The onboarding process for new employees and contractors is one which can be difficult for both employer and employee. It doesn’t have to be this way as companies can give a good introduction and set goals for the employee. Achieving this buy-in from employees leads to reduced staff turnover and greater company performance in the long run.
‘It’s really about calculating the cost of hiring new workers to the business need new hires to be productive and, at a small company especially, every employee counts.’
-John Sullivan, Professor of Management at San Francisco State University.
L’Oreal have made headlines for committing to a 2 year program of onboarding for new staff with training and mentoring. Zappos too, the online retailer, do extended 5 week training courses with the option for new hires to drop out and be paid $2000 to do so!
How to build an onboarding program
Using the following 4 headings your company can build a coherent and effective onboarding program.
1.Have a plan
Onboarding is everyone’s job not just HR. Having a plan together for onboarding is one thing but it is also important to have a distinct plan for each new hire or new role. Ideally, your HR team should be starting at the recruitment stage of the process with the job description being written to highlight company values and goals. This has the effect of weeding out prospective employees who may not fit in with the company culture and also sets the tone for subsequent company initiation training.
You can use the time before the employee starts work to get a lot of the paperwork out of the way. Job contracts, payroll information, references and so on can all be done before they start to increase efficiency.
There are many new technologies and software applications that can contribute to the planning and execution of your onboarding such as online orientations, online registration forms and so on. Using these technologies can help to structure your program and provide a necessary data capture function to ensure you have a record of all new hires.
2.On the first day
The first day can go a lot more smoothly for everyone if you follow this checklist:
•Tell your new hires what they should bring with them and how to dress for Day 1.
•Tell them about parking and where they should report to first thing.
•Give them an outline or map of the building with restrooms and cafeteria indicated.
•Make sure all existing staff know about the new arrivals and are encouraged to welcome them.
•Ensure the new hire has all necessary security tags and codes for easy access.
•Set up their computer and email accounts.
•If they are using software systems ensure there are guides there to guide them through setup.
•Set up the phone or VOIP system and provide a manual for usage.
•Make sure there is a buddy or mentor assigned to the new hire. Mentors provide a safe haven for questions and orientation.
3.Individualize
All onboarding should be tailored to the individual employee. If you set goals for an employee it will increase productivity and increase employee retention. When starting a new job everybody wants to know how they are adding value to the company and they want to know how to achieve that.
Once goals and milestones have been presented and discussed (usually with a direct manager) there should also be a period of time in which these goals are reviewed with the staff member. They may require further training or mentoring in order to achieve the goals and this should be understood to be a part of the onboarding.
Finally, all companies should try to emphasize their human face to new hires, onboarding is after all more than just forms and goals. Taking the time to introduce newbies into social relationships and indeed encouraging these relationships is essential for settling people into a new role.
4.Follow through
Seeing onboarding as a company-wide process and one which does not end after the first week of an employment is important. It is easy for a new hire to get lost or forgotten so don’t be afraid to assign a specific individual – either peer or manager – to a specific hire and take responsibility for getting them fully orientated.
We have mentioned the idea of creating milestones, eg, 1 month check-in, 3 month performance review, etc. Following up on these helps to ensure productivity and sends a clear message to the employee that they are part of the team and that their contribution is valued to the company as a whole.
Finally, get feedback. The understanding that all businesses are built on feedback, whether that is from customers, vendors or, in this case, employees is essential for success. Listen to employees feedback on their first few weeks, respond to criticism (and allow this criticism to be welcomed!) and make any changes or improvements on the back of this feedback.
Conclusion
If you can apply these guidelines to your hiring process you will already be far ahead of your competitors. The reality is that most companies do not engage sufficiently with new staff to get the best out of them and this is damaging their business. All onboarding is basically a human interaction and throwing management theories around will only get you so far. There does need to be a commitment from all team members from top to bottom to integrate new staff and this first connection is perhaps the most important.
