Almost as important as the selection of the right candidate is the process of how you introduce and integrate them into your organisation. This is also known as onboarding. Onboarding is your best chance to make a strong first impression as an efficient, organised, and thoughtful place to work. Whilst it’s particularly important for office workers, it’s essential for those employees who will be working remotely.
Think back to a new job you had and remember your first day. Hopefully, you were excited and perhaps a little nervous, but if your new employer then failed to give you enough attention, information and instruction, you may have felt underwhelmed and maybe even questioned your career decision.
What is onboarding?
Good onboarding forms the basis of a positive employee experience. It helps new recruits to understand their work environment, company culture, and make them feel welcomed. It also enables them to engage quicker, reach productivity faster, improve employee retention, and is particularly important for remote employees.
Do you have an onboarding strategy?
You must remember that every new employee is unique. They will disseminate information in different ways, so you need to have a clearly understand onboarding strategy, where the steps are easy to follow by all managers and across every department. An onboarding checklist would work well here.
When designing your onboarding process, you must think of it from every angle and ensure that you have covered all the bases. It might make sense to use onboarding tools and software, which can help to streamline communication, facilitate training, ensure compliance, and manage any necessary paperwork. Plus if you incorporate automation and notifications into the workflow, you will be able to ensure that all tasks are completed in a timely manner.
Start early and maintain good and regular communications
1. An effective way to start the onboarding process is for it to commence well before your new starters first day in their new job. Communicating with them and preparing them for their first day as soon as they accept the job offer, will help them to feel like they are a valued member of the team. This might involve sending a welcome pack, employee handbook or company merchandise
2. Set up their workspace – make sure you have organised their workstation, everything from desk, chair, computer/laptop and phone to ready-to-use corporate e-mails, passwords, software licences etc.
3. Orientation starts on their first day with a welcome meeting, introductions to their team/ managers, an office/building show round and access to any online tools, company policies, workflow details etc.
4. Organise a team lunch or social event that they are invited to attend. Show them the more fun and human side of the business.
5. Over the coming days, pair them with a buddy or mentor. This will be their go-to person if they need help, have a question, or simply want a friendly face to talk to.
6. Make sure they understand their role and its responsibilities. After their first week, set some personal and professional goals, this will help them to focus their attention on what is expected of them and what success looks like.
7. Take the time to talk about team culture, company benefits/perks as well as procedures/processes that they need to adhere to. Show them an organisational chart and indicate who to ask for what (stationery/IT/HR/Account etc). A directory of names and photos of staff would be helpful here too.
8. Set up regular dates for the coming days and weeks to check in with them, so you can identify challenges, discuss goals and support them in the best ways possible.
9. Assign them a simple task so they can ease themselves into their duties. It will also create an opportunity for you to provide meaningful feedback and any mentoring help.
10. Ask for feedback during their onboarding experience. This will help you to refine and improve it so that it continues to meet the needs of both the business and all new starters.
How can I help?
If you need help and support to establish an onboarding strategy, please get in touch 07780 692784 or debby@total-spectrum.com
