What makes a company’s onboarding program unforgettable?
Maybe it’s the new branded swag, an insightful Q&A with a leader or a fun icebreaker that leads to a new friend. Or perhaps it’s all of these individual things wrapped up into one experience that influences a person’s entire career journey.
That was the case for Jasmine Pullard when she joined Million Dollar Baby Co. as a quality control coordinator. Upon beginning her role, she embarked on what she considers the best experience she has had over the past 21 years of her professional life.
“I’m not just saying this because I’m a current MDB employee — I truly mean it,” Pullard said.
So what made Pullard’s experience so special? She said there were numerous things that stood out to her during the onboarding process, including an overarching focus on employee recognition and an emphasis on illustrating the “bigger picture.”
But for Pullard, one of the most notable elements of the company’s culture that she discovered when she first joined had nothing to do with her career. Rather, it was the organization’s commitment to work-life balance that helped her realize she had made the right choice, as she prides herself on the “love, life and growth” she pours into her family and friends.
“This allows me to show up in and outside of work as the healthiest version of myself, shining my light and being my true authentic self,” Pullard said.
With this encouragement to embrace both her personal and professional lives, Pullard is excited to continue to grow, whether that’s through refining her organizational skills or tackling ambitious goals alongside her peers.
Below, Pullard shares more about what makes Million Dollar Baby Co.’s onboarding program special, how she has made an impact on the company so far and her plans to continue to evolve professionally.
WHAT DOES MILLION DOLLAR BABY CO. DO?
Founded in 1990, Million Dollar Baby Co. operates a portfolio of baby furniture brands, including DaVinci, Babyletto and Monogram. The company’s products include cribs, dressers, recliners and bookshelves.
What was the onboarding process like for you? What was your favorite part?
I had a wonderful onboarding experience. To be honest, MDB’s onboarding process was the best experience I’ve ever had in my 21 years of being a professional. I was very impressed.
My favorite part was that it didn’t just start and end during my first week; rather, it continued for several weeks. I was able to meet with Ramon Ho, part of our talent management team, who is awesome, along with multiple team leads, including CEO Teddy Fong, to get a better understanding of each team’s role and purpose, core values, goals, best practices and level of expectations. This experience gave me multiple pieces of the puzzle that I could put together to see the bigger picture of what MDB is.
“MDB’s onboarding process was the best experience I’ve ever had in my 21 years of being a professional.”
What pleasantly surprised you after you joined MDB?
What pleasantly surprised me after I joined was seeing the amount of positive feedback that was shared across the whole company. It’s not just broadcasted in a Slack channel, but also on monitors at the office. Recognition is something that isn’t up to par at far too many other companies. Showing appreciation and acknowledging a colleague goes a long way in engagement and retention. Doing this will naturally create an environment that encourages team members to strive for continuous improvement, make an impact and drive results. Seeing Teddy consistently communicating to the team to ensure we’re giving and asking for feedback shows that this is very important and is something we take seriously. At the end of the day, people just want to be seen and heard.
When did you know you made the right choice in joining MDB?
I knew that I had made the right choice in joining MDB when I was asked what needs to be true about the company I join during the interview process. My answer was that I needed upper managers’ goals to be aligned with the rest of their team; I needed to know that my thoughts and ideas were welcomed and were truly heard; I needed continuous feedback regarding my performance versus only hearing about my performance during annual reviews; and lastly, I needed to know that the company truly respects and encourages work-life balance. I got confirmation of every one of these needs throughout my onboarding experience. It wasn’t just a great thing to have written in the company’s core values; rather, they were truly practicing what they preach.
“They were truly practicing what they preach.”
One of my main personal goals is to be a better version of myself every day. I’m a human being with a whole life. I pour love, life and growth into my children, family, friends and myself outside of work, which is truly valuable and a blessing to have.
How have you hit the ground running since you joined, and what are you most excited to accomplish over the next year?
I have hit the ground running since I’ve joined MDB by absorbing as much information as possible — quickly. This includes all the great data and training on processes and systems that my manager, Rut, has given to me. I’ve also reviewed past quarterly meetings and read all escalations from our customer support and logistics team as well as tickets from customers regarding quality control issues. This information has allowed me to provide much-needed insights and metrics to the quality control team. For instance, I was able to spot specific trends that are being escalated and addressed by our Hong Kong team.
I’ve also been meeting with various teams to build great working relationships, cultivate quality conversations and identify and address areas of improvement.
Something I’m most excited to accomplish over the next year is assisting our team with reducing our incident rate to 0 percent. It’s a high goal, but we must shoot for the moon. Even if we miss, we’ll land among the stars.
What aspect of your professional growth are you most excited to evolve?
The aspects of my professional growth that I’m the most excited to evolve include goal setting, organization and productivity. MDB uses the people management platform Lattice, which allows us to create growth areas and OKRs for ourselves and our teams. The tool allows us to break down the tasks that are needed to successfully complete this growth area or OKR and add due dates, which reduces the feeling of discouragement that can come with setting large goals. It also promotes accountability, as it forces you to think ahead and write down what’s needed.
Seeing one’s goals written down helps clear the mind and enables one to focus on the first steps in front of you. It’s kind of like having a camera lens that’s foggy or has smudges on it; any pictures you take come out blurry. You must clean the lens first to have clear and beautiful photos. Doing this will also help me fine-tune my organizational skills by implementing good new habits that will lead to improving productivity.
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