How to Be a Great Buddy

A buddy system, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is an arrangement in which two individuals are paired. In the workplace, the system acts as an onboarding and knowledge-sharing method that is implemented to help new employees adjust to the new team and company dynamic. However, the buddy role should not be seen as the intern having an additional supervisor. Instead, it involves the experienced buddy being assigned the role of a guide and mentor. The two individuals in the buddy system operate as a single unit, supporting each other in work-related activities.

Starting a new job and coming to a new work environment, where you need to establish new relationships and learn new processes can always be a little frightening. To alleviate some of the stress, HR provides the buddy system, where each newcomer will have a person they can reach out to with any questions.

What is a buddy?

In the beginning, there will often be times when you see all of your colleagues are busy and you don’t know which of them to go to with your question. In order not to feel “lost”, you have a buddy that will be here to answer all of your questions and help you to get to know the organization pretty well.

Being a buddy is an important role within the company. As a buddy, you are the first person that the new employee will get to know, so try to make the best impression for yourself and the project that you work on. A good buddy can make starting a new company a smooth and enjoyable process, making new starters feel welcomed and valued, and enabling them to hit the ground running.

Always give them some tips from your starting days, what were the things that helped you during your onboarding period - try to speak from experience.

What are the responsibilities of a good buddy?

While there is no comprehensive list of all the tasks a good buddy should handle, we can outline some that are commonly agreed upon.

• Find the materials needed for the onboarding process, and provide general information on the project structure and procedures.
• Provide helpful insights regarding guidelines, timesheets, leave of absence, unspoken office rules, and similar information that may be useful to newcomers.
• Communicate clearly, and listen patiently. Split information into smaller chunks to avoid overwhelming them.
• Encourage them to learn and grow. Let them see your mistakes and show them how to handle such situations.
• Help your buddy to learn their role. They have to have problem-solving skills, try to help them to develop those skills, and let them become more independent. Always lead them in making what will be the best solution, but leave them to make the final decision - it will help them build confidence. Remember that it’s okay to say ‘I don’t know’, as you are not expected to be perfect.
• Give the new member some time to get a handle on things and then follow up, listen to what they have in their heads, and just fill in with small portions of information. After some time, they will have some ideas for improving the processes.

Assisting with goal setting. It can be very useful to talk to someone about your broader goals and to have them hold you accountable. Sharing a goal often makes it more meaningful and gives you more motivation to reach it.

Why is the Buddy Program important in the onboarding process?

With an onboarding buddy program, the new employee feels supported, engaged, and made to feel like part of the team from day one. Confidence is guaranteed, and new employees can feel valuable. A few of the benefits of having a buddy program are:

• Making it easier for a new employee more comfortable in the workplace.
• Improves job satisfaction, which in turn increases employee retention.
• Builds relationships between employees.
• Enhances skills and knowledge acquisition, while also introducing new learning opportunities. Onboarding buddies improve their overall productivity.

If you want to keep your new talents around, it's essential to provide them with a positive onboarding experience, as research shows that, with a solid onboarding program, employees are 70% more productive and 82% more committed to their job.

How to properly execute the first meeting between buddies

Be friendly, be chatty, and break the ice. Try to be in close contact with the person, and get on call as often as you can. Each of the interns is hidden a little insecurity about how they will manage to adapt to the new environment.

Spend some time getting to know each other. What both of you are interested in, and find common useful topics that you can discuss so that the intern can feel more comfortable and speak more.

It’s important to relate to your buddy and understand their perspectives and feelings. If they’re having a bad day, you should pick up on their energy and work to help them through it.

You might think empathy cannot be taught, but with practice, you can achieve higher levels. This requires active effort by listening more, being more curious about others, and always appreciating those who are different from you.

Examples of companies that have successfully implemented a buddy system

• Apple - new hires with buddies were 23% more satisfied with their overall onboarding experience, and 73% indicated that having a buddy system at work helped them to become more productive in their role. The buddy’s job is to give answers and provide support or reassurance as needed, whenever the new hire has questions or concerns about Apple or his own job.
• Microsoft - actively uses buddy systems to boost productivity and improve new employee satisfaction. After piloting their first buddy program with 600 employees, they saw a 36% increase in satisfaction.
• Google - uses an online onboarding checklist to remind managers to review the process with the new hires. The goal is to trigger managers about the five small tasks and speed up the ramp-up time of their new hires. Statistics show that the newcomers whose managers followed this checklist became effective in their roles 25% faster than other employees.
• Schneider Electric - comparably shows that 81% of employees with Schneider Electric expressed satisfaction within their first 90 days of onboarding with the company. In a company blog post, Chief Digital Officer, Peter Weckesser, talks about the virtual onboarding he experienced when he joined the company in 2020. Weckesser says that during his first few weeks with Schneider Electric, he found himself “immersed and connected in the company - even more than would have been possible otherwise.”
• Zapier - Employees spend their first week getting familiar with the company and their team. In the second week, they are starting to work on small tasks. And by week 3, they start collaborating with other teams on cross-functional projects. Zapier’s onboarding is a success because new hires have the freedom to settle into the company and their role, without being overwhelmed with abundant information and redundant processes.
• The buddy system is even used in the United States Armed Forces and is referred to by various names such as "Wingmen" in the Air Force and "Battle Buddies" in the Army. It is also present in the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of America.

Advice for the interns

Ask and listen

• Don’t be afraid to ask a large number of questions and be prepared to soak up all the information like a sponge. There are no stupid questions in the beginning.
• Listen more, and read carefully every documentation that is given to you. In each section is hidden the necessary information that you will need in the future. Spend some days reading the “boring” documentation, as in the long run, it is the most important.
• It's okay to make mistakes in the beginning, don’t be afraid of it. Learn a valuable lesson from your mistakes and improve your knowledge. While sometimes still unavoidable, to avoid making as many mistakes, double-check everything that you do. It will be much better if you ask for an additional hour to finish your task than finish it quickly with a lot of mistakes and errors in it.
• Take Notes! Take notes at the beginning, even for the things that you think are not that important. Listen and take notes, so that later you can try doing the things that you learned by yourself while avoiding having to ask the same questions.

Network, network - meet as many people as possible

• It’s important to always be outgoing and eager to meet your colleagues, coordinators, and mentors. They’ll help improve your experience and teach you.
• Networking is a two-way street, so think about how you can add value to your connections, not just what they can do for you.

Feedback

• Share your feedback and ask for your feedback on time. The feedback should be heard by both sides. Hear what the other person has to say and take steps to implement those changes.
• Feedback allows development and growth within an organization, while, in addition, improving the levels of trust and communication between the employees.

Challenge

• Bring up ideas you have ... quietly. Your weekly chat with your team lead is a good place for this. Big meetings are not.
• Demonstrate proactiveness (but in the right way). Be open-minded and proactive. Say YES to each of the given tasks, don’t feel scared if you don’t know what it means. You will learn something new, which will be beneficial to your growth.
• Be yourself. Show the company who you are and what you can bring to the table.
• If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the tasks that you have, talk to your buddy or team lead about prioritizing your work.
• We learn together, we grow together.

Overall, the buddy system is an excellent way to introduce someone new into an existing team culture, while also providing them with the guidance and opportunities to grow alongside their team.