3.4 Develop and implement a “buddy system” for new employees as part of the onboarding process
Content
Description of Best Practices
Establish a quality “buddy system” for new employees with:
- Clear targets, roles, and time frame (best practice is to pair buddy and new employee for a year)
- One person responsible for the selection of buddies, matching process, quality management and evaluation of success
Match employees from different organizational and job backgrounds to enforce cross-departmental learning and allow new hires to get more insight into different aspects of the corporation and business
Match women entering the company with someone from an operational or technical field to reduce barriers, make technical areas more accessible
Encourage buddies to bring their protégés to their own workplace (e.g., job shadowing day) and/or introduce the new employee to their own informal network
Challenges of Implementation
Company may not have sufficient resources to set up the system
Corporate or local culture may not be supportive of pairing women and men
The same employees always volunteer to be a buddy
The process may get stuck due to time constraints faced by the buddy and the protégé, and when not reinforced by the program manager
What Success Looks Like
Well-established system is in place with a good number of buddies from different departments and work areas
New hires gain exposure to different business areas, which helps them to establish professional relations for cross-sectional working
New hires are equipped with a back-up network helping them to address questions and issues they may not want to discuss within their new departments
Retention, productivity, and satisfaction of new hires improves
Resources and Tools
Report/Study: Implementing a Buddy System in the Workplace (Project Management Institute)
Article: To Buddy or Not to Buddy? (HR Gazette)