Need to onboard a UX writer in 30 days? No problem.
It can be overwhelming onboarding in a new role, especially remotely. Even if you’re back in the office, all new joiners need a solid onboarding plan to get them going. It‘ll also make your life so much easier as the newbie will feel fully trained up and it’ll reflect well on you. So, where should you begin?
Pre-first day tasks
Put together a high-level 4-week plan before they join by:
- Mapping out who their key stakeholders will be and setting up a quick intro with team leads, design leads, key product managers/owners and other writers in their first week. This doesn’t have to be all about work but just a simple intro of who they are, where they’ve come from and what they can typically expect day-to-day. Invite them to these placeholders on their first day.
- Inviting them to all team stand-ups, design huddles, townhalls etc so they can see how many meetings they’re expected to join but also get a sense of the team’s culture.
- Prep a message to send via email / Teams / Slack channels to introduce them so it’s ready to go on their first day.
- Think of initial projects they can get their teeth into for week 2/3 onwards. This could be a simple copy request or a project that’s about to start from scratch so they can get the full context.
Day 1/Week 1
All systems go!
Get the boring bits out of the way first. Make sure they have access to systems — Slack, Teams, Figma, Sketch etc is obvious so they can familiarise themselves with your team’s tools and actually communicate with the team!
Share team org charts
In between their 1:1s, share a team /department org chart so they can reach out to individuals to introduce themselves too. (This helps if you’ve forgotten anyone, too).
Share writing guides
Your team's go-to style guides and Tone of Voice guides should be documented in a safe place. Go through this with them with a fine tooth comb so they can get to grips with how the team writes. I urge them to bookmark it and keep it at the top of their list so they can quickly access it. At this point, I’ll share any wider company guides that we have e.g. brand and marketing guides (which should be aligned with yours). Naturally, as a writer, you’ll collaborate with these teams and work on an overarching style guide that the entire business can access.
Share company jargon
Ever been on a call and every other sentence has an acronym in it? Hello — I’m new here!
Stakeholders that have been at the company for a long time tend to use acronyms as their second language. To help your newbie, compile an acronym library and ask them to update it whenever they come across one in their first few weeks. If you’re a newbie reading this, don’t be afraid to ask what the acronym is during calls. It’s totally normal!
Share the design team’s handbook
Of course, I wiggled my way through to get a ‘content corner’ on the design team’s Figjam board (we’re part of the team anyway, right?). Here I mention who we are, what we do and our ways of working — this is particularly important when it comes to stakeholder management and their expectations. If we have a streamlined step-by-step process then it should all run smoothly. I talk more about collaborating with stakeholders here.
I also include all the other fun stuff here like style guide links, Tone of Voice guides, competitor research, writing for accessibility, examples of what good UX copy looks like and lots more.
Being an advocate for content design, it’s great to add some useful links, articles and resources here for stakeholders to learn more about what we do as UX writers / content designers. My favourite books, podcasts and websites for UX copy all sit here too.
First day in the office
While we’re all easing back into office life, your newbie isn’t going to have a clue where to go and what to do. Break it down simply for them and help out as much as possible. There are first-day nerves and more frequently now first-day back-to-office nerves.
Let them know how to get into the building. How to get up to the right floor. Show them where the kitchen and toilets are. How to book a desk. Where the best cafes are to buy lunch. Let them know what other fun amenities your office has in store (thinking along the lines of yoga rooms and table tennis if you’re lucky).
Week 2–4
So, your newbie is settling in and you want to see what they’re really about (without scaring them off). They have access to all systems, they’ve read through the style guide 100+ times and they’ve met most of the team.
At this stage, it’s a good idea to let them explore a small, simple project so they can get a feel for how things operate. You might ask them to rewrite a poor piece of work or get them started on a brand-new project that’s about to kick off so they get the full context early on. Even if I’m not their manager, I’ll stay close to their work for the first few weeks to make sure they’re on the right track. This helps them feel more comfortable going forward and increases their confidence knowing they’re going in the right direction. I set up a private Slack channel with other writers so they feel free to ask what they want in a safe space.
