by How to Greatly Improve Your Employee Onboarding Process
Did you know that 56 percent of new hires in the United States prefer to have a mentor or buddy to help them through the onboarding process? Employee onboarding is important for allowing your new hires to get up to speed at your business while also providing them with a welcoming environment.
Businesses that fail to invest in their employee onboarding process are setting themselves up for failure since their best employees will look to work elsewhere and their new employees will get left feeling forgotten. It is a big mistake to take your hiring process for granted as a business owner.
The good news is that you’re in the perfect place to learn about the different things that you can do in order to make your onboarding process as thorough and helpful as possible for your new employees. Keep reading this article to learn more today!
Engage With New Employees Before Their First Day
One of the best things that you can do with your onboarding process is to reach out to your new hires prior to their first day working at your company. It’s a bad look to your new employees if you hire them and then go dark until their start date. You should make an effort to stay in contact with your new hires from the time that you make the hiring official to their first day at work.
That time period is the time of the most risk for hiring managers and business owners. Many people that end up changing their minds about working for you do so during that part of the onboarding process. These job candidates could still get other job offers.
Make sure you express excitement about them joining your team and do your best to keep them engaged. Always be ready to answer any questions that new employees might have.
Use a Mentor System
It’s a big waste to fail to make use of your best employees when it comes to your employee onboarding approach. A mentor system allows you to get help from your best employees by having them act as a resource for your new hires while also providing a welcoming environment.
These seasoned veterans at your company can help your new hires ease into their new positions. The mentor also acts as the main point of contact for the new hires, which takes a burden off of management’s shoulders and gives the mentor some management experience.
Get Excited About New Employees
It’s hard for your new employees to get excited about the onboarding process for working at your business if that feeling isn’t mutual. You need to get excited about your new hires joining your team and create a positive first impression on these individuals. The first few months are a time where employee turnover happens a lot, but strong employee onboarding can prevent that.
You need to take steps to show your new team members that they’re appreciated and valued. Invest time into their training to show that you care about their growth. If the training isn’t up to par then it is possible that your new employees will leave for greener pastures.
Commit to the First Year
It sounds crazy, but you need to commit to a full year of employee onboarding if you want to keep your best employees. It’s a big mistake to get an orientation program mixed up with an employee onboarding process. Orientation is all about getting new employees up to speed on company rules and values.
Your onboarding process should involve making the new employee feel like they’re part of something special, and giving them the tools and resources for doing a great job. Your employees won’t buy into your business if you’re not showing them that you’re willing to invest in their personal and professional development.
Training is another big aspect of the hiring process. You need to commit to sticking with and training up that new hire for the next year to ensure that they’re ready to perform at a high level. A great approach is to set up meetings at different increments with your new employees to check in on them and make sure that they’re doing well.
Build a Structured Plan
It can get easy to stress yourself out over employee onboarding but many people make it more stressful than it needs to be. If you want to get rid of that stress then you should set some time aside with your HR department to come up with a structured plan for what to do when you hire employees.
Odds are that your new employee is a bit stressed over the thought of starting a new job around new people. You becoming stressed about whether everything is ready will only add to the stress that new hire is experiencing.
You can put different milestones into your onboarding plan, like a welcome letter after they’re hired and a welcome kit for their first day at the office. Little touches like that go a long way towards making the right impression on your employees. You can learn more about how building a plan works well with onboarding software.
Set Up One-On-One Time
One-on-one time is one of the best ways to add to employee onboarding since it shows your new hires that they’re valued members of your organization. The majority of new employees feel that they need some one-on-one time with their boss or manager in order to feel comfortable with the employee onboarding process.
You need to task your managers with finding time for these meeting sessions after you hire employees. It creates a positive first impression since it shows that the manager is investing time in the new employee. It’s important that the individual gets to know the people that they work with.
Show a Map of Their Future
People want to know their advancement opportunities when starting a new job. Part of your onboarding process should include showing your new hires a map of what their future could look like. Taking this step is great because it allows you to set clear goals for your employees.
Having clear goals and expectations is a great way to motivate your employees after the hiring process. Using a map for the employee’s future helps them understand the things they need to do in order to get where they’d like to be.
Have your managers take some time to sit down with new employees and map out their futures with the company. It’s much easier to see a future at a job when you can understand what lies ahead of you with a bit of hard work.
Spread Out the Onboarding Process
You need to resist the temptation to include everything you can think of with employee onboarding within the first 90 days. Many new employees tend to feel exhausted and a bit overwhelmed on the first day at the new job. There isn’t enough time for them to digest all of the new information heading their way.
Onboarding should get spread over a longer period of time if you want the best results from the hiring process. Spreading out the paperwork, training, and meetings will prevent your new hires from getting overwhelmed. It increases your odds of keeping your best employees since they feel comfortable and don’t feel pressured.
Check-In Often
Another important aspect of a good onboarding process is having regular and frequent check-ins with your employees. This is your chance to gain feedback about the onboarding process while also giving feedback to new employees and building your relationship with them.
You’ll get a pulse on what they’ve experienced so far with the hiring process at your company. You’ll also learn about the things that you can do differently in order to support them and help them become one of your best employees.
If you want your employee onboarding to be great then you need to emphasize to your managers that they should take action based on the feedback that they receive. Your new hires will feel like their voice and opinions have value. They’re less likely to speak up if they say something and nothing ever changes.
Make sure that you’re remaining consistent with your check-ins so that your new employees don’t feel forgotten or lost in the shuffle. If their manager goes months without checking on them then it shows that they’re not valued by the company.
Boost Your Business’s Onboarding Process
Employee onboarding is one of the most important aspects of running a business, especially if you want to keep your best employees. Make sure that your hiring process starts as soon as the hire is official, and look to keep in touch with new employees leading up to their first days on the job.
You should also check in with them on a frequent basis and act on any feedback that they give you. Most of all, create a strong first impression and use a mentor system with your best employees to make them feel welcome and part of something special.
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