Working with: BWP Group on their onboarding experience

Making onboarding an experience, not a checklist, to deliver a real difference

BWP want to recruit the best people and make sure they really feel part of the team. They use a six-month probation period, which may seem long, but they believe, in a fast-paced agency like theirs, it takes that long for people to fully understand and deliver in their role. It allows new starters time to learn and make mistakes without feeling the pressure to perform.

They were already confident of finding the right people (our work together on their recruitment process delivers this). Their priority now was providing an onboarding process to support new team members, help them deliver their best, and ensure they stay long beyond their probation.

Focusing on creating consistency and maintaining excitement from offer acceptance through to completing probation, I partnered with BWP conducting onboarding interviews with recent hires and developing a comprehensive process. I identified aspects which were working well, together with areas where there was opportunity to improve. I also gathered data before and after to demonstrate the impact of the changes.

The key to the new process was creating more than a checklist, and instead developing an onboarding experience which compliments the people-focused culture at BWP. The aim was that onboarding would be applied consistently and make the new starter feel part of the team, even before they arrived.

Follow up interviews have shown higher ratings for the onboarding process, greater consistency of induction plans, and lower turnover during probation. The new process also addresses a core gap for training in client-facing roles. And it doesn’t stop there.

I am regularly gathering insights from new starters and incorporating their feedback into the onboarding experience, so it continues to evolve with the agency.

The problem

BWP recognise how important onboarding is for retaining their employees. Having already invested in improving their recruitment process, reviewing how people are welcomed into the agency presented the next opportunity. BWP wanted to make sure everyone was getting the best possible start.

While some managers delivered a great onboarding experience, others struggled to give new employees the time and attention they need, and it was starting to impact retention. There was also a need to address a concern from the CEO – getting client-facing employees up to speed with client knowledge more quickly.

Working closely with the Director of Culture, Talent and Operations, I helped BWP move away from a traditional first day/week checklist and instead developed a cohesive onboarding process. This delivers support and connection, from acceptance of offer right through to the end of probation, by:

Creating an experience which can easily be adapted for different roles, while providing a structured onboarding plan everyone can apply
Building stronger connections between new employees and the agency early on
Dedicating time for client knowledge sharing for specific roles and departments
Re-introducing a ‘buddy’ system, giving each new starter a trusted contact to help them develop their understanding of the agency and how it works

Applying a new mindset:
Communicate, Listen, Understand, Act mindset

Communicate

Getting honest feedback on the current process

Before you can improve something, you need to know where you are, so that’s where I started.

The agency had a sense their employee onboarding process wasn’t working, and a list of ideas for how they might improve it. What they didn’t have were any facts or figures to back up their thoughts, just a feeling some things could be better.

I recommended getting employee feedback to explore suggestions for improvements and identify other areas of opportunity. After all, if you’re investing in your onboarding experience, you want to make sure you’re addressing as many improvements as you can in one go.

Taking a cross-section of recent hires (across different departments, seniorities, etc.), I set to work completing in-depth interviews. I focused on exploring the real opportunities to improve the onboarding process and on understanding the impact they might have on the business.

Being independent from BWP and focused on making things better, participants were open about their experiences and shared several opportunities for improvement with me.

Listen

Identifying common themes and areas of opportunity

When you do a project like this, it can be easy to focus on what isn’t working, but there were a lot of positives in the current onboarding process. New employees were generally happy with their onboarding experience, scoring it an average of 4.2 out of 5.

Insight from the interviews showed:

high satisfaction with onboarding once they arrived
well organised and useful training on core internal tools, processes and ways of working, and
new hires feeling welcomed and appreciated when they first started

However, new employees also reported a sudden gap in communication between accepting the role and their first day. There were lots of updates and emails during the recruitment process, and then nothing. New hires felt the silence and it created some unease about whether the culture truly was people-focused, or whether that was just marketing.

While the consensus showed a lot of things going well, here was a real opportunity to take a good process and make it great so it continued to build on the excitement felt during the recruitment experience.

Understand

Finding those details that have the biggest impact

The employee interviews allowed us to understand a variety of experiences. Whilst the overall theme was positive, there were nuances between individuals. And it was those that enabled me to find the changes which would have the biggest impact:

Lack of client training. BWP were right about this being a concern. Several client-facing employees indicated a lack of sufficient handover and insight into client accounts, with one employee rating client onboarding just 3 out of 5 (compared to 4.7 for BWP onboarding). It was clear BWP needed quicker and easier ways to help new starters understand how to effectively work with their clients
Inconsistency across teams. Some managers created excellent onboarding sessions, making sure their new team member had both the skills and connections to fit in quickly. Other managers skipped meetings and introductions to key contacts, leaving gaps in their team member’s knowledge. Making this consistent would help everyone feel more comfortable in their first few weeks and months.
Differences depending on seniority. Junior members of the team were happy their line manager was readily available. Those reporting into senior leaders, however, felt they weren’t getting enough face-to-face time with their manager when they first started. Re-introducing a buddy system, which BWP had used previously, would help address this by providing an additional point of contact who could provide support.

Act

Implementing the new onboarding experience

Once the research was done, I worked with the senior team and line managers to develop an onboarding process which was no longer a one-off activity. Instead, it is an experience which underpins the first six- to nine- months of someone’s time with BWP.

The changes ranged from providing structured communications right through to educating managers and buddies on their roles and responsibilities within the process. And the core focus was on the new starter’s experience, so they can see they’ve really been considered before starting.

As BWP moved to a new onboarding experience, the main changes were:

Developing an email sequence sent between acceptance and start date: I worked with the BWP team to create an engaging email sequence which now gets issued to all pending starters. They’re sent a who’s who guide and given a snapshot of what to expect during their first fortnight. They’re also introduced to their line manager and buddy and encouraged to ask any questions they have, even before they start.
Revising the onboarding checklist: This no longer sat with just the manager. Everyone involved in the onboarding experience can see what’s been done, what’s still left to do, and what they’re responsible for. This eases the burden on individual managers and ensures everyone gets a consistent introduction to BWP.
Onboarding handbooks for line managers and buddies: This was a key change. People involved in onboarding need to understand what’s expected of them at each stage. The handbook helps outline the role they play in making new employees successful, productive and engaged at BWP. After all, passing probation is as much the responsibility of the line manager as it is the new hire.
Creating time for dedicated client-facing training: All new starters receive BWP-specific training and induction sessions in their first week. For client-facing roles, this training period is extended and week two is now centred on client training, knowledge-sharing and support.
Introducing one and three-month check-ins during probation: BWP has always had a six-month probation period, but interim check-ins were inconsistent between managers. Regular reviews are now booked in advance as part of the onboarding schedule, which gives employees 360-degree feedback and guidance about how they’re getting on, so nothing comes as a surprise at their end of probation review.

While some of these changes seem quite small, the overall impact is significant. It’s all part of making a new employee feel part of the team and giving them support right from the start.

When you start a new position, it can feel daunting, especially if there’s a long lead time due to notice periods. BWP have addressed that by introducing an onboarding experience which reflects their culture of supporting their teams and driving strong connections throughout the agency.

What happened next?

Since the new onboarding process has been implemented, I have continued the one-month onboarding interviews with new hires. This helps us learn more about their experience and identify both where the process is having a positive impact and where it’s not working as expected. The summary from these calls has shown:

Greater onboarding experience: In 2024, BWP onboarded 20 new hires, with only one leaving during their probation period. New hires now rate the onboarding process 4.4/5, an improvement from the previous score of 4.2/5
Better employee engagement: Employees are responding positively to the changes and feeling more connected with their teams. One interviewee shared that the communication before joining “put me at ease and made starting less daunting”, suggesting the disconnect between recruitment and onboarding has been addressed.
Improved client onboarding: The introduction of dedicated client training has helped those in client-facing roles feel more confident about client expectations. They’re no longer commenting that they need to “pick up and run with things”, and instead feel prepared before they go to meet with clients for the first time.
Positive employee feedback: The start point for BWP’s onboarding experience was good. With its changes, it’s now fully in-keeping with their philosophy, and employees have made comments including:
- “The pre-boarding process was seamless, and I felt completely prepared for my first day”, and
- “This is the best onboarding I’ve experienced, with all the small things making a big difference”

WHAT THE CLIENT SAID:

Lynne has been the driving force and such a driver of change, thank you. I love the comms and the deck we now have to support our onboarding process and the feedback on the changes have just been brilliant. It’s had such an impact on our teams, it was even raised at our recent company update as an example of how we live our culture.

Jacey Bunker

Director of Culture, Talent and Operations, BWP

Looking for some support?

The benefit of having onboarding, recruitment and other people processes which link to your values is they do your marketing for you. You can connect everything together, so your people feel part of the team, even before they walk through the door.

Create an onboarding experience centred on a culture of business success. Book your call today and let’s chat through your next step.

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Working with: BWP Group on their onboarding experience