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What is a work buddy?

The word 'buddy' comes from English and refers to an experienced employee who supports a new employee during their first weeks or months at work. It's an informal role within the company that any employee with an appropriate level of experience can fill. A buddy helps the new hire adapt – answering questions, suggesting effective working methods, and ensuring they settle into the team.

A work buddy can also simply mean a colleague with whom you have a friendly relationship. This is someone who provides support in stressful situations, maintains motivation, and improves the atmosphere in the workplace.

The tomHRM onboarding platform allows you to assign a buddy to a new employee. The system will automatically assign the appropriate tasks to the person designated as the buddy!

Work buddies in the onboarding process

A work buddy in the onboarding process is someone who helps a new employee during their first days or weeks in a new company. Onboarding with a buddy significantly accelerates integration and increases adaptation efficiency. They serve as the first source of information for the new person.

Check if your company's onboarding process is good enough!

A buddy's responsibilities can cover a very narrow or a very broad range of tasks, depending on how much support the manager needs in the employee onboarding process. In some companies, only help with mentoring and observing the new person's independent work is needed, so that the employee quickly receives the necessary tips. In other organisations, a buddy even provides mental support, helping the 'newcomer', for example, after their first encounter with a difficult customer. Therefore, it is up to the company to decide exactly what supporting tasks the buddy will perform for the new starter.

A buddy can also be particularly important during remote work, where contact with the team is difficult. Find out what remote onboarding with a buddy might look like.

Who can become a buddy?

Any employee of the company can become a buddy. Typically, a buddy is an experienced person who is familiar with the organisation's culture, procedures, and rules.

The ideal buddy – characteristics:

Social competencies – a buddy must be open, communicative, and empathetic. A good buddy connects easily and handles stressful situations well.
Teaching competencies – we cannot speak of a good company buddy if the person cannot explain things or gets quickly irritated when someone doesn't understand instructions. The buddy role also involves mentoring, so the person assigned to this role must have the right approach to new people; be patient, friendly, motivating, and creative. A buddy often needs to adapt to the needs of people of different ages. It's also important that they can provide both positive feedback and explain areas for development.
Substantive knowledge and experience – a buddy provides support in the onboarding process, so they must answer various questions from the new employee. It's worth choosing an experienced employee with an appropriate level of knowledge.
Same team – the best buddy is one who is always nearby when needed. The best buddy in a company is a member of the same team who can constantly support their mentee and help them find their way in the company and build team belonging.
Willingness – a manager might think that person X is an ideal buddy candidate and meets all the above conditions; yet it turns out that this employee would not thrive in such a role at all. The direct manager or the HR Business Partner designing the onboarding plan should designate someone who wants to be such a mentor and be responsible for introducing the new employee to their new workplace.

An onboarding process where a buddy plays a significant role can contribute to increased satisfaction and engagement of the new employee, as well as accelerate their efficiency at work.

Benefits of a buddy in the onboarding process:

An onboarding process where a buddy plays a significant role offers the following benefits:

Easier integration: A buddy helps the new employee get to know the team and company culture faster, facilitating integration.
Faster onboarding: A buddy accelerates the new employee's onboarding process by helping them understand the procedures, rules, and tools used in their work.
Emotional support: A buddy can be a source of support for the new employee in dealing with the stress associated with starting a new job.
Better communication: A buddy serves as the first point of contact for the new employee.
Increased engagement: Effective onboarding with the help of a buddy can increase a new employee's satisfaction, engagement, and productivity, which will contribute to their long-term job satisfaction.

Example tasks of a buddy in employee onboarding

A buddy in onboarding can perform the following tasks:

Introducing the new employee to the team and other key people in the organisation.
Helping to understand the company culture, values, and expectations.
Pointing out key resources, such as internal documents, tools, procedures, and systems used in the work.
Giving a tour of the office or workplace, showing important places like the kitchen, toilets, meeting rooms, etc.
Assisting in the first days of work, with planning and organising tasks, including scheduling meetings with other employees and managers.
Sharing experience and tips regarding daily duties and dealing with difficult situations.
Answering the new employee's questions and directing them to appropriate people or resources if unable to answer independently.
Monitoring progress and providing regular feedback to help the new employee quickly develop their skills and adapt to the new environment.
Supporting the new employee in building relationships with other team members and integrating them into the company community.
Being the first point of contact for the new employee in difficult situations.

Work buddies in manufacturing – advantages of a 'mate' or mentor in production

In manufacturing companies, the role of a buddy brings particular benefits:

The new employee will navigate the factory floor more efficiently

Of course, not all manufacturing companies use large factory floors, but the production area in many of them can be truly vast. Additional floors, spacious warehouses with numerous corridors, dozens of production tables and machines, separate offices, toilets, a canteen, smoking area, parking, changing room... And this is only a part of the sectors employees of large manufacturing companies move through daily.

A buddy will guide the newcomer around the factory floor and external company premises, helping them to navigate the extensive production areas daily.

The newcomer will make fewer mistakes

Even the smallest mistake made in production can negatively affect the quality or durability of the entire manufactured/assembled final product. Meticulousness is therefore extremely important in this work, and often just a second of inattention or uncertainty about how to complete a given task is enough for something to go wrong. So, when new people are allowed to work, it becomes very important to constantly monitor their progress – and the larger the company, the less time managers have for this.

A buddy can relieve managers by working at the same workstation as the new employee and monitoring their progress. A buddy, as a mentor in a new work environment, is less stressful than a direct supervisor.

The new hire will learn to operate machines, tools, or software efficiently more quickly

Another advantage of assigning a company buddy is that they can pass on their know-how to new people. They will therefore share their own methods for faster, easier, and ultimately more efficient work. Sometimes, just advising on which keyboard shortcuts to use in certain software or in what order to assemble specific parts can make work proceed more smoothly and thus much more pleasantly.

A buddy shares their know-how regarding the efficient operation of machines, tools, and software. A buddy acts as a guide in the new environment.

The new person will integrate into the group more easily

The first few weeks at work are a very difficult time for a new person. They have to learn everything, and they are surrounded by unfamiliar faces, not knowing who is responsible for what. A buddy helps newcomers acclimatise to the team, whether by inviting them for a coffee, lunch, or simply involving them in group conversations. Thanks to this, the new team member will quickly find common ground with colleagues, and better integration means better well-being.

A buddy helps the new person acclimatise to the team – from shared coffee breaks to inclusion in group conversations. A buddy ensures a positive atmosphere at work.

Example tasks of a buddy in a manufacturing company

Many factors determine what a buddy can specifically do in a company – the size of the organisation, the number and type of duties for a given position, the building's floor area, and so on. However, we will present example tasks assigned to buddies in manufacturing companies to make it easier to understand what a buddy is in the adaptation process of a production employee.

Meeting the employee in the corridor, reception, or changing room on their first day of work.
An initial tour of the company: indicating toilets, smoking area, snack vending machine, social room, managers' area, and so on.
Introducing the new person to team colleagues.
Explaining how individual machines, tools, or programs work.
Answering the newcomer's questions.
Taking them for a shared lunch, coffee break, etc.
Advising who in the team is responsible for what.
Ongoing verification of the new employee's work results.
Giving the newcomer constructive feedback.
Sharing their own know-how.
Mental support during tougher moments.
Help with organising the workstation.

A buddy system significantly increases the effectiveness of the onboarding process and helps new employees adjust to their new work environment more quickly. The benefits of a buddy system are felt by the new employee, the team, and the entire organisation.

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Work Buddy