Get Your New Employee Off To A Good Start

In our recent blog posts on millennials, we’ve talked about how to get the right young star talents into your company and how to stop them from leaving once you’ve got them working for you.

PayrollHero Team is expanding, and as we speak a new batch of interns are flying in to come work with us here at our Singapore office. And it just had me thinking-  it is so important to have these young rock stars feel welcome into our working culture. Why? I can understand first hand how daunting it can be for a 20 something year old to travel thousands of miles be apart of something you don’t have a first clue about and figuring all of that out in a new country.

What most employers think when onboarding new employees, they typically check tasks off a to-do list which may include- a quick introduction, an office tour, getting to learn the company vision and other tasks. But what is most often left to last, (and usually ignored) is having a plan that is focused on making new employees feel welcome, appreciated and feel part of the company culture as soon as possible.

And these efforts will have it rewards– high employee retention and loyalty to the company will reflect favorably to the bottomline. Paying close attention to the company culture and adding to it is really important. I would like to quote Jonathan Mildenhall, CMO with Airbnb, where he says “the culture becomes an incubator for creativity
and innovation, and ultimately for business performance.”

Here’s a few things companies can do to welcome a new hire:

Have A Welcome Strategy Put In Place
Before the hiring process starts, have a meeting where everybody (from the management down) who will be involved in the new hire to brainstorm and come up with a detailed plan for bringing a new person to the team. It is important for the company to create a good first impression as well. One of the most important things a new hire at Airbnb goes through is a full week of cultural immersion, so the person will come out of that week feeling like he can be a true ambassador for the company and brand.

Have A Mentor/ Buddy System
It’s good to assign somebody or even better, the whole team to spend some time with the new employee to take him out for lunch or happy hour after work, show how stuff works and provide support when needed. Helping the new guy feel part of the team quickly would be good to help him get rolling on the job and assimilate easier.

Express Genuine Interest in the New Employee As A Person.
Getting to know your new hire as an individual is great for building rapport with the person. Knowing more information about him would come in handy, like for instance if you know he’s visual or auditory will tell you how he prefers to be appreciated. For an auditory person, being complimented verbally is better than receiving it in an email and the opposite is true for a visual person.

It is always good to keep in mind these little information which creates a more personalized welcome and heightens his experience with the company.


Stay tuned to find out who are our new interns and how they are doing with PayrollHero.

The PayrollHero Team is fast expanding and we’re on the look out for rock star talents to join us. Drop us an email and tell us more about you.

 

Canada B2B Networking Marketplace: The Post Event Write-up

Great turn out at the Canada B2B Networking Marketplace

The energy at the event was amazing as business owners are enthusiastic to share their product stories with others in attendance.

PayrollHero made a presence and shared our story- how we believe we can help businesses function better with our nifty HR and payroll management software in the cloud.

We would like to say a big Thank You to Guy Belanger for letting us take part in this great opportunity.

Thank you Guy!

Event Highlight

This year’s event also marks the 50th anniversary of bilateral ties between Singapore and Canada. In a speech by High Commissioner H.E Heather Grant, she expressed gratitude to be friends with Singapore and played a part during its formative years since 1965. (Read more about Singapore’s 50th anniversary of bilateral relationship with 13 other countries)

This event was a prelude to the main exhibition and networking events: CommunicAsia 2015 and BroadcastAsia 2015 held at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore between 2- 5 June 2015.

If you’ve missed the opportunity to speak with the companies present at last night’s event, you can be sure to speak to them at these events. The Canadian pavilion at MBS Basement 2 (BH3-07) has meeting spaces to be used at your convenience on a first-come first-served basis.


If you’re looking to meet with PayrollHero, we are having a casual meetup at our office on 10th June 2015.

Details and Registration available here >>> 

 

Adventure Engineer from the Philippines arrives in Canada

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Another one of PayrollHero’s Adventure Engineers has arrived in Canada. Nico Suria, a Philippine native has moved over to our Whistler office as part of his quest for Canadian Residency. I sent Nico a few questions about his experience thus far (he has been there about 1 week) and here is what he had to say:

1. What was the biggest shock when coming to Canada?
A lot of us Asians, especially ones that haven’t been to Canada before, will say the cold. I’ve spent some time in Ontario as a kid so I don’t have the same problem. But.. yup, it was still the cold. 

Also being able to drink directly from the tap. Melted glacier water is yummy.

2. How do you like the weather?
You really just have to dress correctly and, once I got used to it, I had a great time walking around and just enjoying the sights. There’s something about walking the streets of a city like Vancouver or the forest paths of Whistler, all bundled up and with your breath fogging that I find really pleasant.

3. What do you think of Vancouver?
Rainy. I didn’t get to really go out a lot outside Yaletown, and it was only sunny for an hour the whole time I was there but when it did, it was lovely. Looked like there were lots of interesting places and people everywhere.

4. What do you think of Whistler?
I’ve never lived in a small town but I can definitely say that I like it. The weather’s cold but the people are warm and friendly. The place itself is quite beautiful. They’ve done a great job of designing the town to complement nature instead of just building on top of it. All of this and I’ve never even visited the mountains themselves – which people spend heaps of money just to be around of.

5. What do you miss about the Philippines?
Mostly my family and friends. The food (and prices) too.

6. What Filipino thing did you find in Canada that shocked you? 
Well, Filipino’s themselves! They everywhere. I needed a single envelope for mail but the post office only sold them in 50’s so I went to the UPS store to see if they sold singles. The guy just asked me in Tagalog how many I needed and gave it to me for free.

7. How was the process of getting setup? (SIN number, bank, etc)
Let me just say this: with nobody to show me around much less serve as my ‘fixer‘, I was able to 1) Get a post-paid mobile plan with great data, 2) Get a Social Insurance Number, and 3) Open a bank account – all within 12 hours.


 

Read more about our Adventure Engineers here.

What is an Adventure Engineer, watch below;

We are always hiring.

Where Is Whistler, BC, Canada?

Over in Southeast Asia when we say one of our offices is in Whistler, they are usually quite surprised. Surprised that a technology startup would/could situate some of its team members there and have it work. (see: #AdventureEngineers) But, sometimes, people look at me and simple ask – Where is Whistler?

From Southeast Asia…. it is over there on the top right…

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Right here…

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But if you are new to Canada, here is how Tom Brokaw explained Canada to Americans during the 2010 Winter Olympics:

Here is how the British Columbia (BC) government markets BC to tourists all over the world:

And here is the biggest city in British Columbia, Vancouver:

Finally, here is Whistler:

Remember, we are always hiring #AdventureEngineers in Whistler, Singapore or Manila:

Adventure Engineers Scatter This Weekend

Our team has been full on the past few months so a few of them took this weekend to see the sights around the region. The timing was was a coincident, but we have PayrollHero #AdventureEngineers in 7 cities around the world today. They are in Hong Kong, Shenyang China, Whistler Canada, Singapore, Manila Philippines, Cebu Philippines and Squamish Canada. Below are a few pictures from their adventures.

Nico Suria is in Hong Kong along with Kieran Peppiatt and their girlfriends seeing the sights, doing a little shopping and taking in some of the local culture.

adventure engineer in hong kong

(Nico in Hong Kong)

adventure engineer kieran in hong kong

IMG_0539.JPG(Kieran Peppiatt in Hong Kong)

Bram Whillock, the very definition of #AdventureEngineer takes his outdoor time to the next level. Today, he can be found in the far off peeks of Whistler mountain in Canada.
whistler mountain ruby on rails engineer(Bram Whillock on Whistler mountain ~
photo by Bradford McArthur of ForeverExploring.com)

Aidan Sullivan is in Shenyang, China which is one hour north of Beijing. Shenyang is one of China’s very polluted cities as you can see from the picture below.
aidan in china

(Aidan Sullivan in Shenyang, China)china adventure engineer

(pollution in Shenyang, China)
vince paca in cebu(Vince Paca in Cebu, Philippines)
singapore payroll guys(Michael Stephenson and Adam Baechler in Singapore)


Are you looking to join a hard working team? We are looking for a few people to join our team. Roles available: Event Manager, Content Writer, Ruby on Rails Engineer, Customer Service Specialist, Business Development and Marketing Manager.

Watch our Adventure Engineering video below to learn more about us…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyyaprfMifg

Do You Enjoy a Work Hard Play Hard Lifestyle?

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Today I had a true taste of spring while dirt biking in the mountains above Squamish BC. Waking up early in the morning, 2 of my friends and I loaded up the bikes, fueled the truck and set off for unknown territory and a good start to our Friday. With temperatures rising in the Sea to Sky area between Vancouver and Whistler, the change in activities is easily apparent with multiple trucks holding mountain bikes and the parking lots to the ski areas becoming deserted.

After some serious elevation climbing, we found this beautiful lookout 3000 feet above sea level. After chasing each other through the mountains for hours, we returned back to Whistler where I came to work in our office after what I call an awesome morning. At PayrollHero we truly believe in the work hard play hard mentality and support a balanced lifestyle. We successfully created the opportunity that we call #AdventureEngineer that gives you the chance to work with an innovative start up yet still have the mountains of Whistler as your backdrop or the chance to work in Southeast Asia in our office in Manila, Philippines. If you have not had a chance to watch, check out our video below on what being a part of PayrollHero is all about!

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squamish3

 

How You Can Learn Best Practices From Other Startups

A few weeks ago I wrote about ‘Why You Should Hang Out With Like Minded Individuals‘ in reference to the CTO Round Tables that our team setup. But they didn’t just setup the CTO round table, they created the business development round table and the customer service round table.

The customer service round table met the other day in downtown Vancouver with representatives from Ubertor, RideBooker, Function Point, Advisor Websites and of course PayrollHero.

I decided to organize the round table to provide a forum for customer success professionals based in the Vancouver/Whistler area.  The aim is to allow us to collaborate and strive for excellence at each of our individual companies.  Ultimately it will be a group that can share best practices, overcome roadblocks and discuss the best tools to create industry leading standards for our customers.
– Kieran Peppiatt, Customer Success Hero, PayrollHero

customer service round table(Clockwise) Kieran Peppiatt from PayrollHero (with laptop), Bryan Garcia from Ubertor, Emma Lauder from Function Point, Alex Wingert from Advisory Websites, Michael Joy from Advisor Websites, CJ Stephenson, Crystal Lai from Ubertor and Jericho Shone from RideBooker.

Interested in joining the customer service round table? Contact Us.

Filipino Arrival Learning How To Snowboard #AdventureEngineer

ron adventure engineerRon Maravilla arrived in Whistler from the Philippines 6 months ago and as part of his #AdventureEngineering quest, wanted to learn how to snowboard. Ron had never seen snow and had never been to North America but was not thrown off and set out to learn this cold, winter sport. Ron signed up for some lessons, got some gear and got out there.

I’ve had an awesome time learning to snowboard, I’m on my 4th day and I can now link my turns… not bad for a guy who haven’t seen snow before.” ~ Ron Maravilla

whistler canada adventure engineer

We worked with Ron to get him Canadian Residency and move him to our Whistler office. Are you interested in working with PayrollHero and becoming and #AdventureEngineer? Check out this video for more details;

8 Restaurant Recommendations in Whistler, British Columbia

unnamedIn a city filled with so many restaurants and bars, we often get asked for our favorite local spots in Whistler for different meals. Compiled is our list of stellar locations worth trying!

Elements Urban Tapas
End of Main street next to the Aspen Glow Condos (details)

Type: Upscale dining and tapas made with fresh ingredients and unique variations on dishes, well known for their breakfast specialties.

Tip: The caramelized banana and chocolate stuffed french toast and eggs benedict will knock even the hungriest person off their seat.

21 Steps
Center of the Village slightly across from Earls (details)

Type: Canadian kitchen and bar with meals made from scratch and great unique meat dishes.

Tip: The fried goat cheese and bacon wrapped fillets are superb.

Creekbread
Located across highway 99 from the Creekside Market (details)

Type: Organic ingredients, all dishes made in a hand built wood fire oven and cauldron.

Tip: Mopsy’s Kalua Pork pizza including pork, peppers and asiago cheese is an incredible way to finish a day working for PayrollHero at our Creekside office. Never ceases to amaze us!

Sushi Village
Behind Zog’s on the second floor close to the Blackcomb gondola (details)

Type: Japanese Cuisine with dishes for everyone

Tip: Go with a few people and split several different plates. The strawberry saki margarita is a must.

El Furniture Wearhouse
Middle of the Village, across from the Gap store and Delta Hotel Whistler Village Suites (details)

Type: Unique variations of classic food at a sports bar consisting of an extreme sports atmosphere.  Every dish on the menu is $4.95!

Tip: Can be quite busy during the day as it is a popular spot. Awesome place to start a night with drinks.

Dusty’s Bar & BBQ
Close to the bottom of the Creekside Gondola (details)

Type: Legendary BBQ restaurant with deep history in Whistler.

Tip: You cannot lose with any of the BBQ plates, all fantastic. The patio is a great place to hangout in the Summer.

Barefoot Bistro
Near the Listel Hotel Whistler down from Buffalo Bills (details)

Type: High end dining with true passion for upscale service.

Tip: Best to make a reservation on weekends as it can get busy. The Vodka Bar is a definite must being in a true ice room to sample a variety of vodka samples.

Tandoori Grill
At the end of Main street on the second floor above the 7-11 (details)

Type: Authentic Indian with a great location and incredible service.

Tip: Their lunch specials are enough to keep everyone happy and full with great home recipes. The naan bread direct from their clay-based Tandoor oven is astounding, recommend ordering extra as it will be eaten quickly!

One of our #AdventureEngineers happens to be a pretty advanced skier!

bramsnow

Bram Whillock, a senior web developer at our company takes full advantage of what Whistler offers for skiing. Often coming into the office with a grin on his face and a sun tan from being on the summit of some of the highest peaks in the province, Bram is the epitome of balancing work with play. A few days ago Bram shadowed with a local company that teaches and certifies individuals with their Avalanche Course training. In his pursuit to be a professional ski guide with full certification, he helped hands on with the 3 day program that involved some in classroom learning and 2 days of being on the mountain evaluating snow pack and common avalanche triggers.

Are you interest in being an #AdventureEngineer? Contact us if you have interest in learning more about PayrollHero.

What is an Adventure Engineer?