Spreetail Life

Onboarding at Spreetail

September 14, 2018

After relocating from Houston, TX, Gustavo Albino’s first day at Spreetail in November 2017 was just one of many firsts. New home. New state. New job.

“The first day is a day of excitement and nervousness. You go through the process of getting hired, being brought on board, and now it’s coming to fruition,” Albino said. “Luckily, Spreetail lived up to the hype of how we emphasize the culture here. People are open and inviting the moment you walk in.”  

During onboarding, new Spreetailers get a tour of the campus, numerous opportunities to make connections with others, and designated time to get acquainted with their team. These activities are all designed to help new employees develop relationships and support systems within Spreetail.

“Everyone makes the experience welcoming — not only the training specialists, but everyone you meet,” said Rick Mills, Customer Experience Specialist. “The onboarding process makes you comfortable to reach out to anyone and ask questions, which makes a world of difference when you’re getting into a new job and you’re already a little stressed. Plus, my onboarding group became like a little family.”

Spreetail’s Learning and Development team built the company’s comprehensive onboarding program in October 2017 with the goal of retaining talent, building relationships, and providing a well-rounded business education.  

“As a fast-growing company, we recognized the importance of creating a successful onboarding program,” said Tarryn Tietjen, Training and Development Specialist. “We wanted to develop a program where anyone could walk out of onboarding and truly understand how the company works, what their part is, and how the decisions they make impact every other department here.”  

Gustavo Albino works to unload pallets of product into the Spreetail fulfillment center in Lincoln, NE. All new employees complete fulfillment training within their first months at Spreetail.
Gustavo Albino works to unload pallets of product into the Spreetail fulfillment center in Lincoln, NE. All new employees complete fulfillment training within their first months at Spreetail.

Early on, new hires get exposure into the day-to-day life of Spreetailers across every department, interact with our customers, and even get the chance to see the inner workings of our fulfillment centers. The entire process gives new hires a complete look at the company and sets them up for future success.

“This is such an ownership and do-it-yourself culture here at Spreetail, but I think it’s really hard to feel comfortable right off the bat if you don’t understand the context,” said Taylor Kohl, Software Operations Manager. “But this process gives you that jumping off point of where you can own things right away.”  

The Learning and Development team is constantly looking for ways to improve upon the onboarding program. New challenges such as expanding into new office locations and fulfillment centers, bringing in larger onboarding classes, and the addition of new curriculum have added new elements to the program.  

“It’s important to scale our onboarding program the same way we’re scaling our business,” said Tietjen. “With a rapidly-growing team, we’re always looking for ways to maintain a sense of community by intentionally building connections between offices and cross-departmentally, and asking ourselves if we can maintain our trainings as we grow.”

Nonetheless, the goal remains the same: Bring new hires up to speed as fast as possible, allow them to build deep relationships with others, and help them make an immediate impact.

Albino’s advice for those first days at Spreetail, though, is simple.

“Soak it all in and enjoy it,” Albino said. “Take each moment in and embrace each experience. It will be memorable, impactful, and something you think about each day. You’ll recognize the importance of the functions we do to delight the customers and reach the big goals we’ve set for ourselves.”

Tyler Schuster

Sr. Product Copywriter

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