Each summer (except for last year), the Operations team within Yale Conferences & Events has the pleasure of hiring and onboarding seasonal staff to help support on-campus summer operations needs managed by our Housing Services Office. When it came time to onboard this summer’s new team within the constraints of COVID-19 requirements, it was important to us that the virtual onboarding experience be an efficient and welcoming one for our new staff.
Training took place over Zoom and averaged between 2-3 hours each day (as opposed to 8-hour days when training was all in-person). Over the course of the 9 days of training, new staff learned about emergency procedures, customer service, and code of conduct, just ot name a few. The massive, 200+ page Operations Training Manual, which used to be printed for distribution, was also transformed into an online manual for easier use and access.
In a lighthearted effort to give the new staff a chance to get to know each other better and help them feel like part of the team, we introduced daily team building exercises which were led by YC&E Program team members. Nathan Lubich, Assistant Director of Operations, said, “We were fortunate to have our amazing team of YC&E program staff step in to lead team builders each day so that we had an opportunity to get to know the summer staff and for them to get an opportunity to know each other a little better.”
One of the biggest concerns when making the training experience a virtual one this year was losing the real “hands-on” learning that can be so effective. However, just a couple of weeks into their work, that concern proved to be unfounded. When asked what the Operations team found that worked better this year with the virtual training, Lubich stated, “Without a doubt, a virtual training was much more efficient. It allowed us to easily record all sessions for later use and allowed for greater flexibility if one of the staff was unable to attend the live session.”
Lubich went on to say “Having at least part of our summer staff training be virtual was actually a long-term goal of ours even before health and safety considerations required it. While a hybrid (in-person and virtual) model may be the best for us in the future, we found that providing the training online let us space out the sessions, not worry about finding physical space on-campus that could fit us and meet our needs and made it easier for our team to gather together.” Justin Thornton, Housing & Operations Manager, agreed and said that “Ultimately, we will likely keep some aspect of the online training to get some of the necessary info out of the way so that in-person training can be more application-based and hands-on.”
Of course, nothing can truly replace all that an in-person experience can offer. When asked what they missed most about in-person training, Maen Adileh, Office Manager at the Housing Services Office, said, “While virtual training is time efficient, in-person is better for team building and ice breaking. It helps the staff to better know each other, and I consider it a jump start to the summer.” Lubich agreed and shared that “Working with our summer staff is my favorite part about my job so I definitely missed getting to meet the team in person this year and chat with them throughout training. One thing that is often missing (in virtual events) is the ability to casually chat with someone over coffee before a session starts or while waiting in line to get lunch together.”
Our wonderful summer staff is now settled into the Housing Services Office at Arnold Hall and is assisting with Yale Summer Session’s residential life program on campus. Read more about how YSS revamped its program to make this summer both fun and safe for Yale students below!
