This was said by a wise friend to me when I was contemplating changing jobs a couple of years ago. It stuck with me; she was absolutely right.

Knowing your colleagues, understanding your employer's strategy, goals, challenges, and, most importantly, knowing who holds formal power, and perhaps even more importantly, who holds informal power, is essential for navigating well at work.

It's a new month, and many are starting new jobs now. I send all of you a thought and a dose of sympathy. Because it's a gift to be able to do your job, and it's equally stressful not to have a clue.

What is expected of me, who can I ask about the things I should have understood already, and how do the social codes really work in this new universe?

When we onboard new colleagues at Stacc, I emphasize to them that it's natural to feel overwhelmed, it's almost expected. Our goal and task are to make the overwhelming period as short as possible. So how do we do that?

Well, we run a full Stacc extravaganza for three days in a row. We introduce technologies, tools, coding languages, concepts, faces, names, projects, and plans. We eat pizza, get used to the office, and sort out access cards and permissions. We are all over the Staccosphere.

In this way, we ensure that our new colleagues are as well-prepared as possible before we send them to their respective teams.

Onboarding is boarding a new culture; there are visible and invisible rules and norms to be learned and followed.

Becoming familiar with all the new things takes time, and it is our responsibility as an employer to teach the codes. In our case, to teach 'The Stacc way.'

With a strong start, we believe the rest goes more smoothly. Hopefully, our employees will get to enjoy the gift of being able to do their jobs a little faster.