Bringing new employees on board is critical in their journey with your company and paving the way for how things will go. If their first day is a mess and they aren’t getting a clear direction of what to expect, what goes on, and what is expected of them, then this will set the tone, and it’s safe to say it’s not going to be a good tone.
With the average employee remaining with a company for around 3-5 years on average and the upcoming generations changing jobs every two years, you need to make sure that you are focusing on retention when you hire new employees.
But what can you do to ensure that the start of their employment is positive and leads the way to promote your company as an employer they want to work for and remain with?
Create A Process
You need a definitive process for onboarding employees, and this process ideally needs to be thought out and implemented before you even take on a new hire. The cost of getting this wrong can be as high as 400 times their annual salary. With this in mind, you want to make sure that you are confident you have an onboarding process in place that details every step.
Firstly, you need to know who will be handling everything. Is it going to be you, or do you have designated staff who can take over the paperwork? Is training required, and is shadowing for the new employee something you need to arrange?
You need to identify the process and put things in place to facilitate the first days for a new hire. It also requires a timeline to be completed too. It doesn’t need to be done in one, but it doesn’t need to have a completion date.
The onboarding process for new employees allows everyone to be on the same page and know what to expect.
Use A Multimodal Approach
The last thing you want to do is overwhelm an employee by having them drown in paperwork or bore them with never-ending visual tutorials, etc. Instead, you need to take a multimodal approach to onboarding and make it as engaging as possible.
This means a mix of getting the paperwork completed, using in-person talks and presentations, using media options, and using digital resources such as training modules and practical sessions to implement what they’re learning effectively.
Studies have shown that the more engaging the onboarding process is, the more positive new employees will think of your company, and the easier it will be for them to learn what you need them to do and retain the information.
Compile An Employee Handbook
This can be a physical copy or a digital one they can refer back to, but having the information they need to hand can help them to settle in and find their feet without wasting time not knowing who to contact, what the chain of command is and what you expect from them in various scenarios.
Things to include in an employee handbook can consist of;
- Who is their immediate manager is
- What constitutes gross misconduct
- Employee breaks and lunch times
- Reporting absences
- How to request time off
- Who to report different incidents to
- What type of behaviour do you expect in the office
Create A Welcome Basket
A welcome basket can include many items. They will items that will help them settle in and give them some treats as well as practical information. It can include the above-mentioned employee handbook. It can have sweet treats, custom coffee mugs with their name on and company branding for the office; it can have their uniform, any ID tags they need, tips and tricks to help them settle in, vouchers for on-site canteens or local food outlets staff frequent and anything you feel they might need to help them acclimate quickly and have everything they need to hit the ground running.
Give Realistic Workload Expectations
This means being honest about what they will be expected to do and how you expect them to work. Don’t beat around the bush; be clear and transparent about what they can expect from their working day and the results you expect them to achieve.
However, do not expect too much too soon from them; instead, assign them lighter workloads for the first few days, weeks or months to help them settle in and get a feel for the company and how things work. Once they get more familiar with operations, you can increase their workload to the required capacity so they’re not overwhelmed from the beginning and have the opportunity to find their feet before being required to churn out results.
Assign A Work Buddy
If applicable, you can assign your new hire a buddy to allow them to learn the ropes faster. Choose an existing employee you trust who can handle the possibility of working alongside a new staff member without letting things slide. It might be that you need to divide the workload between them both in the beginning so they can still hit their own targets while helping the new additions to the team figure out how to do the job how you want it to be done.
They can talk them through how they handle different situations, show them around the building, and give them tips and tricks for various things such as finding the staff room, kitchen etiquette, where to grab lunch, and all of the other non-work parts of the job they need to know. They can also introduce them to everyone else they need to know.
Explain Jargon and Lingo
An important aspect of helping new employees settle in is making them feel part of the team from the beginning and establishing positive new relationships for a harmonious integration. This means you also need to make sure they’re familiar with industry jargon in your sector and what it means if you use it frequently. If they know the jargon, they can keep up and won’t find themselves unsure of what is going on.
Make sure they are aware of any lingo specific to your company, inside jokes, and anything else that can potentially be misinterpreted or cause miscommunication. The more they know about how you engage and interact with each other and the language you use, the easier it will be for them to find their footing and integrate themselves into the company culture.
Be Involved
As the manager or owner, it can be easy to sign the paperwork and then leave it to it and allow others to pick up the slack. However, part of a good onboarding process is that you need to be aware of how they are getting on and are checking in on them frequently. This way, you can catch any issues, address concerns they might have, and help them feel more settled and like they are a part of the team.
Use the onboarding process to make sure everything is a right fit, both the employee for the company and vice versa and decking in frequently allows us to assess this and ensure things are going exactly as planned.
Onboarding employees is an instrumental part of their journey with your company. If you’re taking the time and spending the money to hire them but then not bothering to make sure they can settle in properly or know what is expected of them, it’s a waste of your time and money and will lead to a high turnover rate that can impact your company, your bottom line, and your reputation.
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