Make Your Employee Onboarding Process More Effective

Getting used to a new job can be an overwhelming process towards the beginning. It takes a few weeks in order to get fully comfortable and productive. Plus, it takes some time to form communication with fellow colleagues. Through the whole process, the company you work for is supposed to help you. That is what employee onboarding is.

The Importance Of Employee Onboarding

A study was conducted which concluded the fact that about 86% of individuals who were just hired will know within their first six months on the job if they are going to stay or if they should leave that company. More than half of employees who voluntarily leave their jobs do so quickly — within the first year of employment, according to a study by Equifax. Plus, about 69% of these people have a higher chance of staying in the same job for more than three years, if they went through a well-structured onboarding process. Hence, the onboarding process is one of the important and cross-functional processes of a company, which involves people and resources, such as HR, the hiring manager, IT, facilities, etc.

However, it should be noted that there is a difference between employee onboarding and training. The Academy of Management Journal published a study, where 264 new hires participated. This study revealed that the first ninety days of employment, which is also known as the ‘probationary period,’ are important when it comes to building a relationship with the company, the other colleagues, and the management.

A Well-Structured Onboarding Process Will Affect Retention

Employees that go through a well-structured ongoing process the moment they join a company, have a much higher chance of staying within the company for more than three years. The main idea is that a company should create a thoughtful employee experience, just as they create one for their customers. This is quite an interesting perspective that should be taken into consideration when designing the employee onboarding process.

According to a report that was provided by the Temkin Group, a successful employee onboarding process largely affects the employee engagement plus success in the experiences of the customers. An Employee Engagement Benchmark Study was organized in 2016 and it showed that the companies which are performing great in the customer experience area have 1.5 times more engaged employees as compared to companies with bad customer experiences.

Furthermore, in another Engaged Workplace study, it was discovered that a massive 87% of the employees all over the world aren’t actually engaged. These companies are not taking advantage of this, since companies that have a highly engaged workforce are able to outperform their rival companies and peers by about 147% in earnings/share. 

Employee Introductory Packages Of Different Companies

Companies such as Twitter and LinkedIn developed different programs that focus on making new hires' ‘Yes to Desk’ time period highly productive. This time period spans from when an individual accepts their offer and goes all the way to when they arrive at their office. Within this entire time period, the new employee will receive a custom e-mail, a bottle of wine, and a T-shirt. Plus, the employee’s desk will be strategically placed right next to their key teammates, who they are going to be working with. In addition to all that, the new employee will have breakfast with the company’s senior executives on their first day and will be given a company tour of the office, including a training session on the system and the tools they will be using.

Usually, the word ‘onboarding’ isn’t properly understood and some companies believe that this should only last for a few days. However, this entire process can even take several months, if your employees are important to you and you want them to remain within your company for a long time. Specifically, there are four different key steps during a new hire onboarding:

1. Before the new employee starts their job

It is way too often that after a candidate accepts an offer, they’re assigned a start date, and then there is no communication until their first day on the job. They show up to work on their first day with no idea what to expect.

To avoid this from happening, the key is to keep them informed before they even start. Let them know what they should expect during their first day and week. That way, your new hire will come into the office fully prepared and ready to hit the ground running.

2. Their first day on the job

When new employees are hired, it’s important that they feel the warm welcome from the team. On the very first day of their work, they should be introduced to everyone on the team including senior management.

Doing so brings them closer to the team and shows them that everyone is approachable. If they have a basic understanding of how all the departments work together, they’ll be more motivated to work harder with the rest of the team.

3. Their first week on the job

A great way to make sure new hires are comfortable is to pair them up with another team member during at least the first week. It’s best to pair them with a peer who has already worked at the company for some time.

A fair number of new hires might feel like they have an overwhelming amount of questions, which is why it’s good for them to have the access to your company's internal knowledge base. A good knowledge base software would capture these questions in the form of questions & answers (Q&A) similar to what you see on Quora.

4. Their first three months on the job

Remember that your onboarding is not done until the new hires are completely integrated with the team and become productive. In the first three months, you should actively seek feedback from them and make changes to your employee onboarding process if needed.

Keep enhancing your onboarding process so that you can continue empowering your employees, equipping them with the tools they need to succeed.

How To Conduct A Successful Employee Onboarding Process

It is important to have a good communication system and a proper knowledge management system for your employees. If your employees are scared of speaking up or feel stressed about bothering a manager or colleague with questions, then this can cause them frustration. This will result in a slow integration process, plus even impact their productivity levels. Maintaining easy access to knowledge and information through knowledge sharing will help new hires adjust as well. All of this will have a positive impact on the company.