Testing the Buddy Program ( Human Resources ) Tool : learning launch Author : Natalya Kotov March 22 , 2020 

 CHALLENGE I work in HR for a big multinational . Over past few months we have been   deep diving into employee experience of new hires . After interviewing tens of   new joiners across several countries and conducting journey mapping   sessions with them , we have identiﬁed a recurring pain point . Most of new   hires did not have a buddy ( guide ) to support them during their initial weeks .   What was missing is someone available to answer their questions , introduce   to other people , show around the ofﬁce , describe company culture . New hires   were highlighting the social aspect more than a need for a speciﬁc technical   onboarding . Despite the support from their hiring managers , formal induction   programs and team lunches , the problem was clear : new hires felt   unsupported . 

 SELECTION To tackle this problem , a team of 5 HR professionals from different streams   was formed . I was the project leader . During our ideation session we came up   with a volunteer - based Buddy program . We draw how the ﬂow would look like   - how a buddy and a new hire would meet and what would be the mechanics   of the program . We have identiﬁed one major risk - what if no one wants to be   a buddy ? what if no one volunteers ?   We needed to test the program on a smaller scale : for 1 location , 1 legal   entity and 1 month ( 1 round of new hires ) , to see if our assumptions will be   validated and learn what works well and what does not .   Learning goals :   a ) if we ask employees to volunteer to become a buddy , we will have enough 

 volunteers to cover all new hires in a given month ( around 20 new joiners   were expected . No rewarding scheme offered , just positive motivation and   an opportunity to meet new people ) . 

 b ) we will brief volunteers on what it means to be a great buddy and what is 

 expected from them . After this session , 80 % of volunteers will be still   engaged and ready to be a buddy . Buddies will be happy to do this which   will result with high satisfaction scores after 1 month with new hires   ( metric : satisfaction 1 - 5 , targeted the average of 4 ) . They will also agree   to participate again . 

 c ) we will ask new hires to evaluate the program after 1 month ( success   metrics : every new hire has a buddy ; positive NPS score ) 

 d ) we will test if it matters that buddy comes from a different team ( metrics : 

 NPS from new hires , qualitative feedback from hiring managers ) . 

 APPLICATION : 

 We selected one test legal entity with sufﬁcient number of new hires   expected . We launched a simple communication campaign , one email and   one intranet page banner , asking employees to volunteer and join the   program . We also informed them that this is an experimental program , so we   will be asking them for feedback frequently , to learn what works well and what   does n’t .   a ) In the ﬁrst week , 22 employees volunteered ( out of 200 targeted 

 population ) vs expected 18 new hires . 

 b ) Brieﬁng session for future buddies resulted with positive feedback and 

 high satisfaction scores . Buddies told us that they know what is expected   from them ( 100 % responded “ we are ready ” via a short survey ) . We sent   them the list of new hires and asked to assign themselves and reach out   to the new hire offering guidance . 

 c ) Within a week , all new hires had a buddy . After 1 month we sent them a   quick survey asking how they would evaluate that experience and which   aspects of the Buddy support is most appreciated . We got new learnings   in : it is really important that buddies make time to be available for   questions and have informal chats over a coffee / lunch . The NPS score   was 50 + . We also asked buddies if they would like to continue   volunteering and all said “ Yes ” except for 1 person who was leaving the   company . 

 d ) New hires did not mention anything around the need for technical or 

 functional knowledge as their expectation towards the buddy . We   interviewed 15 hiring managers and they said that they see a great value   of a buddy being from a different team , because they can increase new   hires network from early days . 

 Overall , we validated , that volunteer - based program could work . We ran   second sprint ( months 2 for a batch of 7 new hires ) to ﬁne - tune certain   elements and collect more insights . 

 INSIGHT : Thanks to the learning launch we we able to : - simulate the ﬂow of the program , deﬁne key roles and investment needed 

 - identify success factors for the program to work ( like the need to explain to 

 buddies what is their role and empower them , the pool of volunteers needs   to be monitored and constantly sourced ) 

 - identify core metrics ( like satisfaction and NPS from buddies , NPS from 

 new hires ) 

 - convince our key stakeholders that such program could work , based on 

 data and insights 

 - we concluded that volunteering could be perceived differently in various 

 cultural contexts , so we recommended other afﬁliates to use testing   approach before the full launch to validate 

 - today Buddy program is offered as a ready - to - deploy product to multiple 

 markets . We have also set - up a globally aligned listening approach for   NPS scores across the new hire journey . 

 APPROACH ( conclusion ) Learning launch is deﬁnitely a way to go in a multinational company , before   designing global programs , policies , systems with big investment required . To   test any product on a smaller scale to learn in relatively safe set - up , where   you can fail faster , without burning money .   For me it was great to see how simple it is to apply when you have a small   team of people focused on the “ question ” and constantly looking for data and   insights to validate / invalidate and not debating opinions . Right mindset and   teamwork are key . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Natalya Kotov
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Testing the Buddy Program ( Human Resources ) Tool : learning launch Author : Natalya Kotov March 22 , 2020 

 CHALLENGE I work in HR for a big multinational . Over past few months we have been   deep diving into employee experience of new hires . After interviewing tens of   new joiners across several countries and conducting journey mapping   sessions with them , we have identiﬁed a recurring pain point . Most of new   hires did not have a buddy ( guide ) to support them during their initial weeks .   What was missing is someone available to answer their questions , introduce   to other people , show around the ofﬁce , describe company culture . New hires   were highlighting the social aspect more than a need for a speciﬁc technical   onboarding . Despite the support from their hiring managers , formal induction   programs and team lunches , the problem was clear : new hires felt   unsupported . 

 SELECTION To tackle this problem , a team of 5 HR professionals from different streams   was formed . I was the project leader . During our ideation session we came up   with a volunteer - based Buddy program . We draw how the ﬂow would look like   - how a buddy and a new hire would meet and what would be the mechanics   of the program . We have identiﬁed one major risk - what if no one wants to be   a buddy ? what if no one volunteers ?   We needed to test the program on a smaller scale : for 1 location , 1 legal   entity and 1 month ( 1 round of new hires ) , to see if our assumptions will be   validated and learn what works well and what does not .   Learning goals :   a ) if we ask employees to volunteer to become a buddy , we will have enough 

 volunteers to cover all new hires in a given month ( around 20 new joiners   were expected . No rewarding scheme offered , just positive motivation and   an opportunity to meet new people ) . 

 b ) we will brief volunteers on what it means to be a great buddy and what is 

 expected from them . After this session , 80 % of volunteers will be still   engaged and ready to be a buddy . Buddies will be happy to do this which   will result with high satisfaction scores after 1 month with new hires   ( metric : satisfaction 1 - 5 , targeted the average of 4 ) . They will also agree   to participate again . 

 c ) we will ask new hires to evaluate the program after 1 month ( success   metrics : every new hire has a buddy ; positive NPS score ) 

 d ) we will test if it matters that buddy comes from a different team ( metrics : 

 NPS from new hires , qualitative feedback from hiring managers ) . 

 APPLICATION : 

 We selected one test legal entity with sufﬁcient number of new hires   expected . We launched a simple communication campaign , one email and   one intranet page banner , asking employees to volunteer and join the   program . We also informed them that this is an experimental program , so we   will be asking them for feedback frequently , to learn what works well and what   does n’t .   a ) In the ﬁrst week , 22 employees volunteered ( out of 200 targeted 

 population ) vs expected 18 new hires . 

 b ) Brieﬁng session for future buddies resulted with positive feedback and 

 high satisfaction scores . Buddies told us that they know what is expected   from them ( 100 % responded “ we are ready ” via a short survey ) . We sent   them the list of new hires and asked to assign themselves and reach out   to the new hire offering guidance . 

 c ) Within a week , all new hires had a buddy . After 1 month we sent them a   quick survey asking how they would evaluate that experience and which   aspects of the Buddy support is most appreciated . We got new learnings   in : it is really important that buddies make time to be available for   questions and have informal chats over a coffee / lunch . The NPS score   was 50 + . We also asked buddies if they would like to continue   volunteering and all said “ Yes ” except for 1 person who was leaving the   company . 

 d ) New hires did not mention anything around the need for technical or 

 functional knowledge as their expectation towards the buddy . We   interviewed 15 hiring managers and they said that they see a great value   of a buddy being from a different team , because they can increase new   hires network from early days . 

 Overall , we validated , that volunteer - based program could work . We ran   second sprint ( months 2 for a batch of 7 new hires ) to ﬁne - tune certain   elements and collect more insights . 

 INSIGHT : Thanks to the learning launch we we able to : - simulate the ﬂow of the program , deﬁne key roles and investment needed 

 - identify success factors for the program to work ( like the need to explain to 

 buddies what is their role and empower them , the pool of volunteers needs   to be monitored and constantly sourced ) 

 - identify core metrics ( like satisfaction and NPS from buddies , NPS from 

 new hires ) 

 - convince our key stakeholders that such program could work , based on 

 data and insights 

 - we concluded that volunteering could be perceived differently in various 

 cultural contexts , so we recommended other afﬁliates to use testing   approach before the full launch to validate 

 - today Buddy program is offered as a ready - to - deploy product to multiple 

 markets . We have also set - up a globally aligned listening approach for   NPS scores across the new hire journey . 

 APPROACH ( conclusion ) Learning launch is deﬁnitely a way to go in a multinational company , before   designing global programs , policies , systems with big investment required . To   test any product on a smaller scale to learn in relatively safe set - up , where   you can fail faster , without burning money .   For me it was great to see how simple it is to apply when you have a small   team of people focused on the “ question ” and constantly looking for data and   insights to validate / invalidate and not debating opinions . Right mindset and   teamwork are key .
### Output: 