Keeping the frogs in the wheelbarrow: how virtual onboarding creates positive team-enabling cultures

Rick Varma; Bradley Hastings

doi:10.1136/leader-2022-000665

Keeping the frogs in the wheelbarrow: how virtual onboarding creates positive team-enabling cultures

BMJ Lead. 2023 Feb 24:leader-2022-000665. doi: 10.1136/leader-2022-000665. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Rick Varma^{1

2}, Bradley Hastings³

Affiliations

¹ Sydney Sexual Health Centre, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia rick.varma@health.nsw.gov.au.
² Kirby Institute, Sydney, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 37192101
DOI: 10.1136/leader-2022-000665

Abstract

Introduction: The post-COVID-19 great resignation puts both employee retention and the onboarding of employees in the spotlight. In an effort to maintain workforce levels, healthcare leaders are turning their attention to both recruitment (ie, bringing new frogs into the wheelbarrow) and practices that create positive, team-enabling, cultures (ie, keeping frogs in the wheelbarrow).

Methods: In this paper, we illustrate our experience in building an employee onboarding programme as an efficient mechanism not only to immerse new professionals into existing teams but also to improve workplace culture and reduce team turnover. Key to its effectiveness, and in contrast with traditional large-scale culture change programmes, is that our programme provided a local cultural context via videos of our existing workforce in action.

Results: This online experience, primed new joiners in cultural norms, helping them navigate critical early period of socialisation into their new environment.

Keywords: Recruitment; engagement; management; trainees.