Employee onboarding is a two-way street. To make it successful, the employer and the employee should make absolutely sure that they woo each other’s potential before the journey starts.
According to a survey conducted by BambooHR on over 1000 newly hired Americans, 31% research participants reported quitting their jobs within the first 6 months of being hired due to lack of clarity surrounding job duties and expectations. A similar study also reveals that new hires who went through a structured employee onboarding program were 58% more likely to stay with the organization after three years. These are a few stats that clearly reflect the importance of effective onboarding and how it makes a huge impact on the retention and productivity of the new hires.
So, keeping all this in mind, we have created an employee onboarding checklist for success. In this article, you will find eight surprising and illuminating onboarding tips that will help you ensure that the new hires you spent so long searching for feel welcome from day 1 and beyond.
Here are the steps you should take to get new hires off to the best possible start:
1. Reach out to new hires before their joining date
Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of thinking that onboarding can start only when the employee is on your premises. In most cases, new hires are curious to learn more about their new organization and the people they will be working with. So, giving these anxious minds a silent treatment after they accept the job offer is not the ideal move. Just walk them through their first-day schedule over a phone call or send them a brief introduction about your company via email. Reach out to new hires before the actual joining date and tell them what they should expect from your company and your people.
2. Be ready when they arrive
“How was your first day?”
This is probably the first question your new hires will hear once they step out of your office premises. Now, you don’t want them to answer it with, “yeah, it was okay” or “not that good”. Remember, the first impression is the last impression and you don’t want your new employees to question their decision of working with you. Having their desk ready with everything they need (identity card, joining forms, email id, system login, etc) or giving them a welcome package with gifts and wishes from their new office mates are little things that can make a lasting impression. This would not only make new hires feel welcome but also showcase your company’s professionalism.
3. Assign a buddy and a mentor
On the first day, new hires always have a lot of questions swirling around in their head – “What projects/tasks will be I working on?”, “How often will I be evaluated on my performance?”, “What would be the format of the evaluation?”, Are there any challenges or issues I should be aware of?”, and so on. Assigning a buddy or a mentor helps the new employee to get apt answers to all their questions without wasting any time. Moreover, this helps them to get comfortable with the new work environment faster and with better clarity.
4. Make team introductions creative and fun
Apart from a common email introduction of the new hire with the other team members, look for ways to make team introduction creative and fun. Try ideas that will not only allow the new employee to share more about him/her with the team but also learn as much possible about the people he/she needs to work with. At first, you can invite everyone to the conference room and break the ice with some fun laughter-inducing games. Make sure that the ideas you put to implementation give everyone a chance to find common interests and work together productively.
5. Introduce new hires to current projects and goals
Introducing new employees to the current projects, company goals, and desired results will give them the opportunity to understand the work environment better and get involved with the situation more efficiently. You can consider creating a presentation that all new employees go through on their first day. Make sure that you include all the points in the presentation that can help new recruits understand everything that is going on within the company.
6. Communicate the culture
Communicating the company culture is as important as examining their skills during the interview. Your new hires will probably fail if they don’t understand how they should go about their job. Moreover, their chances of failing at their job will increase because their work habits and skills don’t match well with the company culture. So, make sure that you provide an honest view of your company culture to your new hires early and often.
7. Allow new hires to give their own feedback
Do new hires have something to say about the company and the people on the first day? Probably yes. That’s why it is important that they are given an honest opportunity to provide their feedback. Just ask them what they like and don’t like about their job, their company and the people around them at the end of their first week/month. You can consider conducting an anonymous survey where all the new hires can provide their feedback and suggest improvements.
8. Use onboarding software solutions
Most of the companies prefer to do all their onboarding functions on their own. But that’s doesn’t seem like an ideal choice when we have so many amazing, feature rich employee onboarding software solutions available. It’s no secret that there are tools and apps available in the market for almost every business function. From an all-in-project management software that keeps your projects on track from start to finish to simple accounting software that brings clarity to your business finances, technology has made everything a lot easier and faster, including employee onboarding. So, if you’re planning to reconsider your onboarding strategy, do look for an onboarding solution that matches your needs.
Conclusion and next steps
Now that you know the best ways to welcome new hires in your company, the next step is to put these simple employee onboarding tips into practice. But before you start, here are a few important things that you might want to look into:
- Knowing where your current onboarding program stands
- Getting your current stuff onboard with the process
- Exploring ways to customize the new onboarding process to match your specific needs
Once you’ve evaluated the above factors, you are good to go. Take steps to make employee onboarding fun and help the new hires achieve success in their roles.
