Onboarding: What Should You Know About Your First Days At Monterail?

Hello there!

If you’re reading this article, chances are you’ll be joining our Monterail team soon. First, congratulations! We’re happy to have you and we can’t wait to finally meet you in person. Hopefully, you feel the same way.

Not that long ago I was in your position. Signing my contract of employment and wondering how my first days in Monterail are going to look like. I was wondering not only about who I am going to meet or whether I should in any way prepare myself but I also wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of dress code or even packing my own lunch. Questions and uncertainties are usually piling up before starting any new job so we’d like to make it a little easier for you and illustrate the onboarding process you’ll experience at Monterail.

Onboarding: Remote-First

We have always supported remote work at Monterail but at the same time, we encourage our employees to join us in the office in Wrocław. It’s all completely up to you. We’re with you no matter what you choose—whether you prefer to work from home or enjoy our modern and comfy office located in the heart of Wrocław’s old town. Don’t forget you can always decide on hybrid mode and join the rest of the team in the office whenever you feel like it.

A few days before your first day at Monterail you should receive an email from a member of the People Team asking about your preferences. The first option is joining us online for the onboarding process. The second option is coming to the office to meet some of the team in person and attending the meetings from one of our many cozy conference rooms. 

It’s probable that you’re not the only person joining us at the same time. We usually try to organize group onboardings but occasionally you may be the only one joining us that day. In that case, all your meetings will be 1:1. No matter the situation, we’ll stick to our well-tried plan and flow. 

How Remote Onboarding Looks Like

You’ve decided to join the Onboarding process from home—a great choice. Someone should have already gotten in touch with you regarding delivering you a new computer or some financial support in case you’ll be using your own equipment. Usually, we make sure your laptop gets to you at least a day or two before your first day at Monterail so feel free to adjust it to your needs before the start of the Onboarding process. 

When the hardware is ready, someone from the People Team will contact you in the morning on Day 1 to provide you with a password to your brand new Monterail Gmail address. You can expect dozens of invitations to onboarding meetings. You’ll attend all of them online via Zoom or Google Meet so sit down comfortably and get ready for a large dose of knowledge. 

How Onboarding in the Office Looks Like

Joining us in the office on your first day? We can’t wait to meet you here in person. The email you got from our People Team probably mentioned the start time of Day 1 of your onboarding. Well, make sure to get here at least 30 minutes before the first meeting begins as we still need to provide you with your new laptop which you need to set up, and most importantly we would love to show you around the office before you begin the series of meetings. 

Once we’re done with that, we’re going to point you to the conference room in which you can connect to all the meetings in peace with no interruptions. Chances are, some of the people conducting the training might be in the office as well so you’ll get to meet face to face, have more personal experience and maybe ask some additional questions after the official part of the meeting. The best part of having your first day in the office? Lunch break! You’ll have a great opportunity to meet some of us already while having lunch in our spacious kitchen, the heart of Monterail’s office. No pressure though, if you feel like spending your lunch break outside, feel free to do so. 

Side note: if you’re wondering how to dress on your first day at work, dress comfortably. At Monterail we don’t have a dress code so feel free to wear whatever suits you best. 

Onboarding Day 1

So now that you have your laptop ready and you’re all logged in to your Gmail account it’s time to begin. The first meeting of the day is an hour-long Safety Training. Right after that, it’s finally time for the official introduction. You’ll meet with someone from our People Team for the “Welcome to Monterail!” meeting. It’s time for you to learn some more about who we are, what we do, and what are our core values. During this meeting, we also explain to you exactly what to expect during the onboarding process. So if something’s not clear or you have any other doubts —now is the perfect time to ask questions before you properly start with the day. 

After a one-hour-long introduction, it’s time for you to find out about the rules at Monterail. On day one, get ready to meet a member of our Finance team who’ll tell you more about Slack (our main source of communication) and Harvest, which is the tool we use to track time here at Monterail.

During the day you can expect a one-hour-long lunch break which you can use however you like. We’ll try to make sure you have some time off as well to make some final adjustments on your laptop and spend some time with our Monterail Handbook—the most important source of knowledge for new joiners. 

Onboarding Days 2&3

What to expect on the second and third days of onboarding? Well… more meetings.

And we promise they are fun! These are the days when you learn more about Monterail and how we actually work here. Teams, tools, company culture, and many many more crucial information to make you feel a part of the company. 

Here you’ll have a chance to meet with: 

• our Co-CEOs: Szymon Boniecki and Bartosz Rega
• Head of Technology - Hubert Białęcki
• HR&Payroll team member
• Project Management team
• Design Team
• Frontend, Backend and Mobile teams
• Growth Team 

We’ll also teach you about: 

• Scrum and Agile
• Jira 
• GitHub 
• Client Communication 

Last, but not least we’ll tell introduce you to: 

• Our projects 
• Diversity & Inclusion at Monterail 
• Resource Planning 
• Good practices of giving feedback :)
• Our blog

The truth is… you may not need all this knowledge in your daily tasks. But it’s important for us that all Monterailians know how Monterail functions, what our processes are, and who to go to in case of any urgent situations. 

What’s Next?

The scheduled part of the onboarding is now over. The next two days will mainly focus on meeting your team and getting to know the projects you’ll be joining. Get ready for some meaningful conversations with your mentor and make sure to ask questions. We’ve all been there, started as lost new joiners so remember that all your teammates are here to help. We are aware it takes more than three days to make yourself feel at home and that’s why we’ll do our best to make you feel welcomed and included in our not-so-small-anymore Monterail family.

Some Important Facts

You can always come to the office

We know that the majority of us chose to work remotely lately (you can read our perspective on that) but we want to make sure all Monterailians know they can always come and enjoy our office space (and amazing coffee options!) Even when you’ve been working remotely since day one, you are welcome to visit us on Oławska street in Wrocław, grab a chair and sit down comfortably by any of the desks available. Our Ofice Manager, Robert Szczęsny is always there to show you around. It’s a great opportunity to meet some of your co-workers in person and feel Monterail’s unique vibe.

You will get a mentor

Once the onboarding process is over you won’t be just thrown into work and left on your own. You will have a mentor who’s here to help you in case of any problems, answer all your questions, and make sure you feel comfortable with the workload. Usually, the mentor is your superior but we try to avoid this word. We’re all teammates here, some of us are more experienced but no one ever condescends.

You will get a Handbook

Probably the most useful tool during your first days. This inconspicuous-looking Google Doc is a real repository of knowledge. You’d better save a link as you’ll be a frequent reader. It’s the ultimate guide to everything about Monterail—and we really mean EVERYTHING. Office map, slack etiquette rules, procedures, salary ranges (oh yes, we’re pretty transparent with these), values, benefits, and many more. You’ll see for yourself.

We’re flexible

In case you haven’t heard yet: we’re pretty flexible when it comes to our work. It’s up to you if you work from home or from the office. Our core hours are 10 a.m to 3 p.m so you can start working anytime between 7 and 10 a.m. We understand that sometimes life happens and you have a doctor’s appointment or need to pick up your kid from school and that’s okay. As long as you communicate your availability, you can go on errands and simply stay longer that day or maybe start a bit earlier the following morning. We trust each other and we want to make sure all our employees have a work-life balance.

We got your back 

We know it’s a lot to process but hopefully, now after reading this blog post, you feel a little bit more comfortable and aware of what’s coming next. Remember in case of any questions feel free to contact the recruiter you are in touch with. Everyone in the People Team will gladly assist you so if you still have some doubts regarding your first week at Monterail, just send them an email. We can’t wait to have you on board!