Onboarding – Simple Tips for Getting it Right

Your company has spent hours recruiting, interviewing, and negotiating to find the ideal employee for your organisation. You probably think the hard part is over, right? Well, not exactly. The first few weeks in a hired position is an incredibly important time for your new employee. This period of time, called the onboarding phase, is essential to ensuring your new hire gets off on the right foot, and that they feel happy and engaged in their new role. 

Here are a few tips to ensure you are maximising your onboarding experience to the benefit of your company and your new hire.

1-  Introductions and Tours

You want to make sure your employee has a great first day. You want them to feel welcome and excited to get started in their new position. Encouraging your entire team to welcome new employees helps them to form relationships with their colleagues, and to quickly integrate into the business.

Start the day off by introducing new employees to their fellow team members. When applicable, provide an office tour, so new hires can become familiar with the various facilities and departments of your organisation. This not only makes them feel welcomed but also cultivates an environment for collaboration and teamwork right out of the gate.

2- Describe Your Company Values

You probably covered the basics of your company’s vision and values during your interviews. However, it never hurts to reiterate your company mission, vision, and values on the first day your employee starts their new position. The onboarding phase is the ideal time to go into more detail about company goals and how your new employee fits into the bigger picture.

When you provide new hires with information about your organisational mission, goals, customers, strategy, and operational structure they are more likely to become involved. Most importantly, they will understand how their position brings value to the company.

3- Clearly Define Responsibilities & Establish Goals

By their first day, a new employee should have a pretty solid understanding of what their new role entails. However, various companies operate in various ways. It’s important you provide your new hires with guidance during onboarding pertaining to how your company would like things to be accomplished. Set clear expectations to avoid any confusion or awkward moments down the road. Who will they be reporting to? Who will they work alongside, etc.? How will you be assessing their performance?

Be sure to bring all new employees up to speed on any current projects they will be involved in. It’s also a great idea to introduce new team members to any clients they will be working with. While you don’t want to overwhelm new hires with a heavy workload, setting a few goals provides them with a focus to help ensure they are engaged from their very first day in their new position.

4- Tools and Training

Before your employee’s first day, make sure you have any necessary resources and tools ready in anticipation of their arrival. Be sure to provide new employees with an employee handbook describing company procedures, policies, and other relevant information. When applicable, make sure all tech equipment and required software are ready to go for their position, as well as log-in details provided. 

Onboarding provides the perfect time to check any on-the-job training off of your new employee to-do list. On-the-job training helps bring your new employees up to speed on the software, tools and skills they need to meet the expectations of their company. Additionally, this initial training will help new team members settle and adjust to their roles more efficiently than if they were to read a manual or are left to “learn as they go.”

5- Seek Feedback

Once your employee has been with your organisation for a few months, ask them for their feedback about their experience. What are their thoughts on your onboarding process? Feedback, whether positive or negative, helps you pinpoint what works is working for your new hires and what needs to be adjusted for future hires.

When a company fails to effectively onboard their employees, they run the risk of forming a negative first impression. Additionally, you run the risk of losing your new hire at an early stage. Considering the costs associated with hiring the right candidate, as well as the costs of a damaged reputation from a high turnover rate, it’s in everyone’s best interests to properly onboard your employees. If you follow these simple steps, you’ll be on the path to a smooth, efficient, and effective onboarding process for your organisation.