Employee Onboarding Guide

What is the Problem?

Many newcomers from around the world come to a company like trivago to start a new job. They also arrive to an unknown city where they would have to adapt, start a new life and get settled in.  Its is not easy to know what to do, where to go and in how to start. Being new in a city and to a new culture requires a lot of effort, time, focus and motivation in order to get settled in the city.

When I started at trivago I went through an introduction week program in order to inform new employees about the companys structure, departments and values. There were newcomers from all over the world who came to work in the company and start a life in the city of Düsseldorf.  

As a newcommer I realised right away there was a lack of material and information for helping newcommers getting settled in the city. The introduction week was more focused on the company itself. 

I have heard a lot of complaints from employees due to the fact that they experienced back and forth process in bureaucratic circumstances. For example in Germany you must get a bank account before you buy a phone, or register in the city before you find an apartment. All of these problems could be avoided if only the required steps, order and the recommended contacts and addresses were informed at the beginning. Many newcomers have no idea how to deal with these situations, in which order they should do them, where to go and how to handle everything despise also the foreign language barrier. The lack of information causes the newcomer to feel stressed, overwhelmed and frustrated.

I think it is very important for a company to welcome newcomers from abroad by facilitating their arrival process into getting settled in the city. My proposal was to solve this problem by providing a "Get Settled in Düsseldorf Guide".

The important aspects that need to be addressed in order to provide a solution (Onboarding Guide) for the newcomers were:

. Inform what should be done in order for newcomers to settle in Düsseldorf.

. Order of procedures (to avoid back and forth visits and bureaucracy problems).

. Addresses: Provide a Map Guide with the most important offices and places to go for getting your papers ready.

. Recommended places to go.

. Importants contacts like translators, VISA advisor and officials in order to help you on your moving and getting settled.

. Avoid pin-pong back and forth asking. Many employees had to visit HR and asked employees to solve their problems and get informed. This wastes a lot of time from their productiveness at their own desks.

I came up with the idea to develop and design an Onboarding Kit/Guide for the newcomers. This guide includes all the necessary steps and information for getting settled in the city of Dusseldorf.

The Kit includes a portable map guide containing all the information, contacts, city map and necessary steps all in oder of procedure. 

The Map Guide was designed using trivago style guidelines in order for it to be a first welcoming and branded product delivered to the new employees.