Employee onboarding is an important process for them to get familiar with a company’s practices, guidelines, and most importantly, the company’s work culture. The key to retaining employees and maintaining a successful relationship with them is through proper onboarding. If a new employee has a bad experience from the beginning and does not understand half of how their role contributes to the bulk of what the company does or starts a new role without proper training, there is a high chance of them doing things wrong which could lead to frustration.
Onboarding Best Practices
Hiring top talents is not the only thing a company needs to maximise profit or guarantee success in the workplace. It is also important for every employee to have a good working experience. How an employee is trained or treated during the onboarding process would contribute to how they carry out their work and respond to certain situations.
Below are some of the key best practices to follow when you recruit new talents;
- Plan! Plan!! Plan!!! and set a goal:
As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry says, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Everyone wants a successful onboarding program but only those who put in the work get the best result. Set up a plan and outline how you want the process to be.
Setting up a team to handle the process is also ideal, especially for a big company.
Ask questions like;
- When will onboarding start?
- How long will it last?
- What impression do you want new hires to walk away with at the end of the first day?
- What do new employees need to know about the culture and work environment?
- How will you gather feedback on the program and measure its success?
Make sure you are consistent in panning it as a little mistake could turn everything around.
- Prepare for the first day
The first day is very important and while anything can happen at any time, it is important to put certain things in place.
Prepare their company swag, and company ID, and have someone in place to give them a tour of the workplace.
- Include a plan for introductions.
While preparing for the big day, remember to put a plan in place for introductions. You can assign new employees to a “buddy” that would guide them through this process. You could also introduce them to other employees when taking them on a tour of the workplace.
Some companies have a welcome party or lunch for new hires to make them feel included and settled.
- Outline their roles and responsibilities
It is important to clarify a new hire’s role in their team or the workplace in general. Let them be sure that it is what is in the job description they are doing and if there would be compensation for any work done outside the scope of their job.
Team leads or company leaders should share what they expect from the new hires in their role, and reply to any questions they have about the company’s work culture, or expectations.
- Collect feedback
To know how to do better so you won’t make the same mistake, have a proper feedback system in place. A few months after the new hire starts working at the company, the company lead or team lead should provide them with feedback on their performance and progress. Also, ask them for feedback on the onboarding experience and how they’re doing so far.
At the end of the program, your onboarding process should reflect your company values and culture to keep your employees impressed.
From the feedback received, learn which aspects of the program impressed them the most, and how you can improve in the future.