- Speaker #0
Joining a new company is often a super stimulating challenge, and the onboarding process plays a very important role in making the most of the experience. Today, I'm happy to welcome two guests to discuss about onboarding, and not just any guests, Louise, who leads the employee experience at Thales, and Lionel, who joined Thales just a few months ago. But before I give my guest a proper welcome, jingle. Welcome to Say Hi to Your Career, the Thales podcast that helps you make the right career choices. In each episode, my guest and I provide you our best advice to help you succeed in your career. I'm Guillaume Coudert and I'm very happy to welcome you on this new episode. Hi Louise, hi Lionel. I'm very happy to welcome you on this new podcast episode to talk about a very interesting topic, onboarding. Louise, you are Global Employee Experience Director at Thales. And Lionel, you are Flight Engineering Delivery Manager. So my first question would be for you, Louise, if you accept.
- Speaker #1
Yes. Hey, everyone. How are you doing?
- Speaker #0
Happy to be with you. So what is exactly an onboarding process? What is it for?
- Speaker #1
That's a good question. So ultimately, when we have someone join Thales, a new employee, we... put in our best efforts to enable a positive onboarding experience, ultimately meaning supporting the new starter on their journey to get to know the organisation. So TELUS as a group, also their individual business line or GBU they might be part of because that's also a bit more than what we cover from a group perspective. and ultimately it's familiarization with us as an organization. It's familiarization with your processes in regards to getting started from the tech to phone to any applications. For example, if you're in engineering and our processes, of course it's meeting your manager and your team, understanding your environment and your site. So ultimately making you feel comfortable being part of the organization. and enabling a positive experience joining quite a large organization. So that's sort of in a nutshell what we do from an onboarding perspective.
- Speaker #0
Okay, so I understand it's to know about everything about the company, to be comfortable. Lionel, maybe I have a question for you. Like you joined Thales a few months ago. How did you feel about your integration? How was it? Did you feel comfortable?
- Speaker #2
Hi, everybody. Yes, thank you, Guillaume. Yes, I feel very comfortable. I just joined a few months ago in April and it was a new start. I was in another company, a big company just before, but you have to reset all your habits and markers. So it's a real challenge and you're restarting from the beginning and you need it. to discover everything and to relearn everything. So it's important to have something to ease your onboarding to allow you to quickly retrieve your different markers to be as efficient as possible and as soon as possible. So there is a real challenge here for newcomers just arriving from school and also for more experienced people. because it's a new start and it's always a bit difficult to reset everything and to relearn from start.
- Speaker #0
Okay, and if we talk especially about your experience, how was it? How was this day or this week? I don't know how long it lasted.
- Speaker #2
You have a different state because it started a month before. It started with Saint-Latour to say, yes, I'm joining Palace. We all agree all together to go forward. But after that, you have the... waiting period before months before the first day. And it's also part for me of the onboarding because you have some period where you need some feedback from the company to prepare yourself and be ready for the D1. So there is not only D1, but the preparation and the D1 and after the days after also to cover the whole process. So for each stage, you're... waiting some information of kind of interaction, not at the same pace, not for the same kind of material, but you need some feedback and interaction to keep the connection between the company and yourself to ease and prepare the onboarding.
- Speaker #0
Okay.
- Speaker #1
We support our managers at the outset, prior to our new starters coming on board, to ensure that they have a level of contact and engagement, because we know sometimes by signing the contract before you start can be a couple of months. So it's really making sure that people feel listened to and have a smooth integration even prior to starting.
- Speaker #0
So it begins a couple of months before the real integration, like physically. And when does it end? Maybe it never ends. I don't know.
- Speaker #1
That's a good point. Ultimately, given the complexity and the size of the organization, I think it also depends on the role. Of course, you get to know your business line or GBU. You get to know your team and your scope of work, your customers. But ultimately, we're a diverse organization. So I would say even if you've been here for five years, there will not be a day where you don't go oh i've learned something new i've uncovered something new so we certainly want to make sure that the first six months we really have more intensive time to help our people to sort of get on board to help efficiency and integration but then exploring the group exploring the opportunities and the way we do things and also our products clients and customers i think that's definitely an ongoing process so when you speak to people who have been here for five years they'll they'll be telling you there's still new things to learn every day.
- Speaker #0
You say like it could be different from one office to another one. Even in one company, you can have different onboarding process.
- Speaker #1
Absolutely. So we have a group onboarding process. Our new starters are individuals to onboard into the group. So we do that through e-learning. And we do that through like a welcome convention with the XCOM, where we have a live stream for individuals to hear from the XCOM directly who we are and enable them to ask questions. But that's at the group level. But we have, and I think Lionel, I'm sure you can give a really good example. We have a GBU, which is called LAS. And within LAS, we've got AMS. And Lionel would have had a very thorough experience, I hope, in regards to having an onboarding experience with AMS as the business line.
- Speaker #0
Lionel, maybe?
- Speaker #2
You have a different level of immersion and you need different level of information during your onboarding. You have information coming from the global group. from the company level to understand the culture, the values of the company, the vision, the mission of the company. But after, you're digging in the division and more local part of the site with different rules depending on the site. And after, you have the project level also, the organization level. So you have different level of onboarding of different kind of information. So that's why a part is really specific. to your local area and some other or more general um so it depends for sure depending on where you're attending okay yes very very interesting and we talk a lot about culture now in the like
- Speaker #0
the the work world and how were you able to discover the culture of Thales you know maybe with e-learnings or with meetings I don't know what were the tools oh you have
- Speaker #2
In learning, I think one of the best experience so far during my onboarding was the welcome days because it's part of a process, it's important. You meet some people, some experienced people in the company sharing their values and the drivers of the company and you're also meeting other newcomers so you can share with all mix of experience inside the company and to really focus on the way the company is going. And it's important to have this kind of elements so you can also take benefit of it. I have a better understanding of the other project or information you grab from the Thales, the big company as a whole. So for me, it's a really key part of the process of the underbonding process to have this part of the welcome days and to have all this information, even if sometimes. you could have some difficulties to absorb everything and to say okay I will take it, I will take it for later but it's part of the sharing inside the company.
- Speaker #0
I come back to you Louise, is it important to share the culture? Yes, it's something very important in an onboarding process?
- Speaker #1
Absolutely because we want to make sure that our new joiners understand what to expect from us, so in regards to the way we work and how we work and how we... work with each other. So super, super important. And that sort of also fits in with the fact that we kind of, well, we are set up in a matrix, so kind of like a matrix and a matrix and a matrix. When we have our new joiners, it's really important that we can explain and familiarize our new joiners in how their individual function or business unit sort of operates in this matrix. And that takes a little bit of time to sort of explain and for people sort of get their head around it because it is complex. But then that really helps you to understand what you can expect coming from different functions or when you have interactions. across the organization, like who belongs where and who interacts with whom. Particularly important because we want to make sure that people know when they need support, advice, assistance, like how do you go about that? Because just of the size and the complexity of the organization.
- Speaker #2
It's important, I think, to give meaning to people so they understand why they are doing things. And at all levels, it's really important for all your activities. When you're a developer, you need to understand why you are developing this line of code, what is the purpose of that. And it's true also when you're in a project to understand why you're working in that project and it's part of a whole and why the company is doing this kind of project and other projects and it's part of the meaning and the way you're here on a daily basis.
- Speaker #0
And Yonel, can we say now you feel fully on board? Thales, you still continue to learn a lot about the company, about the process, about the tools, about your colleagues, probably. I think we never stop to learn, no?
- Speaker #2
No, you never stop to learn, for sure. Each day you are more and more comfortable, but you still have a lot to learn. You have different levels of information to grab. at the beginning you are really focused on your project while you are here at the beginning people expect from you so so you need to be as efficient as possible and the quickest as possible so it's a bit tricky and you also learning and day after day and so it's continuous improvement to uh to grow in the company and uh and to uh put some priority and to say this part i will begin but later because I have priority here. And so day after day, it's better, but it's far from a finish at the time being.
- Speaker #0
Okay. So for example, I am Guillaume. I will be hired in Thales. So it's very nice. It's a good news. I will be the new employee, the new joiner. What do I have to know about the integration process? How can I prepare before joining the company? Even if I'm at home, because I don't know, maybe. now I'm in Paris, I will work in Toulouse as you, Lionel. What do I have to know to prepare myself the best?
- Speaker #1
It's a really good question. Be prepared that when you join from day one that you are comfortable to ask lots of questions. Just be in exploration mode and ask lots of questions. You do that prior to your day one, but also on day one ask all the questions. It's That's one of the awesome things is everyone's always really happy to share, to give advice, help people to understand. So that would be my key piece is be prepared to ask lots of questions.
- Speaker #0
So it's a good quality to be curious?
- Speaker #2
Yes,
- Speaker #1
absolutely.
- Speaker #0
Because sometimes, you know, to be too curious, it's not very good. But yes, for a company, it's very good to ask questions.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure Lionel can share also about this. For example, we do love acronyms. And sometimes I feel like people speak. in acronyms um so and we forget um that we're speaking in acronyms um so it's just important to actually say i have no idea what you're talking about just put it in
- Speaker #2
in plain language please so yeah no it's cool definitely curious is one of the key pieces um but now what about what about you Lionel what was your experience I think uh you're right you have to to ask a question for sure but you also have to listen to be a really uh open-minded at the beginning to really um learn by listening with active listening to uh stay humble and stay open to uh to new um new information and to grab all this information It could depend on your personality, but I think it's really important to listen and to look, to observe, to be able to quickly grab information. And you're right, the tricky part could be a different, you have the acronym, it's part of the process. Also the organization with the matrix in the matrix in the matrix, the project and different kind of link, the tools, because you have a lot of tools, administrative tools for sure.
- Speaker #0
That was not the best part, no?
- Speaker #2
No, but it's a bit strange because we are currently more and more digital everywhere. So it could be a real strength to digitalization. But currently, it's a mix in between in my point of view, because some part of really new tools, sometimes it's a mess with different kind of tools. uh it's kind of uh you have to feel a lot of information but it's not always really clear which is doing what and it's a project level it's at administrative level human resource level and very everywhere so that's why the in addition of the welcome days you also have the we have a human resource day to uh to present all the different tools or the different administrative administrative part and it's really key also to ease the onboarding because if you're coming from a school or from another company, you need to adjust everything and you will lose some time. So you need to try to reduce this gap and to quickly be performant. At the end, it should be a reflex and you don't have to think about it. But at the beginning, you think about everything and sometimes you are using the wrong tool or not in the good menu and so on. And it's a bit difficult. So, I think, but it's not only in Thales, in other companies also. Digitalization is not easy. It's really not easy to have only one tool to do everything, but this is not the case. You have a lot of tools. It would be amazing. Yes, for sure. But you are working on it with now.
- Speaker #1
Absolutely, yeah. You told me,
- Speaker #0
yeah, that is, yeah. So, yes, it's a very interesting topic, onboarding. For sure, it's like very technical. But why is it so important to have an onboarding process? Why is it important for candidates? Maybe, Louise, you can answer to that. Because some companies, they don't have any onboarding process. You arrive in the office, you have your pen, you have your laptop, and that's all.
- Speaker #1
Good point. Well, to help them ultimately feel comfortable having joined Talos, so being comfortable with being part of the group. and also being part of their team and they're part of the organization. And we also know that having a smooth onboarding process, enabling the individuals to feel comfortable, understand tool systems, processes, getting to know and getting access to right people, ultimately making them feel more comfortable, also helps us to ultimately reduce attrition. So from a pure HR perspective, of course, We want to make sure that when we have someone join that they remain with us because we and the new starter have gone through a lengthy process discovering each other, sort of making sure it's the right fit. And we want to make that experience good from the first day. So ultimately that they remain with the organization. So there's a correlation between the onboarding process and people staying, particularly sort of within the first 12 to 18 months. So, yeah. That's key for us.
- Speaker #0
They stay more in the company if they have a good onboarding process. And some, they could leave the company if they don't have a good one.
- Speaker #1
One of the reasons why people leave within the first 12 to 18 months is because ultimately they didn't have a great experience when they were onboarded and integrated into the organization, which creates dissatisfaction. Or also maybe the individuals don't have the right experience in regards to being part of the organization. So a good onboarding process helps us to remove that barrier.
- Speaker #2
nice you know maybe you wanted to react there are two parts here as always you need to be part of the big group to understand the big group if you want to have the feeling of a partner or to be really included in this group and for that the onboarding is really a key. You are not just part of a local team in a project, you are joining a big company so you need to understand the perimeter of the company and why you are in this company and the other important part of the onboarding. process is also to faster your ability to be fully efficient in your job. So for that, you need to have support and to be helped. So for me, it's also part of the onboarding process. The fact is, you need to feel at home in the company and also to be efficient in your job.
- Speaker #0
Now I understand more the word comfortable that you talked about, like Louise, at the beginning of the recording. Okay, very nice. So maybe my last question will be for the two of you. Because of course, Louise, you also were on board. I don't know when, but one day, what was your best experience? What you will never forget in your life, in your onboarding process?
- Speaker #1
Yeah, cool question. My onboarding experience, I joined Thales six years ago at a site here in Sydney, which is a beautiful site in Sydney Harbour, actually. Jealous. Yeah, it was very beautiful because you see the harbour bridge and you see the ocean. And really, the team made a huge effort to help me to immerse me into the activities of the site. So within the first two weeks, I understood the activities we do at the site and the importance of those activities, particularly for our customer. So ultimately, for me, it was learning about the site. It was learning about the customer, the customer needs and what we provide to the customer. I felt... very quickly that my job is important has purpose to support the team and ultimately a mission supporting the customer so it was a really fantastic experience and um six years later i'm still super happy to be part of part of the team um and yeah have had some really great experiences and opportunities so that was for me absolutely
- Speaker #0
amazing yeah i understood my job was important and definitely it is especially now and lionel maybe you can share something you will never forget you
- Speaker #2
No pressure for sure. No, I think in another company, in my previous experience, the welcome days, I go through all the assets of the company. The company was building some satellites and it was just amazing to see all the products delivered by the company. I was younger than today at this period.
- Speaker #0
You are still young, Lionel.
- Speaker #2
Yes, thank you Lionel. But it was impressive. You were a little kid in this kind of big room with a satellite. And you're a bit proud to be here today. Wow, it's amazing. And it's part also of the opening to see, look, look what we are producing. It's part of your job. Even if you're not working directly in that part, nevertheless, it's part of the company and you are part of the company. So it's part of you also. And it was really amazing. So it's also important to show what we are doing at the different level and what we are producing as a company to share that with everybody.
- Speaker #0
I think it's a very nice conclusion, this last sentence especially. So very nice to talk with you, Louise and Lionel, about onboarding. I hope you learned a lot. So it was very nice. Thanks a lot again. Thank you so much.
- Speaker #1
Great to connect with you.
- Speaker #2
Thank you, Louise. Thank you,
- Speaker #0
Guillaume. Thank you. Bye-bye. And say hello to Sydney for us, Louise. absolutely will do bye bye thanks a lot see you you've just listened to an episode of say hi to your career the talest podcast that helps you to succeed in your professional life we hope you enjoyed the interview if so don't hesitate to subscribe so you don't miss the next one Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just me.
