I nonetheless get a jolt each time my cellphone lights up with a notification about an e-mail from my now supervisor, Hailley Griffis.
After weeks on tenterhooks whereas I went by the appliance and interview course of for my dream job — checking my cellphone at each obtainable second for a ‘You’re by to the following spherical’ e-mail — it’s a troublesome behavior to interrupt.
I’ve been Buffer’s latest content material author for a bit of over 30 days, and it nonetheless feels a bit of surreal that I’m right here. I made it.
I virtually didn’t ship my software. I knew it could be aggressive — Buffer’s values and perks are like a sirensong for gifted folks everywhere in the world — and, you recognize, imposter syndrome is a factor. (I wasn’t mistaken. Hailley and the staff acquired over 1,500 purposes for the function! She wrote about how they dealt with the tidal wave of fantastic candidates in The Content material Author Position at Buffer: What We Appeared For In Functions).
I’m positively glad I didn’t know the way stiff the competitors could be getting in, as I doubt I might have had the boldness to use. (As an apart: that is your signal to shoot your shot. You by no means know what may occur.)
Regardless, I’m so grateful I used to be in a position to ignore that little naysayer in my head and take the leap! Working at Buffer has been every little thing I hoped it could be — and an enormous studying curve.
Right here, I’ll share precisely how I used to be onboarded to the totally distributed, distant staff, together with a few issues which have actually shocked me about life at Buffer as I acquired settled in.
The one with the provide
I had my last interview with Buffer founder and CEO Joel Gascoigne on my birthday — and came upon I acquired the function that very same day!
I used to be having fun with a birthday dinner with household, my cellphone inside attain so I may obsessively verify my emails when it lit up with a Gmail notification. An e-mail from Hailley. My first thought was: “There’s no method they’d have let me know this quickly. They dominated me out after my interview with Joel. It’s over.”
After which I learn the topic line: “We’d love to ask you to hitch the Buffer journey, Kirsti!”
I set free a sound someplace between a squeal and a squawk, which had my sister and her fiancé going, “What? What? What occurred? Did you hear again?”
I advised them. Cue tears. Extra squawk-squeals all-round. Even our waiter was very excited.
When the hubbub had subsided, I learn Hailley’s e-mail a number of extra occasions to verify I understood every little thing — it was a prolonged one. In it, she had outlined every little thing in regards to the job provide, together with:
She additionally flagged Buffer’s wage transparency coverage: “Yet another factor that I do know you’re conscious of however I needed to say once more is that we attempt to dwell our worth of transparency by sharing our salaries overtly,” she wrote. “If you happen to select to return on board with us, we would like you to be totally conscious that your first title, metropolis, and wage will likely be added to our clear checklist right here.”
This was one of many first issues Joel and I had mentioned in our interview, so I used to be already totally conscious of and on board with this.
I fortunately accepted the provide then and there. Hailley was thrilled to listen to from me so quickly, and she or he responded earlier than the evening was out (she is a few hours behind me). Subsequent, I ought to count on to listen to from Jenna Meindertsma from the Individuals Operations staff, she stated.
“She is going to attain out with extra info quickly and assist get your accounts provisioned so you possibly can log in to every little thing in your first day. I am going to additionally arrange an onboarding doc that you will have upfront — you may doubtless be on-line earlier than me so we’ll guarantee you have got every little thing for everytime you begin your day.”
My Buffer onboarding
Onboarding at a completely distant firm is difficult. There’s nobody to greet you once you stroll within the door, hand over your tools, offer you a tour, and introduce you to everybody. To make issues much more difficult, Buffer is totally distributed. We now have teammates in 53 cities in 20 totally different international locations. Timezone overlap is a problem, to say the least.
However Buffer has been totally distant since 2012, so that they’ve put lots of work into serving to new teammates from Toronto to Thailand really feel welcome and productive.
Right here’s a take a look at the way it works.
Gearing up
I heard from Jenna a couple of days later, a couple of week forward of my begin date. She shared every little thing I may count on over the course of the following few weeks and requested me to fill out some types with extra info they wanted to get me arrange. Her e-mail included a well-chosen GIF, which summed up my emotions fairly effectively:
She additionally shared extra in regards to the residence workplace stipend, which I used to be actually enthusiastic about. I’ve been working remotely since 2021, so I already had the necessities within the residence workplace I share with my husband. Nonetheless, I’d lengthy been seeking to improve my area for productiveness.
“If you happen to’re considering beginning to arrange (or replace) your house workplace, we offer a $1,000 allowance to reimburse you for any prices to create a comfy work-from-home area,” Jenna wrote. “We even have a further, yearly $250 private tools stipend for ongoing work wants! These stipends don’t expire so that you’re welcome to make use of them sooner or later as effectively.”
I’m a kind of people who want a number of screens to be at my best, so I purchased an additional monitor for my desk, some new earbuds (mine had given up the ghost), plus a very enjoyable RGB mouse.
The day earlier than I used to be because of begin, Jenna despatched me one other e-mail that included every little thing I wanted to know in regards to the numerous instruments and software program I’d have to set as much as get cracking on my first day (together with one other glorious GIF).
As a little bit of a geek, I couldn’t resist getting every little thing sorted the evening earlier than so I’d be capable of soar straight into onboarding on my day one. Jenna had despatched an invitation to Google Workspace over to my private account, so I may get my buffer.com e-mail sorted. (Seeing my title adopted by ‘@buffer.com’ almost had me tearing up once more.)
As soon as I had logged into my Buffer e-mail account, I discovered invitations to all the opposite important instruments I’d be utilizing ready for me in my inbox. “Be looking out for a lengthier e-mail from me with extra particulars concerning which instruments to make use of for what and which of them we’d advocate getting arrange first!” she added.
Per her directions, I dutifully created accounts on Okta, a workforce administration instrument, Slack, Threads (not the Meta model — this one is a Slack different, however extra on this under), and crucially, Dropbox, the place my onboarding paperwork lived.
“Hailley will likely be reaching out to you to speak and guarantee you have got every little thing you want,” Jenna added. “We’ve additionally paired you with a tradition and function buddy who will information you thru your first 90 days at Buffer. Please take a break anytime your mind and/or eyes damage from all of the display screen time!”
With that, I used to be all set for my first day at Buffer.
Week 1
My Cape City timezone is many hours forward of Hailley and a lot of the remainder of the Advertising and marketing staff. My fellow content material author, Tami Oladipo, who is predicated in Nigeria, is barely an hour behind me, however because of Buffer’s totally versatile method of working, she comes on-line later within the day and works into the night. So once I logged on at 9 am on my first day, I used to be alone for the primary few hours.
However because of the 2 meaty onboarding paperwork ready for me — together with some pretty feedback from my new staff and a welcome video that gave me the nice and cozy fuzzies — I used to be all set.
There have been two paperwork I lived by in my first few weeks at Buffer: my Cultural Onboarding doc and 30/60/90-Day Plan. As time has worn on, I’ve been in a position to confer with them a bit much less, however they nonetheless have delight of place on my bookmarks bar.
A lot of my first week (which, since I began on a Tuesday and now we have a four-day workweek at Buffer, was solely three days) was spent pouring over these paperwork. This additionally concerned working my method by the deep library of sources these docs linked to, and ticking off numerous onboarding duties in my guidelines.
Buffer’s Cultural Onboarding doc
I wasn’t kidding about this doc being a meaty one — 4,169 phrases and 30,790 characters lengthy. (Sure, I checked.) It detailed precisely what I may count on over the approaching 4 weeks and past: an introduction to my onboarding staff, a high-level overview of Buffer’s numerous techniques and processes, a bunch of extra sources to learn by, and a guidelines of duties to finish.
It was so much to absorb, and greater than a bit of intimidating. What helped is that the staff actually acknowledged this — this is among the paragraphs that helped put my thoughts comfortable:
“The very first thing to bear in mind is that we hope you have got enjoyable! Onboarding and being a part of a small enterprise may be irritating at occasions. Attempt to get pleasure from it. One of many measures of success we’d such as you to make use of to evaluate your onboarding will likely be whether or not you’re having fun with your work and your staff each day. We don’t take this work evenly, however we do acknowledge that we’re very fortunate to be doing it collectively. Attempt to take a couple of minutes day by day to rejoice the methods during which this work brings you pleasure.”
My Onboarding Crew
After I suppose again on this section of my onboarding, I wish to image Hailley, Tami, Julia, and Jenna doing a little type of superhero slow-motion stroll, Guardians of the Galaxy-style. They had been actually the heroes of serving to me settle in so shortly at Buffer, and made me really feel protected and welcome from the get-go.
Right here’s a top level view of their roles in my onboarding, straight from my doc.
Supervisor: Hailley Griffis: You’ve doubtless already met together with your supervisor a handful of occasions throughout the interview course of, they’re excited to start working with you!
Position Buddy: Tami Oladipo: Your function buddy will information you thru the specifics of your function at Buffer. They are going to be your go-to for all role-related questions.
Tradition Buddy: Julia Cummings: Your tradition buddy will information you thru studying Buffer’s tradition (values, transparency, communication, and extra). They need to be your go-to for all culture-related questions.
Jenna Meindertsma: Jenna will likely be helping with the logistics of your onboarding, and is your go-to for any questions on instruments or accounts.
I’ve been assembly with Hailley, Tami, and Julia weekly since I first began at Buffer, and chatting to Jenna repeatedly on Slack. I cherished the compartmentalization of this — I knew precisely who I may converse to about what. It additionally meant I wasn’t pinging Hailley continually for the primary few weeks (although I did {that a} good bit anyway…).
30/60/90-Day Plan
My internal Hermione Granger loves a little bit of construction and thrives when what is predicted of me is clearly laid out — so she is a big fan of this doc. My 30/60/90-day plan went deeper on precisely what I’d want to perform in my first 4 weeks and what success in my function would appear like past the 30-day mark.
It provided extra perception into how the Advertising and marketing and Content material groups labored and linked out to a complete bunch of challenge and archive paperwork that painted a full image of every little thing we had been engaged on and why.
My private favourite right here was Hailley’s ‘A Historical past of Our Weblog’s Efficiency and Content material Crew (2023)’ — as wealthy and different as you’d count on from a weblog that began method again in 2011. She included a video of herself strolling by the doc as effectively, which I absorbed like a podcast as I poured over the historical past of our analytics.
Paperwork like this have been extremely useful to me as I get settled in.
A Buffer historical past lesson
Getting to grasp the ‘why’ of a enterprise is a luxurious most staff don’t have — however Buffer’s default to transparency — and a deep library of documentation — means main moments within the firm’s historical past are all obtainable for perusal.
Buffer’s historical past has formed a lot of the way in which we work now that I discovered myself scouring the assorted articles in our Open Weblog and documentation on Notion (extra on that Notion area later) for an enormous chunk of my first week.
A very attention-grabbing instance of that is how the Buffer values developed over time — they’re comparable, however not precisely the identical as these the corporate began out with. One other fascinating look backstage is Joel’s submit, Reflecting on 10 Years of Constructing Buffer, which uncovers every little thing from the beginning of the product, why he and the opposite firm leaders on the time determined to not promote, shopping for out buyers, and extra.
A really Buffery welcome
The spotlight of my first week was, certainly, my welcome thread.
As is commonplace follow for brand spanking new Bufferoos, Hailley took to Threads to share that I had simply joined the staff, together with a bit extra about me (some enjoyable stuff Jenna had requested for in these early emails).
I anticipated a few emojis and possibly a handful of messages, however the variety feedback I acquired on that thread had been the present that stored on giving — and my first take a look at how Buffer’s values (notably ‘present gratitude’ and ‘select optimism’) had been put into follow.
The thread spawned conversations about cozy video games, parenting, and fantasy books that lasted weeks, and it was superb to search out frequent floor with my new teammates on issues that meant a lot to me. Hundreds of miles aside although we had been, it made me really feel related to them.
Week 2: Discovering my toes
In week two, I used to be able to roll up my sleeves and get to work on my new job: creating content material for the Buffer weblog. However earlier than I get into that, one thing I do know many individuals are interested in: how we work at Buffer.
How we work
After I began writing this text, I shared on ballot on Twitter and LinkedIn asking people what they’d most wish to learn about life at Buffer. Overwhelmingly, the response was ‘How we work’. Since this was the week I actually acquired to grips with the assorted techniques and processes, I assumed it could be value unpacking right here.
That will help you perceive how we work at Buffer, one of the best factor to do is clarify how we talk, since good communication is actually the spine of every little thing we accomplish.
Once more, no imply feat when you have got teammates working in timezones that span 20 international locations. That is the place some clear pointers turn out to be useful. Whereas all the assorted groups on the firm put their very own spin on this, right here’s the gist, proper out of our firm handbook on Notion:
- Slack: For enjoyable informal chatter, together with real-time collaboration and notifications.
- Threads: Collaboration, decision-making, and inner info sharing.
- Notion: The place we preserve our handbook, which incorporates details about our insurance policies, practices, and tradition. That is one of the best place to retailer reference materials that teammates might wish to confer with repeatedly. We even have an “inner collaboration” part of Notion, which is used for clear challenge monitoring.
- Paper (by Dropbox): For in-progress paperwork. Right here you may discover notes for conferences, brainstorming, proposals, and extra. When what you are engaged on is finalized, think about archiving it, or copying the content material to Notion if others will likely be referencing it.
- Zoom: Video chat instrument the place we maintain most conferences.
- E-mail: Primarily for speaking externally. Please use cc and bcc to maintain issues internally clear when acceptable. Some teammates additionally use e-mail to observe notifications from different instruments.
Together with the instruments we use to speak, we even have etiquette pointers to elucidate how (particularly necessary when some teammates’ peak work time is the nighttime for others). Amongst these, you’ll discover recommendations like:
- Test all communication instruments each workday. Some teammates desire to make use of every instrument’s notification system, whereas some use their e-mail to handle and triage these notifications. Both method, just remember to have a system that works for you.
- Please reply or emoji-react to all DMs on to you, in addition to messages that tag you.
- We attempt to be versatile with one another when attainable. When you find yourself in a position, please be keen to maneuver a gathering, rise up early, or keep on late to make it simpler for an additional teammate to take part in a synchronous dialogue. They’ll do the identical for you.
- We attempt to be constructive, clear, and type in the way in which we converse to one another. That is partially because of our values (for instance, optimism and gratitude), and partially as a result of it’s not as simple to “hear” somebody’s tone in a written format like Slack or Threads. Don’t fear about mimicking this; simply be your variety self. When unsure, use “further phrases” and emojis to convey your tone.
Going dwell
We had our bi-monthly editorial assembly in my first week, the place I used to be assigned my very first weblog submit. It was as a part of our Ask Buffer collection, answering a query we’d had from a reader: Ask Buffer: How Many Social Media Platforms Ought to a Small Enterprise Be Energetic On?
A number of days earlier than publishing, I despatched over a high-level define to Hailley, to which she added a few feedback and recommendations. A day or two after that, I filed a draft of the complete article. On condition that the reply to this query, in a nutshell, is: “It relies on a complete host of things,” I’ll have gone a bit of too deep in my first draft, and there was some work to be performed.
Fortunately, Hailley’s suggestions was considerate, variety, and inspiring, so this didn’t go away me feeling despondent. We labored on the tweaks collectively, and the article went dwell in line with our content material calendar — and seeing my byline on the Buffer weblog was one other close-to-tears second for me.
Weeks 3-4: Hitting my stride
I’d go into element about how the Buffer content material staff works right here, however since Hailley has performed a superb job explaining all this in her article, How Buffer’s Content material Crew Collaborates + Our Content material Calendar Template, I’ll level you in that course for extra.
As is clearly outlined in my onboarding docs, I’m typically anticipated to finish three issues each week:
- One new article
- One content material refresh (sprucing up among the older content material on our weblog)
- Getting concerned within the Buffer neighborhood
On prime of this, I’ve been given the area to take the lead on some longer-term initiatives — I’m taking up a bit extra accountability locally, plus two Web optimization-related weblog clean-up initiatives, that are already proving to be enjoyable and difficult!
As I’ve gotten settled in and extra snug with Buffer’s techniques, instruments, and processes, my productiveness has elevated week-on-week, and I’m completely happy to report I’m assembly my function expectations each week — in some, even managing to squeeze in an additional article or refresh.
I’m discovering my articles want much less enhancing as I adapt to the Buffer tone and elegance, too — largely because of Hailley’s thorough explainers in all of the feedback she leaves in my drafts, somewhat than simply making the edits herself.
30-day assessment
Because the 30-day mark drew nearer (it got here round very quickly!), Jenna popped me a message to remind me about my 30-day self-review.
This was in my onboarding doc, so I knew it was coming: after their first month on the staff, Bufferoos and their onboarding buddies are requested to fill out opinions (it will occur on the 60 and 90-day marks, too).
The questions I answered included:
- How is the brand new function and Buffer as an organization lining as much as your preliminary expectations?
- What’s going effectively?
- What objectives do you wish to set for the following 30 days?
These turned out to be fairly helpful for this text — a lot of what I’ve unpacked under got here from my self-review musings! Additionally, on the time of penning this, I simply acquired off a name with Hailley on my 30-day assessment from my onboarding buddies, which I’m completely happy to report had been constructive!
3 issues I discovered shocking after becoming a member of Buffer
The Buffer Values are felt all over the place
From the second I joined the staff, I used to be struck by how effectively folks talk with one another — not solely by way of effectiveness however kindness, too. The Buffer values shine by in a lot of what we put out into the world — however I’ve felt it most in how everybody engages with one another.
Speaking the necessities succinctly but additionally in a tactful, optimistic method is actually an artwork and a science. Having come from organizations the place outcomes and effectivity are prized above all else, it’s been like a breath of recent air to interact with individuals who worth their relationships with one another as a lot as they do the work.
We genuinely work flexibly
There is no such thing as a clock-watching — or somewhat, Slack-watching — right here in any respect. Versatile working is one thing that just about each firm I’ve labored for has marketed, however by no means actually put into follow.
However at Buffer, folks outline after they work and are trusted to get the job performed. Whether or not which means they’re obtainable on Slack from 9 am to five pm their time, or desire to work on and off between errands or caring for his or her youngsters. There’s a give and take right here, as you’ll have picked up in our communications steering. Timezone overlap points may imply you’re round a bit of earlier or later than normal for some conferences, however you’re free to adapt your working day to make this be just right for you.
Talking of youngsters: as luck would have it, my toddler daughter had a number of bouts of sickness throughout these few weeks. The primary few occasions I needed to dip out to take care of her or take her to the physician, I felt extremely responsible — how would this look in my first month on the job?
However Hailley was fast to reassure me after I despatched by some flustered apologies on Slack. “I want I had extra recommendation there [on how often kids get sick] however I can simply say we’re a very versatile office and other people genuinely rearrange schedules and transfer deadlines with sick kiddos. It occurs and we are able to work by that collectively, I’m not nervous about it, in case that helps!”
With this reassurance, I used to be in a position to end up work when my daughter was asleep within the night, and even dip out for entire days to take care of her, with out feeling careworn about work in any respect.
The four-day workweek is actual — and it really works
Buffer applied a four-day workweek again in Could 2020 and by no means regarded again. I’d already learn how, 18 months later, 73 % of the staff was in a position to work Monday to Thursday and revel in a three-day weekend. However I’ll be totally trustworthy right here: the previous journalist in me was skeptical. I didn’t actually imagine a four-day workweek may presumably work.
I assumed maybe, best-case state of affairs, there could be a tradition of individuals logging in on Fridays to be “the hero” — however this isn’t the case in any respect.
As a Buffer beginner, I wish to put this on document. Barring a few people on the advocacy staff who work Fridays and take one other day of the week off in lieu of that, or those that have opted for shorter days somewhat than 4 days, hardly anybody works on a Friday.
Doing one thing by ‘the tip of the week’ means Thursday. On Thursday evenings, my teammates want everybody a terrific weekend. On Friday, our Slack is a ghost city.
However a four-day workweek requires some stable time administration and prioritization abilities — and it’s one thing I’m nonetheless adapting to. These are each areas of self-improvement for me. So proper now, I largely use Friday as an overflow day, although I positively take it simpler than I might Monday by Thursday. As I get much more settled and decide up some momentum, I’m positive that Friday will quickly be the beginning of my weekend, too.
60, 90, and past
My journey at Buffer has simply begun — and it someway feels concurrently like I’ve been round eternally and no time in any respect. I’m positively beginning to really feel snug, like I’m discovering rhythm, I nonetheless have loads of studying and rising to do.
All of which, after all, I’ll be exploring in my 60 and 90-day self-reviews — and maybe on our Open Weblog, too. If there’s something you’d wish to learn about life at Buffer as I get additional alongside in my journey, let me know! Go away a remark right here, or discover me on LinkedIn.
