“We want them to have that feeling of I wish work started tomorrow instead of another week or whatever so that they have this energy, this vibe that they’re bringing.”
Marc Reifenrath
Marc Reifenrath and his co-founder at Spinutech have never ‘worked for the man’. As a university dorm start-up they didn’t go into corporate America, so they weren’t stained by some of the traditional leadership mentalities. Over the last 22 years, this multinational digital agency has employed 150+ team members. Their critical goal for the first 100 days is to set the tone of people’s careers and their journey at Spinutech.
“I think injecting the DNA of our culture and our core values into that new team member as quickly as possible, building loyalty, learning how their teammates interact with them, what their skill sets are and how they handle pressure. It’s all of those things to really get them to be the best version of themselves in our environment as they can possibly be,” says Marc.
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The onboarding process at Spinutech was formalised around four to five years ago. Over the last couple of years, it has been refined to become a very consistent experience for the new team member. There are four steps to the process.
1. Pre-start
The first 100 days technically starts on day one of employment. However, the process is probably more like a 115-day process because there is the typical HR paperwork to be signed. This is sent out and completed ahead of time.
The new team member also receives the swag that includes a $20 (or less) indulgence that is personalized to that individual and, if they are not in the office, a meal option such as a DoorDash so they can have a virtual lunch with their manager and team on day one.
2. Month One
Day one will involve meet-and-greet meetings with team leaders and the onboarding specialist will assist with the schedule. Reviewing the activities which need to be accomplished in the first week is done over lunch.
Ideally, Marc will meet the new team member on day one (sometime during week one in the worst-case scenario) and spend an hour doing a cultural and core values overview for onboarding – ‘if it is important to you, it should come from you’.
During week two, new team members complete any necessary certifications before they fully ramp up with client work. There are also weekly check-ins from the team leader, the onboarding person, the person who oversees the office culture, as well as a 15-day new hire survey.
The new team member will receive a welcome/thank you handwritten note of appreciation from Marc at the end of their first 30 days.
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3. Months Two to Six
Day 30-90 is focused on growth as the new team member starts to participate in training while diving into the work. During this period, they are getting onboarded and turning into a productive team member from a billing perspective, doing great work and learning.
There are still constant check-ins as well as a 60-day survey just to just make sure that everything is on track.
By the end of that 100 days, Marc’s goal is that the new team member is a defender of the Spinutech culture.
4. Beyond Six Months (or beyond that first 100 days)
At the six-month point, Marc does another check-in with them where a group will come together and celebrate their six-month anniversary.
The Spinutech 100-course level is the onboarding process and then it moves to 101, 201, 301.
This involves an ongoing cadence of the annual review, check-ins, training and the GBA (Get Better A). Just making sure that team members are developing a career path plan, are being taken care of and are having their needs met.
The complete The First 100 Days of a New Employee interview, can be listened to here, on audio platforms, or watched here, on The Culture of Things (TCoT) YouTube channel.
