This seems like solid process to get someone from being "non employee" to being an "employee", which is super important. When I initially posted I was thinking more about the "new employee" to "assimilated team mate", without thinking of this very important aspect. Thanks for pointing this out.

Do you have a similar process for this "into team" stage of onboarding? Are the tools you mentioned useful?

Yes. This is where you get into culture, which is harder to foster.

A few things that I've observed helping:

- the aforementioned tech helps pointing the out "bridges" the can cross. Onboarding should capture team (team= DEV, or team=OPS or team=QA, etc) which gives the employee (via password manager), inmediate access to all the virtual "water coolers" that the team uses. Think slack channels, JIRA Projects or Clickup spaces. From that point its up to the candidate's curiosity, and helps the new addition feel included. Employees can't be a part of the team if they aren't part of the conversation. That conversation is the bridge they need to cross, of course.

- The military uses the buddy system for good reason. Its generally a very good idea to pair up hires during orientation if your pipeline allows for this, even if they are not the same function.

- Some extracurriculars are also helpful. Book clubs sponsored during company lunch time, periodic hackatons, etc.

- One thing that can help is a flex budget for late night dinner or drinks. A lot of socialization happens in the latter part of the day, particularly of the team is working late on a regular basis. The seamless credit, or that company tab in the bar across the street can go a long way. This just needs to be done responsibly.

Thanks for such a thoughtful response.