New Hire Onboarding Process. Are You Doing It Right?

Simply put, onboarding is the process of transforming promising candidates into top-performing employees by helping them seamlessly adjust to the various aspects of their jobs. With an effective onboarding process, organizations can demonstrate their mission and values while helping new hires acclimatize to the culture and other essential aspects of the organization. 

The Striking Importance of Onboarding

Did you know that a whopping 22% of companies have no formal onboarding process? And you do not want to be a part of that percentage, precisely because having no proper onboarding process can result in disengaged new employees. That is a huge liability for any organization. 

Building a strategic onboarding process for your new employees is critical to make them feel more valued and better understand their roles and responsibilities. Accordingly, it increases their motivation, resulting in a positive performance and high productivity levels. That helps boost talent retention rates beyond expectations and improves the bottom line- now that is what all firms ultimately want. 

How To Conduct Onboarding the Right Way 

Don’t forget, the first impression is the last impression, which is why your company needs to create an outstanding onboarding process to help make your new employees feel welcomed, valued, and respected. Like any other organizational process, be sure to make your onboarding a unique experience, reflecting your company’s personality.

Not sure if you are doing it right? Here are some ways you can streamline your onboarding process with ease: 

Overviewing Your Recruitment Process 

Before you begin to plan your onboarding process, you need to make sure that you have properly overviewed your recruitment process. Review your websites, job descriptions, and policies to ensure that you can skim through a long list of potential employees to find and attract the best hires. 

By perfecting your recruitment process, you give new employees a clear sense of what their job entails are and what the company expects from them. 

Planning Your Onboarding Process Thoroughly

Not sure where to begin planning your onboarding process? Start by incorporating the four C’s: they are crucial in giving you direction in drafting a systematic course. The four C’s are as follows:

Clarification: Ensuring that new employees know their job description clearly and understand all related expectations from them. 

Compliance: Giving the new hires an overview of all the rules, regulations, and policies of your organization so that they remember company boundaries. 

Connection: Encouraging the new employees to build strong bridges with the higher management through improved communication and interpersonal skills. 

Culture: Educating the new hires on the norms of the organization, from formal to informal ones, so that they are accustomed to the company culture and ethics. 

If your organization is seeking to improve and simplify its process of onboarding new employees, there is various onboarding software that offers self-onboarding for employees. Not only does it make the process a lot easier for both parties by reducing mundane tasks and saving time, but provides a positive impression about your company practices and culture to new hires from the outset.

Welcoming the New Hires Through a Sound Orientation Program

Providing a transparent glimpse of a day in life at your office is the first step to a successful onboarding process. Anyone who owns a company already knows that which is why we will cut the pep talk and dive straight into the how’s of welcoming the new hires through a sound orientation program. 

To begin with, give your new hires a tour of where they will work and what tools and software they will have access to and use. Starting your orientation by showing the employees their workstations helps them feel like a part of the organization from the word go.

Next, provide them a full view of other departments and office spaces, including supply rooms, labs, meeting rooms, and kitchen. While you are showing them around, allow them the liberty to look around and ask questions from their peers. Be sure to introduce the new hires to the existing employees as you pass them.  

As soon as the office tour is over, hand them a welcome pack which includes some gifts, such as a company t-shirt, to let them know that you are excited to welcome them to the team. Send out an official letter from the CEO conveying your delight in welcoming the new hires That will act as a motivation-booster for the new employees. 

With an effective orientation program in place, you can help reduce anxiety associated with entering into an unknown situation, eliminate the stress of guessing, and help new hires smoothly integrate into the organization. 

Encourage Employee Engagement and Training 

The onboarding process does not just stop on the new hires’ first day at work. Instead, it continues up until the new employees have fully adjusted to their new job roles. From the beginning, focus on encouraging employee engagement and training. You can through extra meetings, training sessions, and team-building activities. 

Assigning a mentor to the new employees can help them navigate the learning curve more quickly and acclimate to their job more effectively, boosting performance by tenfold. 

Every employer’s goal is to provide their new employees with all the opportunities and resources to perform better and retain the top talent. 

A successful onboarding process takes time and a whole lot of effort, all of which certainly pays off when the new hires outperform and build a lasting commitment to the organization.