The Future of Onboarding: Leveraging Technology and Building Connections
Onboarding is the critical first step in welcoming new joiners to MSCI and setting them up for long-term success. In today’s hybrid work environment, we’re continuously evolving our onboarding to ensure that new joiners feel valued, connected to our culture and productive from day one. Here's how MSCI is supporting new joiners through every stage of their journey.
Leveraging Technology for Streamlined Onboarding
We use technology to automate administrative tasks like document submissions and background checks, allowing new joiners to complete each task easily and efficiently. This frees up our teams to focus on creating meaningful and impactful experiences, such as personalized welcome initiatives.
Our Workplace Technology team also ensures that new joiners have access to the tools they need from the moment they join us—whether that’s setting up their hardware, installing software or providing access to internal systems. This fast setup helps new employees hit the ground running, ensuring they are productive right from the start.
Crafting a Memorable First-Day Experience
The first day sets the tone for new colleagues' entire journey at MSCI. We ensure that their introduction is a memorable one, with a warm welcome, tailored onboarding plans and the tools they need to succeed.
Fostering belonging and building human connections
A sense of belonging is essential for any new employee’s success. That’s why we prioritize building community and connections. We ask new joiners to provide a written profile that is shared with their team and key stakeholders, helping to personalize introductions and facilitate connections. From our Virtual Coffee initiative that encourages informal interactions to introduction of our Employee Resource Groups we ensure new joiners feel like they are a part of the MSCI team from the very beginning.
In a world of hybrid and global teams, human connection is more important than ever. While technology is a crucial enabler, face-to-face interactions and personal relationships remain key drivers of engagement and long-term success. MSCI places a strong emphasis on encouraging new hires to work in the office at least twice a week during their first 90 days, allowing them to learn from others, meet the office heads and build relationships with the team.
We also host networking events and team-building activities such as Fun Days that foster cross-functional collaboration. These interactions help new hires build strong, lasting connections with their colleagues, making it easier for them to integrate into the company’s culture and workflows.
Comprehensive Orientation and Ongoing Training
Our onboarding goes beyond the first day. Our Global Orientation Program, sponsored by the Executive Committee, is a 3-day immersive experience within the first three months, providing new joiners with insights into our values, products, and operations, while connecting them with peers at local offices. Continuous learning extends through the first 90 days and beyond, equipping employees with essential skills to thrive. This includes compliance and regulatory training, along with blended learning on business, technical, management, and leadership topics. By combining self-paced digital content with live, expert-led workshops, we allow employees to learn at their own pace and access resources exactly when they need them.
Shaping the Future of Onboarding
Onboarding is a journey, not just a checklist. We’ve created an onboarding process that not only sets employees up for success but also helps them thrive in our global, hybrid work environment.
Our approach to onboarding reflects MSCI’s commitment to our people, ensuring every new hire feels valued, connected, and empowered to contribute from day one.