Onboarding at VMware: A Virtually Fulfilling Employee Experience

What's it like to transition to a new job when remote work is here to stay? Encouraging.

I recently joined VMware in a product marketing role focused on solutions that enable work from anywhere. From my first day, I was able to experience a streamlined way to securely work, from my house in Austin, Texas. And I felt like part of a team!

What were my expectations? I expected to have to read a lot of documents in order to successfully log in, and perhaps some confusion about which password works for what. I expected to have to hunt around for applications and information. I expected to learn the culture as I went, picking it up from people I interacted with, one by one.

What did I get? I got everything that I needed to easily log in and work on Day 1, including an email with my login information and the ability to use my personal PC just in case my work PC delivery was delayed. The onboarding and benefits enrollment process was integrated with Workday - which is how I applied to my role at VMware - so things just picked up from where I left off as I transitioned from being an applicant to being an employee.

All of the applications that I needed for work - whether cloud-based or on-prem - were in the Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub. I could get started collaborating in SharePoint and Teams, and seamlessly access things like Miro online with SSO, which means fewer passwords to worry about and fewer security-related concerns for IT. VMware also has an excellent internal Intranet, so I could find a lot of information on my own, and a personalized onboarding guide specific to my department and role was at my disposal.

I had expectations about how onboarding worked, and they were exceeded because VMware took the time to pre-smooth (is that a word?) the road, designing onboarding around employee experience. Not only was I engaged and working quickly; I was happy and finding my flow. In training, VMware IT also let me know what specific information is collected to improve security and employee experience. Workspace ONE is designed to preserve privacy, in contrast to scenarios where companies monitor productivity via employee surveillance.

And what of culture? I expected it to be an implicit thing. It wasn't. From the interview process on, VMware put culture at the center of conversations. During onboarding, VMware deeply explained EPIC2 values, shared the work they are doing to drive cultural leadership, and put the values to work in individual and group interactions. I find it incredibly strategic for two reasons: one, I am remote, so being immersed in office culture is not realistic; and two, if we are going to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion at work, our values must embrace diversity and unify purpose. EPIC2 values do this.

All in all, I had an onboarding experience that was par excellence. We're giving ourselves the experience that we promise to customers, and that's what we're about.