Write more documentation, even if no-one reads it
How Fell Sunderland, a Tech Lead at Cleo, thinks about documentation and why it matters.
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We love to make a fuss about our new Cleople, and make sure they’re set up for success. So we’re spilling the tea on our onboarding process 👀
If you’ve just accepted a job at Cleo, huge congrats, and welcome 🎉
Or, if you're keen to know the chaos you’d be getting into.. this one’s for you. Here’s where you can find all of our open opportunities.
Disclaimer: The majority of our Cleople are based in the UK, so this post outlines what UK employees will experience. If you’re based in the EU or the US, then some things may look slightly different, but we still get the team together whenever the opportunity arises.
New joiners at Cleo are a pretty big deal. We’ve grown a huge amount over the past couple of years, but we still like to make everyone’s individual experience something to remember—we create a lot of hype 📣
So, you’re at offer stage. On accepting the role, you’ll receive a shiny Cleo branded offer letter detailing your role and all the fun things like our benefits offerings.
You’ll then receive your Cleo contract through DocuSign (a fun bedtime read). Once that’s signed, sealed, delivered then you are officially an employee and the initiation begins.
This is the period of time before you join Cleo, after signing your contract.
You’ll receive an invite to HiBob (goes by Bob), our HR System. You’ll help us out by doing a few admin bits, like filling in payroll forms so we can get you set up ahead of your start date. Everyone wants to be paid, right?
You can have a bit of fun when completing your profile details on hibob, as we use this info to introduce you to everyone at Cleo.
Here’s Cleo, our queen, setting an example:
A month before you join, you’ll receive our handy Org Chart, accompanied by a couple of links to blog posts that we love to shout out about - these are refreshed every couple of months.
Ben, our lovely IT Manager will reach out to get your equipment preferences. Once you’ve let us know we’ll get the ball rolling by ordering your equipment so it’s sent to you on time. We’ll keep you posted on delivery dates and times with tracking details.
If you’d like to come to the office on your first day then that’s totally fine too—you can pick it up from Cleo HQ.
In the background, all of our system admins will be notified to add you to the relevant systems depending on your role so you are ready to go on day uno!
Five days before you start, you’ll receive a welcome email. which outlines what to expect on your first day. This includes our employee handbook, how to get set up on our Cleo Staging App (to test the app, because we love to get everyone involved in that), what time you’ll be starting on day one, and when your first onboarding session with the People team will be.
This is the period of time from day one at Cleo to day 90. Sounds like a long time—trust us, it flies by.
This is a period of time where you’ll learn the ropes and get settled in. We want to make sure you have all you need, and most importantly that you’re having fun at the same time.
So, your first day is here. We’ve been hyped for a while and can’t wait for you to get started 🎉
If you’d like to come to our London office on your first day, we’ll round up the troops (your line manager, members of your squad/team) to come and join you. We’re flexible when it comes to working from home or coming into the office, so it’s not a given that they would usually be in.
You’ll start the day with a People Onboarding session, ran by a member of the People Team. We’ll talk through the team/squad structures, how we all work, benefits, how you’ll get paid and performance processes. It might feel like information overload, but we’re always here for any question you have.
During your first couple of weeks, you’ll also have a whole host of induction sessions put into your calendar. Most of these are deep dive sessions from each department at Cleo, to help you piece together how we all work together as a big team.
Our CEO also runs session with new joiners every month, so you’ll get the chance to roast him. No seriously—come with all your burning questions 🔥
Outside of the induction that the People Team run, you’ll have a meeting with your team/squad to say hello and welcome you to the team. You’ll then be added to any regular squad/team meetings.
We don’t want anyone to feel lonely during onboarding, so you’ll be assigned two different buddies—one in your team/squad and one outside of your team/squad. Both are there to help you get settled in. They’ll tell you about all the fun and upcoming socials we have on too.
On the note of socials, new joiner lunches are held monthly so our old timers can get to know our new joiners. These are hosted in the office, and are announced well ahead of time so we can get the gang together.
Cleo’s recently turned six, which means we’ve got lots of memories, key moments, and lingo you may hear thrown about. We know it can be daunting trying to pick this up, so we’ve made a Cleo Hall of Memes to help you navigate the chaos. Some of it may make you question our sanity…
You’ll meet with your line manager on your first day to say hello, and you’ll have your first 1:1 in your first week.
We use a handy People performance tool called Lattice which you can create agendas for your 1:1s and log all of your notes together, in one place.
Your manager will share your welcome document with you which breaks down your onboarding into:
This doc is super detailed to make sure you have all you need. Don’t worry, there’s a checklist for you to tick off at the end to help you navigate all the things.
Your manager will set you some SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound) to help get you set up for success.
By setting these goals you’ll understand what’s expected from you in your role, and you’ll know how you can go above and beyond.
We go big with our mission, so our high performance culture is super important.
In your first 90 days, you’ll have:
These are all the things to expect in your first 90 days.
If you take one thing from reading this post, it’s that you’ll have a team that’s ready to support you, no matter what role you’re in at Cleo.
Everyone is super approachable, and we’re always up for listening to your ideas and feedback.
How Fell Sunderland, a Tech Lead at Cleo, thinks about documentation and why it matters.
So, what's Cleo got to do with financial health? It seems to be all the rage for Fintech startups to talk about financial health at the moment.
Oli joined our Talent Team back in January. He gives an insight into his onboarding experience at Cleo!