Welcome to Kainos. Virtually.

Joining a new organisation is often a mixed bag of excitement and anxiety for me. Throw in a global pandemic and not being able to visit a physical location, it gets slightly more daunting. I experienced these anxieties prior to joining Kainos as a Delivery Manager within the Digital Services division. Following a number of reassuring emails and phone calls detailing what to expect, I quickly realised that I was in safe hands.

Workday housekeeping

My onboarding started a couple of weeks before I joined, kicking off with essential Workday housekeeping. It was a pretty straight forward process where the system walked me through what was required one step at a time. The trickiest hurdle for me was probably selecting and uploading a decent enough photo of myself. One that I wouldn't regret six months down the line!

Receiving and setting up my brand-new laptop

A few days later, my brand-new laptop arrived. This was a few days before my start giving me enough time to configure it for Kainos readiness. It did come with detailed instructions, however I encountered a hurdle, so called the support number provided with the guide. My first encounter with Kainos IT Support. I'm pleased to say that the colleague who helped me was able to resolve & follow up on all issues within an hour. I was up and running. Result!

Getting ready for Day One

Ahead of Day One I received a Corporate Induction Agenda via email. This was to take place over 1 ? days. Despite it being a remote session with each new starter joining from their various homes, we received a warm virtual welcome, which was a pleasant surprise and good sign.

Day One icebreaker

The Day One sessions started with a member of the People Team facilitating a meet-and-greet for all newcomers. There were just over 20 of us in the group, each joining different capabilities and varying degrees of experience. I was expecting it to be awkward considering none of us had ever met before. Again, I needn't have worried since our facilitator opened the sessions with brief introductions (our names, our experience, our new role with Kainos), then we were asked one of the three icebreaker questions.

One of the best responses one colleague gave was to be in a movie scene as the guy mixing a cocktail behind the bar!

There were about 10 sessions in total over the 1 ? days with sufficient breaks in between. We learnt about the Kainos Culture, Values, Vision & Strategy from CEO Brendan Mooney.

There were also sessions on building our Kainos network and key information from Central Services about systems and processes. We were also eased into the Kainos lingo of Capability Leads, People Management & Communities. A lot to learn, but an exciting insight into an organisation that clearly cares for and invests in its people.

The onboarding process was very well organised and in reality extended beyond the 1 ? day group sessions, with different colleagues reaching out over the next couple of weeks, offering support and reassurance that they're available to help whenever it's needed.

I'm now working on an exciting project with a great team. It is fast paced, but in true Kainos style, the team is very welcoming, supportive and dedicated to delivering quality solutions.

Thanks for the warm welcome Kainos. I'm looking forward to this journey.