10 Steps for a Successful Employee Onboarding
Once you’ve hired a new employee for your organization, it’s up to your HR team and management to ensure you have a successful employee onboarding program in place.
Once you’ve hired a new employee for your organization, it’s up to your HR team and management to ensure you have a successful employee onboarding program in place.
Onboarding is one of the most overlooked processes that builds a strong organization.
A good onboarding process will lead to company cohesion, strong employee relationships, and overall a smooth-running organization.
A bad onboarding process will produce confusion, zombie employees, and misguided efforts.
GainKnowHow makes a couple of steps easier in onboarding employees, but by no means is a cure-all to automate your whole onboarding process.
“Onboarding is an ongoing, constantly evolving processes that emerges out of the company's culture, no one piece of software can replace all of that.”
Before even starting to plan your onboarding program, make sure your HR team and senior management discuss how this program will look. Take time to figure out when onboarding starts and what tools should be involved. Also, consider how long it should last and what you are looking to achieve from the onboarding experience.
In order to create successful employee onboarding experiences, you need to set goals for the sessions. Make sure you have a clear aim in mind for new employees to help you all understand what they should learn by the end of the onboarding program. Find ways to gather feedback from new employees. This will help you measure the success of your hiring onboarding once it’s in place.
GainKnowHow is the perfect platform to organize your skills in a progression towards a skill as a goal.
Assign a new employee and skill deep in your Knowledge Web as a goal to achieve in a expected time-frame.
While you might think that onboarding only focuses on successful candidates, in fact, it starts with the hiring process. Hiring managers need to ensure they are making a good first impression with candidates, which can help to set you apart from other companies. Your human resources team should be available at all times to candidates, especially once they receive their offer letter. The more support you can offer them, the more likely they’ll choose your workplace for their next job role.
GainKnowHow can be used to train you HR staff on exactly how you want to communicate with potential hires.
Create a skill your organization's Knowledge Web that describes acceptable communication styles for potential hires.
The first office visit is an important stage of the onboarding process. This should aim to show new employees where they will be working and meet some of their colleagues. Take your time touring your facilities. Ensure you show new hires communal areas such as the kitchen and canteen. The more they can learn about what working at your office will be like, the more excited they’ll be to receive their start date.
While you may think that every candidate would be thrilled to receive an offer letter, remember, you might not be the only company sending one their way. The offer letter should clearly state their start date and roles and responsibilities so that they are fully aware of what’s expected from them. This is another chance to welcome any follow-up questions, which can help to avoid issues further down the line.
The first day on a new job should set very clear expectations for new team members. You should introduce the objectives of their role so they know exactly what’s expected from them on day one in your work environment. It’s important for you to introduce them to their co-workers as soon as possible, which can be more of a challenge during the current pandemic. Find ways to overcome this issue if you are working remotely, such as having a Zoom happy hour or using employee onboarding software with new team members.
GainKnowHow is perfect for setting your new hire's onboarding expectations. On their first day assign them a complex skill deep in your Knowledge Web for them to learn.
You can track the new hire's progress in achieving the goals you've assigned them in GainKnowHow.
Feeling like you are part of a community is essential when starting a new job. Some companies will organize a lunch or gathering on day one, which helps to create a welcoming atmosphere within the business. You’ll show your new team members that there’s always support around for them, which can make a huge difference to how well they settle in at your company.
Starting at a new organization is a chance for employees to network and broaden their horizons within any industry. HR professionals in your workplace should organize meet and greets for the first few weeks of someone’s time at your company. This gives them a chance to familiarize themselves with key figures in the organization and increases employee engagement. It’s a good chance to showcase your company culture and encourage employees to mix between departments.
When looking through your onboarding checklist, this isn’t something that should end within a few weeks of someone joining your company. Instead, you need to schedule regular checks with your employees to keep making them feel like they are part of your organization. Ingrain team building into the culture of your company so that team members are able to continue forming new connections.
Within the first 90 days, you want to check in with new employees every couple of weeks. This gives you a chance to check how they are doing. If you find someone is struggling, you can take the time to help them out and answer any questions they have. Sometimes all it takes is a leader checking in from time to time to make a huge difference to how valued someone feels within their workplace. In large organizations, it’s so easy for new employees to get lost in the everyday hustle and bustle. Take time out to make sure they are settling in okay and enjoying being part of your workplace.
“So many teams struggle to make their onboarding experience anywhere near as good as their core product, so the results of this is poor retention”
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when creating a successful employee onboarding program at your workplace. By following these ten steps we’ve shared above, you’ll make everyone in your organization feel welcomed from the application process through to their first few months working for your company. In time, you’ll find that you have this process down to a fine art, and you won’t have to work so hard to welcome new employees. Strive to make employee boarding something that comes naturally to the leaders within your organization. Your organization will soon become a much more welcoming and enjoyable place to work, helping you to retain top talent for many years to come.
