Employee onboarding is an expensive and complicated process for your business. It can take more than a month to identify a new candidate and just over $4,000 to initiate the onboarding process.
You can speed up the employee onboarding process allowing productivity to happen faster. The key is to have a detailed plan in place that creates an environment where new employees can thrive.
Here are 10 tips to help improve your new employee onboarding process.
1. Hire based on culture
The new employee onboarding process starts as soon as the candidate’s interview. It’s always best to hire based on a person’s ability to fit seamlessly into your company culture.
Often, candidates with the most impressive work history have specific work habits and behaviors. You should avoid hiring just based solely on stats, as you might introduce a new person that doesn’t fit well into your team.
The likelihood of conflicts increases after the onboarding process which can lead to slowdowns in productivity for years to come. Make sure you’re thinking about the candidate’s personality and work ethic just as much as their ambition and qualifications.
2. Choose assignments carefully
You want the new employee onboarding process to make the entire team feel successful and productive. Job descriptions often include a need for someone to ‘hit the ground running’. This however is often unrealistically and can be a recipe for disaster.
Employees should never be thrown into a fire pit on day one without proper guidance. Failures early on could promote quick turnover and burnout.
Assign new employees tasks that allow them to show off their skills like WorkBright. This boosts their confidence and makes them more comfortable and valued as a member of your team, encouraging a strong drive for success.
More confidence means offering the best ideas and workflow, and allows for easy collaboration between employees.
3. Build a network
Building a network of mentors and coaches for your new employees can simplify the onboarding process. These people can serve as resources for your new employees to contact when they hit a roadblock in the office. This can allow new members to feel less lost at your company, as they have someone they can turn to.
A mentorship program is one of the most important building blocks for creating a thriving work environment. Mentors help connect the company’s goals with an employee’s personal goals, allowing for more driven and enthusiastic workers.
According to Forbes, a strong mentorship program ultimately leads to happy employees. Your mentors serve as brand ambassadors to help new employees align with the company’s current needs. Mentors can serve as sounding boards for issues like work-life balance and career growth.
Don’t limit your mentors to just senior executives. Peers can be great resources for new employees during the onboarding process. A coworker, or even administrative support, can help guide employees through the adjustment process helping them get connected with the correct departments when they need help.
4. Encourage a growth mindset
New employees often want to show off their skillset to prove their position on the team. This is great and can ultimately lead to ambition and healthy competition but only when handled correctly.
It’s important for new team members to focus on ways they can grow their skills, not just show them off. They should think beyond their past companies and learn how to implement their talents to best serve the organization.
This can be brought about during the onboarding process by encouraging new employees to develop a growth mindset. Explain how your company supports things like pursuing advanced degrees or advancing to management roles to motivate your employees to push themselves to be the best they can be at your company.
5. Be organized
The first impression is always the lasting impression for an employee starting at a new company. You want your new team member to feel excited, not flustered, about the possibilities of his or her new role.
It’s difficult to generate much excitement if important details like parking instructions, start paperwork, or even how to connect with clients are left out of the training process. New employees need a solid point of contact to troubleshoot issues so their first week of work isn’t spent trying to learn how to use the copier.
Have your administrative team support your employee through the transition. Having your support staff check-in with new employees throughout the day helps to ensure they have all the tools they need to be productive.
6. Provide a contact sheet
To encourage productivity, you’ll also need to provide your new employees with a contact list. This is a cheat sheet of important info like how to get in touch with HR or what vendors you use on client projects.
The contact sheet allows new team members to take control of their own communication. They can choose whether to send out introductory emails throughout the company or wait until a specific need arises.
7. Alert customers
Customers aren’t always open to change when it comes to a company they love. This is especially the case when a former employee had a great rapport with the customer.
They’re having to sacrifice a relationship that might go back years to start all over with a person they don’t know. You can help minimize customer frustrations by offering the bios of your new points of contact.
It offers talking points to the customer allowing them to feel more comfortable being in communication with a new person. It also lends credibility and trust to the new employee taking over the account.
8. Allow a grace period
Allowing a grace period for your new teammates is important as they get acclimated. There are new aspects of working at your company that employees will need to adjust to as they fall into their routine.
Perhaps the commute adds an hour onto their morning routine or they are still working out childcare arrangements in the evenings. Be flexible for the first few months as it’s impossible for people to have a perfect plan in place before seeing how their daily schedules will go. As time goes on they will be more comfortable and be able to fully integrate their new work into their lives.
9. Manage your expectations
New employees won’t always come in strong as there is a lot to balance. Manage your performance expectations for the first six months as they adjust.
The accolades you saw on their resume will shine through, but they’ll need time to build relationships with vendors, customers, and coworkers.
10. Support inclusion
A welcoming environment helps new employees adjust faster and stay motivated. Coach your team on how to make new members feel more included and valued.
It may be helpful to offer suggestions on how they can focus on joint success rather than personal gains. This will allow the team to flourish as they want the best for the company as a whole.
Starting the new employee onboarding process
The new employee onboarding process is a great opportunity for growth. Your new employees have a fresh start at moving up the corporate ladder and proving their skills through client wins.
It’s important to give them the tools they need to show off their talent with a well organized onboarding process. Every employee wants the opportunity to grow within an organization.
Be the bridge to their goals by creating a supportive network dedicated to helping them thrive. By following these steps you can help to make the new employee onboarding process productive.
Additional articles you might be interested in:
- 5 Ways To Ensure You Hire The Best Employees
- How To Be A Boss Your Employees Look Up To
- 5 Ways To Boost Employee Morale
- 4 Ways To Make Your Employees Feel Like A Valuable Asset
- 5 Ideas For Incentives To Reward High Performing Employees
- 5 Tips To Choose The Best Employee Scheduling Software
- 10 Ways To Motivate Work-From-Home Employees
- How To Create A PR Plan For New Businesses
- 3 Ways To Keep Your Customers Engaged
- How To Use Data To Improve Relationships With Customers
Alaine Meier is a blogging intern at LadyBossBlogger. She currently attends the College of the Holy Cross and is studying economics and environmental studies.
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