The Wize Way

Episode 173 - Onboarding Secrets for Retention

• Wize Mentoring for Accountants and Bookkeepers • Season 2 • Episode 173

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Onboarding That Boosts Retention

Most firm owners treat onboarding as a checklist. The result? Confused hires, wasted training, and early staff turnover.

In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Dani Bray unpacks:

✅ Why onboarding starts before day one (and how pre-boarding builds trust)
 ✅ The 30/60/90-day structure that sets hires up for success
 ✅ How daily huddles and end-of-week check-ins accelerate confidence
 ✅ The role of culture, career paths, and training in long-term retention

If you’re ready to stop “winging it” with new hires and start building a team that sticks, this episode is for you.

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3. Book a 1:1 Wize Discovery Session – Spend 30mins with our Wize CEO, Jamie Johns, a $7M firm owner who is ready to give you his entire business plan to build a firm that can run without you – Find out more here

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Wise Way, the show for accounting and bookkeeping firm owners who want more time, profit and freedom, and a business that can run without them. I'm Bren Ward, your host, and each week, we deep dive into the real stories, proven strategies and battle-tested tools from successful firm owners. Just like you, our wise mentors want to share their journey of how they've scaled and systemized their way to freedom. So you can, too. If you're stuck in the grind or you're ready to scale smarter, this is your blueprint. Let's get into the episode.

Speaker 2:

Today's topic is about onboarding strategies, and this is a really important one, because it's all great when you find someone, but then what happens after that? You know we all need to be really prepared and you know, with the onboarding session, it's the first real opportunity to prove that you know, your firm is organized, you're ready for the new person to join and that they've made the right choice. So, yeah, but before we get into everything, we've already introduced everyone. Basically what you know, what I'll just stop sharing because that's easier. Yeah, so basically, with today's session, what will happen is we'll just I'll talk for about 25 minutes, half an hour, of course. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to ask, because we've got the chat box, or you can just take yourself off mute. We'd love it if you could. You know, keep your cameras on, because this is a very like this is an interactive call and I don't like talking to blank screens. I prefer talking to, like you know, see who I'm actually talking to, and then, yeah, at maybe 9.30, then we'll jump into breakout rooms. So there'll be three different breakout rooms. There'll be one with myself, if, if you've got any hiring questions. Um, there'll be one with Thomas, if you've got any questions about growing your business at all, and then there'll be one with Raul about the wise hub is our wise hub with um, but, yeah, getting into today's topic or back into today's topic, into today's topic or back into today's topic. So basically, yeah, it is really important to have, I guess, different stages with the onboarding process. A lot of people just think that there's a checklist and that's it. But I have actually broken it down into five different phases.

Speaker 2:

So the very first one would be pre-onboarding. So this happens obviously before they start with their, you know, start working for your firm. So this is where you would have your welcome emails. If you could sort of do it in four weeks, because generally a lot of candidates, especially if you are hiring offshore, they need to give four weeks notice, especially if you are hiring offshore, they need to give four weeks notice. So if you have you know, if you reach out to them within those four weeks just once a week, just to make sure that things are progressing smoothly. Because think about it from a candidate's point of view if they sign the offer letter and then they don't hear from you again for another four weeks, things will start. You know that they might question things. They'll they'll think that there's not great communication at all. So, just yeah, making sure that you do speak to them at least once a week.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, so I'd probably say the first one would be a welcome email, um, and or a video. So a lot of firms now are doing like a team video with that they send to the candidate, um, and this is just to introduce themselves. Um, everyone sort of does like a 30 second thing where they tell the new candidate about what they're doing, um, and then, yeah, you send that, that off to your new team member. The next thing would be buddy assignment. So this is where you know, if you do have someone more senior in the firm, they could potentially, you know, partner up with your new employee or contractor and, basically, if they've got any new, like any questions at all because of course every new person will have questions um, they've got someone that they can directly reach out to. That way they're not just sort of sitting sitting there going well, who do I reach out to for this or who do I reach out to for that?

Speaker 2:

Um, the next one is making sure that all the equipment is ready to go. The last thing you want is for your new um staff member to to join and not have everything they need. So this should all be sought and sorted before they actually start. Um, and then the. The last thing is so send first week calendar in advance.

Speaker 2:

So a lot of people think that you would do this when the person actually starts. But if you can have that all organized beforehand, then the person will be prepared and they won't feel like they don't know what they're doing. So I just want to read something really quickly know what they're doing. So I just want to read something really quickly.

Speaker 2:

According to research, employees who undergo a structured onboarding process are 69% more likely to remain with the company for three or more years. So that's pretty good because, if you think about it, if you're not organized and someone joins, they're not going to stay for long because they're going to be like, well, no one knows what they're doing here, including myself. So yeah, so that's phase one, but before I go into phase two, I just want to ask Thomas, in your experience with sorry, just like throwing you on the spot here in your experience with new hires and everything, just like throwing you on on the spot here in your experience with, with new hires and everything, would you say look, what's been your experience in terms of you know, when they first joined um, like when they before sorry before they actually start their job have you had you know experiences where they've you know I don't even know what I'm trying to say here when you've been organised, have you seen a difference on when you haven't been organised?

Speaker 3:

A hundred percent, dani, I think you've seen this as well. It makes it's so important to actually make a good impression on the person that you're bringing in, because you know they're scared, they're not sure if they found the right firm. Um, none of us here are exactly uh, pwc. You know we're not google it's, we don't have all this reputation that precedes us. They, they really want to know that, oh, did I make the right move? Because I've left what what I?

Speaker 3:

They could have left a decent firm, uh to make a leap into a what what I? They could have left a decent firm, uh to make a leap into a higher position. And that that initial stage showing how organized you are, how much, uh, how quickly you're able to onboard them and get them set up and set the expectations and let them know about the support they're going to get it's it's pretty much everything, I think. So, yeah, so yeah, it's been crucial, danny, and I've seen cases where I've done it poorly and you can't shake. You can't shake the. They just get scared from that point onwards, and then ones that have been done well and you just they just seem to be a lot more relaxed.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thanks, thomas. So if we look at phase two, which is the first week of the new employees, you know journey with your firm the very thing you want is for someone to join your firm and basically they feel like they're just on the back end. They're there to do their work and go home and that's it. There's no real passion for what they're doing. I remember when I joined Wise, I did have one of those calls with Jamie and he told me everything. He told me that you know Wise's past and what they have planned for the future and everything, and it motivated me. And I reckon if he hadn't have done that and I had joined and I just started doing my job straight away, I wouldn't have felt that that connection I wouldn't like, I wouldn't have, yeah, that that connection with Wise wouldn't have felt, that connection I wouldn't have. Yeah, that connection with WISE wouldn't have been there.

Speaker 2:

The next thing is meeting the team members. Again, the last thing you want is for someone to join and not know who to go to or who's on their team. This is where, again, at the start, before they join, if they can, if everyone can, do like a 30 second video where, where they introduce themselves, but then having those one-on-one meetings in the first week with everyone. Some firms will do just the key people, like your managers, other firms if it's like a smaller firm, then they'll just get the new employee to meet everyone. And this is a great way to not only talk about you know their role and all of that, but to get to know each other as well, because at the end of the day, work isn't like. We spend most of our time at work and you don't want to be doing you know, you don't want to be talking about work forever Like you need to get to know people on a deeper level.

Speaker 2:

Then the next thing is starting your daily huddles. Now, for people who, for firm owners who think that daily huddles are not necessary, I'm more than happy to debate that with you because they are extremely necessary. A lot of firms, especially larger firms, think that with daily huddles it's just another meeting, like they don't have another 30 minutes to go through everything. But in reality, daily huddles don't need to go from more than 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how big the team is. But this is the time where your staff can ask you know, oh sorry, you can ask your staff what's your top priorities? What are you stuck on? What do you need help with? And that's super important for someone who's you know, first joining the team, because if they don't again feel that structure, then that's where things start to break down.

Speaker 2:

Then that's where where things start to break down. Um, and then you know you've also got your weekly huddles, but that's where the well, the weekly meetings that can take a little bit longer and you can go into different tasks a bit more, bit more structured and everything. But definitely make sure that you have an agenda, because you the last thing you want is to is to jump on a call and not have an agenda and your new team member sitting there going. I could be doing other things right now, but yeah, thomas, again I'm going to throw it back to you after every phase that we talk about. But in terms of the first week, and especially with the daily huddles, what have you found works or doesn't work in this, in this area?

Speaker 3:

yeah, I, especially with the daily huddles. I think team members, especially new ones, they get a bit shy, um, like, what do I share? I've just started, I don't really have anything on my plate. Everyone looks so busy. Uh, they get a bit of pressure to like you know, um, show that, you know I'm, I'm actually um, I'm actually moving along, I'm actually picking up things, and what I found work was just letting them know that it's okay. You just just, you know, take it in the daily huddles, just show up, um, do your best to, uh it, set your calendars up just like everyone else has. And yeah, it's just you know it can.

Speaker 3:

Definitely they can feel intimidated, especially when they're going into a firm and everything's systematized.

Speaker 3:

It's onboarding was smooth and daily huddle is everyone seems to just be sounding off on what they're doing next.

Speaker 3:

So it's just being able to give them that support, giving them that buddy experience, both as a mentor and then, you know, having them pair up with someone in the firm which tends to be someone that they're a peer with, like another intermediate accountant or a senior with like another intermediate accountant or a senior, or just finding opportunities to bring them into the same meeting together with their senior client manager and senior production manager, because that person what I've heard was they felt like that senior client manager was so far removed from them. But what they don't realize is actually actually they're actually working quite close together. They're only removed by one person being a senior production manager. But what they don't realize is actually they're actually working quite close together. They're only removed by one person being the senior production manager. I think a lot of it to do is with that emotional support. It's like they're going into a new school. They just need to feel a bit more comfortable and have a better chance of opening up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely Thanks, thomas. A better chance of opening up. Yeah, absolutely Thanks, thomas. Um, and also another thing that I forgot to mention is doing like an end of week check-in as well, to to just see how things are actually progressing along with the, with um, your new employee, um. But if we look at phase three, so this is where you should have um, I mean, you should already have this in place before they actually start, but it's, you know, the 30-day, 60-day and 90-day plan. So I've broken this down. So, with the 30 days, this is the core training they need to.

Speaker 2:

I have a lot of clients who think that it's especially with the seniors. They want someone who can hit the ground running. But with those situations you are sort of setting them up for failure, because there's always going to be something that they need to be trained on, there's going to be something that you do differently to other firms. So expecting them to hit the ground running from day one is it's not good for anyone. Um, there's too much pressure. But yeah, so making sure that you do, you do have those.

Speaker 2:

That, that core training within the first 30 days, um, the first 60 days is can they start working more? Um, like autonomously, like, can they start working more like autonomously, like, can they do things on their own before they have to reach out to someone? Not to say that they can't reach out to people, because obviously there's you always need to have people around you that you can reach out to but are they starting to be able to do that on their own? And also, you know there would there would be, hopefully there might be small wins, not not huge wins, but small wins, like being able to complete a task on their own, little things like that, and then by 90 days. This is where, um, you know, the performance comes into it as well. So, are they actually performing the way that you need them to perform, or do you need to re-evaluate things? Are they able to do a project, hopefully from start to finish, with minimal supervision and all of that? Now I can see that there's a lot of questions or there's a lot happening in the chat box.

Speaker 3:

Danny, we've got. I know, Aaron, you had your hand up as well, and maybe, Chris, you can give us one of your jokes. But Mina asked Dani, was there a screen to be shared?

Speaker 2:

I actually I stopped sharing my screen but there is links and stuff that I'll reshare my screen and then send you all the links. But I just I mean I prefer doing it this way rather than because that way I can actually see everyone, because when I'm sharing my screen I'm just seeing like two or three people.

Speaker 3:

You need six monitors.

Speaker 2:

I need what Jamie has.

Speaker 4:

I did have a quick question just about the daily huddle. Yeah, I did have a quick question just about the daily huddle. Yeah, so we've got staff members here who because we sort of allow flexible start times with families who have kids for school drop-offs and stuff so in that scenario is it like we're trying to figure out what is a good time to do our daily huddle, because obviously not everyone's here at 8.30 when we open up the office. So is it a good idea to still do it at a set time and then whoever gets here before that just starts work and we do the huddle at, say, 10 o'clock, for example, by the time everyone gets in, or are we better off just doing an afternoon one before everyone leaves? We're just trying to figure that out for our office.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'd love to hear, thomas, what you have to say, but I'll just quickly share, like what we do at wise talent, specifically because we've got chris in the philippines, paulina's in mexico, I'm in australia, um, so we always do hours at 11 or 11 30, depending on you know if there's a meeting or something, um, and yeah, paulina starts earlier than we do. She'll start a few hours early, but yeah, we find that around 11, 11, 30 is a good time, because that way we're all there, we're, we all. Pauline has already started doing her tasks for the day and then, that way, if she does have any questions, it's a perfect opportunity to ask, ask those questions. And same with chris and I, we've already started our tasks for the day. So, yeah, that's, that's just what we've found. But, thomas, what about you? Like with your firm?

Speaker 3:

yeah, um. Well, you know, sometimes, uh, you know, when we go through periods of daylight savings, uh, we end up doing ours at like 10.30. I think it's yeah, it would be like just like what you said, danny, the earliest time that makes sense, where everyone could be there. Okay, makes probably works the best.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Did anyone else have any questions that I've missed?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no um no that's okay.

Speaker 2:

Um, I'll just keep going. We are sort of running out of time with the yeah, so I'll keep going, um, so the next phase is so phase four, which is, uh, training and development. So, again, you know, you don't, you don't want to, you don't want your person to think that they, they need to hit the ground running. There always needs to be training, um, but if you can provide access to different things, so I think there's um, there's stuff like tax on the couch I hope I'm getting these names right tax on the couch, um, tax nuggets, thomas, are these right? These different um platforms that you know your, your employees, can use, and that way it's not just um, not just for onboarding, but also for everyone really to keep up to date. But again, if your new employee joins and they, they get access to these things, they're going to think once again that you're organized and you're prepared for them and you want them to thrive in their role. Yeah, so, making sure that you do something like that, even soft skill workshops as well. So, things on communication, but also time management, especially if they're more juniors, juniors who are still like, they're still finding their feet, they're learning about how to do tax returns and all these different things, and they're struggling with their time management. There are different workshops that you can basically get your staff involved with, that help with that area, and then, of course, team leading as well. So, if you've got someone, especially if they're like a senior accountant and they're ready to move up to like a senior production manager or even a client manager, depending on how long they've been there and and everything but they still need training. There's, again, different workshops that you can you can put your staff through that. That will help them with those skills.

Speaker 2:

Um, and then the next one is shadowing opportunities. So this is sort of I mean, it's exactly what it sounds like. So, yeah, if you're, if you've hired someone who, who's going to be like you've hired them for a senior accountant with the view to put them into a senior production manager role within the next three to six months, getting them to shadow you or whoever the relevant person is. That will help them to figure out what they need to do. And then, yeah, then the next one is to make sure that there is clear career paths and career development, and all of that because you don't want your staff to feel like they're stuck, especially when they first join a new firm.

Speaker 2:

It's all it's exciting for them, it's everything's new and on all of that. But they can very quickly figure out if this is the right firm for them and if there's not clear direction and all of that, and they're just sitting there, they go to work, they do their work, they leave and that's it. That's when problems start to arise, because they just feel like they're stuck and there's no career progression at all. But, thomas, what's your sort of take on this side of things in terms of training and career progression and all of that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's something that I got better over time was making it clear how exactly does your role progress into the next. And I've seen some firms do it really well, danny, where they would have this table that would have all the different skills and capabilities that are expected of them in each level of their role and they would kind of self-assess it. They'll say I'm confident in this, I'm not confident in this, and I found that that kind of gives them the opportunity to communicate what they actually want to develop and how they want to achieve that next level. So making that career path clear to them and then giving them a way to communicate. This is actually what I want to work on.

Speaker 3:

And so those resources that you mentioned tax nuggets and everything they're absolutely great. You know, we don't think of them as a retention tool. We think of them, as you know, we need to keep up to date with the ATL, but they really are a retention tool. It think of them, as you know, we need to keep up to date with the ATL, but they really are a retention tool. It gives the whole office the feeling like, oh, it's dynamic, we're learning, because it does get mundane doing passes in and out, tax returns in and out. But being exposed to that new knowledge, it feels exciting and it gives uh. For the office to talk about a hundred percent. That's really actually, interestingly enough, makes the office feel a lot more alive yeah, thanks, thomas.

Speaker 2:

Um, I remember I I had someone recently for a client, um, and before she signed the offer letter she was like I need to know that there's going to be ongoing training. Um, this, uh, this client was hiring her for an assistant client manager. But yeah, she was like, unless there's ongoing training, I don't, I don't want to join. She's like I want to keep upskilling everything.

Speaker 3:

Um, yeah, so that right there, like that's, it is really important to people it's like they're thinking in terms of, yes, they want to get compensated with money, but they also want to know that they actually are growing as well.

Speaker 2:

It just, it almost seems just as important, uh, if not more important than the money sometimes yeah, absolutely, um, and that sort of brings us to the the final phase about, um, like culture and belonging and everything with a firm um. Before I sort of get into these next ones, um, I will share there. Yeah, I have had another client, um, I can say so, christy, um, so I was doing a hire for Christy and when we were hiring for this, the person that we hired they came for or they had a different offer who was actually offering more money, but they loved what Christy was promoting, like in terms of culture and belonging and everything that they decided to go with her instead. Yeah, so it's, it's not always about money, um, and so if we look at these different things, um, so sharing company wins and, um, you know different, different rituals and stuff, so, like with wise, for example, we have like a team's channel, like we've got a couple of different group channels, um, but there's ones where you can share the wins, um, and it's always really exciting to see people sharing their wins, um, or celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, um, thomas, when, when you had your baby, and then it was like we saw these photos and even the progress of her and everything like that's really exciting.

Speaker 2:

Because, again, it's not, it's not just about work, um, our lives don't end at five o'clock, um, you know we've got a whole other thing that happens, um, but yeah, so I know some firms do like MVP of the month as well to keep their staff motivated. So if you're doing this and you know you've got a new people, a new person joining your, your firm, they're going to look at that and they're going to go, okay, like it. It's not all work and no play, um. And then the next thing is uh, yeah, so culture catch-ups. So we like there's like monthly culture catch-ups that you can do. We do like a end of what is it a Christmas, a virtual Christmas party. We're all remote but we still do our virtual Christmas party. I know some firms will do like end of financial year parties. Thomas, I'm not sure if your firm does that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, every Friday we have this like scribble drawing competition. I'm really sad I can't get to those because I have to go pick up my daughter, but it's just. Yeah, that little bit of competition and fun and that end of financial year catch-ups at Wise are honestly the best. You guys always come up with games sammy, selena, chris or you, danny you always come up with like an interesting agenda and it just brings a different energy. Um, yeah, it doesn't feel like work. If, if anything, you could just flex the uh, the team, nps and people would you know be dying to work at exactly and that's the next point about the NPS like making sure that you do NPS, like surveys and everything.

Speaker 2:

I think ours happens every two or three weeks, but yeah, this is really important. And making sure that it is anonymous as well, because people will open up more and, of course, if they want to take themselves off anonymous, they can. But yeah, like again when, when a new person starts, when they're being on board or when they're like that first, you know 60, 30, 60 days, um, if a survey comes through, they're going to go. Oh, okay, so my, my bosses, my managers, managers they actually care about what's going on. They want to know my feedback, um. And then the next thing is making sure that you like this, this, this isn't in order.

Speaker 2:

Um, this should be like right at the start, but, as a manager or a firm owner, making sure that you do have a conversation with your new, your new staff member. That's, it's not related to work. Um, again, I remember when I first joined WISE and I had a conversation with Jamie and he told me some some personal stuff not super personal, but just a little bit about himself. Um, and again, it built that connection. It got me to open up about myself as well. Um, he wasn't just like asking me questions from the get go, it was, he was telling me stuff about himself first. Um, yeah, so building that open communication with, with your new team member really does help. Um, and yeah, thomas, again, have you seen a difference between team members that you've you've done that with and that you haven't done that with?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I got to do that way better. I got, I mean, I, I I do talk to them a lot. I got to do way better at, you know, talking non-work. I can't, I can't help it, I can't be like I, I I guess, yeah, we, maybe I need a life, but like, yeah, I, I could do that way better.

Speaker 3:

Jamie does it amazingly. He's a people person. He's opening up about themself. But when, when that has happened, uh, it, it, just it, you definitely, um, give that person a chance to uh, open up about themself and just feel a lot more comfortable and, you know, willing to be vulnerable. And I think that extends a lot into creating a no blame culture, because you kind of intrinsically feel as a human that if I'm able to share personal things with you and you're able to share personal things with me, and we're getting to know each other as a person and what you're like, you know what you're, what you're driven by, what your buttons are that if I do make a mistake at my job, you'd be a lot more understanding, whereas you know, if you make a mistake and that person doesn't know anything about you or they, they don't seem to put that effort in it it feels a lot more uncertain and scary.

Speaker 1:

So Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Wise Way. If today's episode sparked an idea or helped you see things differently, please don't forget to leave us a review. And if you haven't subscribed to the podcast on your favorite platform yet, please go ahead and do that as well. Let's continue the conversation here through YouTube or any other social platforms that you can find us on. And just remember, if you're not a subscriber, our weekly Friday tip newsletter. You can get that to your inbox every week. Going forward, Whether you're starting out or scaling up, you don't have to do it alone. Let's build a business that works for you the wise way. We'll see you in the next episode.