Hey there, I'm Devin!
Most of the time you can catch me deep in the world of internal comms at Workshop (yes, the Happy Mondays folks!), and while I love AI, there are just some comms questions that need a human who really gets it… that’s me!
Hey Devin, we’re regularly baking out our onboarding process and recently switched from starting new hires on Monday to Tuesday. It’s been a great change from an HR and employee engagement standpoint, but I’ve recently gotten a lot of pushback from directors — despite making the change a year ago. Do you have any data or insight on what other companies do, or even what Workshop does for their new hires?
Can’t say I know enough about other companies, but I do know Workshop! Our new hires also start on Tuesdays, and honestly it’s not a coincidence. Tuesday is when we hold our weekly All Hands, so new Workshoppers get dropped right into (arguably!) one of the best days of the week for company energy. Lunch together, a room full of people, a real sense of what the culture actually feels like. It’s a strong first impression and I’d imagine your Tuesday switch was driven by something similarly thoughtful.
So on to what I think the root of this is… when you’re still getting feedback a year in, the issue likely isn’t Tuesday anymore. It’s about the fact that something changed and not everyone feels like they got the full picture on why. That’s a change management question more than an onboarding one, and it’s worth noodling on. Was the decision communicated at the time? And if it was, is there something that’s shifted since then that’s brought the friction back up? Figuring out that answer matters a lot more than going back and forth on Monday vs. Tuesday.
So! A quick pulse survey or a few informal 1:1s with the directors pushing back could tell you a lot. Not to reopen the decision, but just to understand where the resistance is actually coming from. Sometimes people just want to feel heard, and leading with that kind of curiosity tends to go a long way.
And when you’re ready to make the case again, lean into the experience itself. What does Monday morning actually look like in your office? For a lot of teams it’s slow, scattered, people are still finding their footing for the week. Tuesday people have had their coffee, they know their priorities, the energy is just different. That’s a genuinely compelling argument for a new hire’s first day and it’s a lot easier to get directors on board when you’re talking about the employee experience rather than the logistics.
Let me know how that lands, my inbox is open!
