from new hires.
Here, Paper offers a new approach to the onboarding process. New team members can be invited to docs from day one, whether they’re joining an active project or simply watching ideas come together in the form of edits, @ mentions, and comments. When early employees need more context, they can ask questions and tag specific co-workers—all right where the work is taking place.
Each Paper doc also comes with a record of doc changes and comment histories, helpful tools for bringing new collaborators up to speed. New employees can double check old doc conversations to get the same context as more experienced team members.
3. A company directory
Typically, new hires have to learn their co-workers’ names from a flurry of quick intros or a one-time meet-and-greet.
In contrast, Paper gives new employees daily exposure to their new colleagues. As fresh hires explore Paper docs and join comment threads, they’ll quickly learn who’s involved with what. Profile pics of each collaborator tell employees who’s viewing a doc, comments show who’s driving discussion, and names in the margins highlight where each person contributed.
New hires can also quickly learn their fellow employees’ feedback and collaboration styles. As they watch comment threads play out, participate in doc-based brainstorms, or even add their own feedback, new employees can rapidly learn how to best collaborate with their team.
4. Task lists to stay on track
Managers frequently give new employees a list of initial tasks: learn this product, research that market, meet with this person, and so on. Unfortunately, lists like these often exist only in a single welcome email or one-time conversation.
Use Paper for a simpler, more effective approach. Making task lists with Paper is easy: add a checkbox, then jot down the task itself. Either the manager or new hire can then check off each item, right in the doc.
You can assign a specific owner and select a due date to make sure the task is completed on time. Task owners will receive a reminder 24 hours before it’s due. With a live-updating doc, managers can keep tabs on how the tasks are going, while new hires can show their progress without having to craft a summary email or schedule an extra meeting.
As a catalog of company knowledge, Paper gives everyone a place to find key information, add their own insights, and watch as the work develops. Share Paper with your newest employees and they’ll get the info they need without feeling overwhelmed. Try Paper with your team today.