Onboarding at Taxdoo

Hello World, this is Onboarding

Almost 150 new colleagues. This was the badge we wore with the most pride in 2021. So many fresh and excited new-joiners started their Taxdoo journey with us: all coming from various industries and different backgrounds. At Taxdoo, we believe in the beauty of diversity. In fact, we aim for it, because we know that when different skill sets, experience levels, and cultures mix together, magic happens.

Working hard but happily over the years in the People Experience Team to develop our onboarding approach, we decided to take it to the next level. Quality being our passion, we know that you only get one chance to make a first impression.

My name is Kristin, and over the past few months, I’ve been working on designing and evaluating the content for the Taxdoo onboarding experience and making sure that it’s tailored to the individual paths of all of our employees. By having a dedicated People Experience team and in close collaboration with our recruiters and teams, we make sure that the newbie feels welcomed and is equipped with everything needed to get started.

Today, I’ll be taking you on a journey to explore what it took to develop our mission and execute our vision when it comes to welcoming all our new joiners.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

Benjamin Franklin

Since the start of the pandemic, a lot of our colleagues began their new journey with us from home. And because our team is made up of people from not only all corners of Germany, but also from different countries, we like to do our onboarding virtually. Apart from just creating content and making it available to all, we like to create it in a way that makes it engaging, but also allows for the process to be scalable.

Keeping our goal “Let’s maximize your impact” in mind, from day one we have been aiming at building an empowering onboarding experience that demonstrates the impact of all Taxis. Inspired by a favorite Benjamin Franklin quote that you see above, we encourage everyone to get involved by showing that their input is crucial to the company’s success – even from the beginning when they’re still new to Taxdoo.

This by itself fosters an environment of collaboration, allowing everyone to simultaneously experience how their work impacts other teams, and how other teams’ work impacts their own.

All under one roof

We know that learning is highly individual. Exactly because of this, we launched our first Learning Management System back in June. To keep it short, we either call it the LMS, or Learndoo: a name chosen by our team, perfectly encapsulating our collaboration approach.

Learndoo is not only here to make the lives of each of our Taxis much easier, but it also helps us in creating a more personalized, trackable, and automated experience for everyone – all that under one roof. As every day is a work in progress, we are now in the stage of reviewing all the content, making it more precise and impactful, and transforming it into engaging e-Learning formats, such as videos, animations, quizzes, and exercises that will help our employees track their own progress.

As collaboration plays an essential role in our process, we rely on the experts in our team to provide the Learning content. This allows the Learning Experience Team to focus on identifying the best ways for learning and optimize the processes even further.

Fast or slow, we encourage all

Time is valuable, and we know that. Being self-determined and learning at one’s own pace is essential when easing into a new role. Our high-quality and up-to-date content in a one-stop platform equips everyone with the necessary knowledge, all whilst providing them with an overview of our mission and vision, and making the whole experience as flexible as can be.

It doesn’t matter if someone prefers to do a deep-dive into the Onboarding in their first days and only concentrate on that, or they would rather have a balance between that, and getting acquainted with the team: Learndoo provides our new joiners with the perfect opportunity to work on their onboarding as they go. Equipped with its own learning dashboard and all the tools needed for acing each section, our LMS offers the support and the overview needed to get started.

Personal contact and bonding

We realize the importance of these two. Some people prefer working from home, while others love the environment they feel that only an office can provide. All we can do as an employer is to encourage everyone to work where they feel most productive, but still know that there is another option for them. We remain committed to synchronous video sessions like daily morning get-togethers or “Meet the Team” meetings. These are perfect platforms for getting to know each other. For those who want an even more social touch beyond the screen, social gatherings and events are the perfect glimpses into the Taxdoo company culture.

Personal contact and bonding can be difficult to construct in a remote-first office. This is why one of the first things a newbie learns about is Donuts. Donuts are 30-minute (more or less) conversations with another Taxi about anything they want and we encourage it to not be work-related. It can be done face-to-face, over a video call, in a coffee shop, or whilst having a walk. Anything goes. The only thing each newbie has to remember is: a donut a day keeps discomfort away.

Culture is key

Especially in the first weeks, there is a steep learning curve where anyone can feel overwhelmed by all the content. What we especially consider during onboarding is that learning not only refers to knowledge and skills but also to the newbie’s mindset and experiences. At Taxdoo we believe that it is not about knowing all the answers but about feeling confident and knowing who to ask when you feel unsure.

Ours is a culture of knowledge sharing, constructive feedback, and critical thinking – and it goes hand in hand with our values of Quality, Diversity, Simplicity, and Trust. With Trust, we aim to be self-directed and independent, Simplicity teaches us to be efficient, Diversity points us to respecting different levels of knowledge and individual learning goals, and Quality is all about approaching everything with sustainability in mind.

Last but not least

Taxdoo is a place where everyone can discover themselves and add new building blocks to their career. Personal development goals are key, so our development talks, which happen twice a year, are designed to help our Taxis take the next steps in their careers. The Learning Experience team will help our Taxis enhance their skills, knowledge, and competency. Some skills may only be reachable by partnering with other teams. In this way, we build bridges between different units and encourage even more collaboration, all whilst creating more empathy.

Kristin Dittler

People Experience Associate

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