Employee onboarding is about more than paperwork; it’s a vital first impression that can determine an employee’s loyalty. According to Glassdoor, “Employees who rated their onboarding experience as highly effective were 18 times more likely to feel highly committed to their organization.” In addition, effective onboarding has been shown to give employees a stronger “connectedness at work” and to help them integrate and contribute to their teams faster.
The employee onboarding experience varies depending on the company, but it should start during recruitment. With the right technology in place, you can gather a lot of needed information into your system even before you decide to hire, making the rest of the process much more efficient. In this blog post, we’ll go over six tips for the different onboarding stages and what each step should entail so that you are sure to provide a great onboarding experience for your new employees.
Part of your recruitment and onboarding strategy should include a pre-onboarding phase. During this phase, your potential hire will be considering multiple offers, and it will be crucial to make a great impression. Today’s job seekers are looking for great experiences, and they are judging your business’s ability to provide this to them from day one.
Before new hires begin their first day, or even before they accept an offer, find ways to engage and communicate with them. Provide information about what makes your company unique, including:
Explain how working for your company will be an excellent opportunity for the applicant and enrich their lives. Paint a picture of the company culture and explain how your company will help them develop. Nurturing your desired candidates in this way will help ensure you stay at the top of their minds when considering their offers.
There is a lot you can do to make the transition comfortable for new hires and guarantee they are ready to hit the ground running before they even start their first day in the office.
Paperwork and Policies
Allow your new hire to review and complete all of their paperwork before the first day, including:
If you use an onboarding tool with E-Verify integration, new hires can complete government forms on their own with confidence and know they are safely archived.
Supplies and IT
You might also ensure everything is ready on-site for your new hire if they will be working in the office, including:
If they are going to work remotely, be sure to send all of the tools they will need to get started well before their first day and get them in touch with team members that can help them set up and troubleshoot their new gear.
The first day can be nerve-wracking for a new employee. However, you can mitigate this with a warm welcome. For example, a welcome wagon for new hires may include a gift basket full of office supplies and goodies and an opportunity to meet coworkers in a relaxed setting, like a party in the meeting room or lunch out with the team.
Make sure new employees have someone to lean on for the first few days. Whether it’s the team manager or a senior team member, your new hire will need a guide with first-hand experience. The person elected to guide your new hire should be someone they can develop a rapport with and trust to answer questions during their transition. In addition, this person can show the person around the office and introduce them to other team members and coworkers.
If your employees work remotely, the appointed guide can help set up video introductions and guide the conversation in those awkward first Zoom calls. On that same note, it will be necessary to ensure there are plenty of tools in place for communicating with the new hire’s teammates so that they don’t feel isolated at any point in the early stages of their employment. Also, don’t forget to mail them a welcome basket with office supplies, swag, and goodies to show appreciation.
One of the most significant impacts on a new hire’s impression of onboarding comes from training. Even if the new employee has plenty of experience, there will still be a phase of their employment where they are getting acclimated to their surroundings and company culture. Training may include:
Learning management systems are a great tool to implement during this phase. Not only do they help streamline the onboarding and training experience, but they also provide a great benefit to your new employee and a promise for future growth within your company.
Offering employees opportunities for continued training and learning can help boost their confidence in their new roles and can help give them a sense of purpose in their careers. In addition, if new employees can see how they will grow within your company, it will be easier to see a future there and develop loyalty.
As your new employee begins to settle in, be sure managers reaffirm expectations and touch base at least once per week to ensure new hires are comfortable in their roles. Also, continue to offer tools for further training and development. The first six months are vital for retention, so be sure to continue these efforts throughout this honeymoon phase.
Proliant helps businesses with the smoothest onboarding process in the industry. We provide the tools needed for employees to be productive from day one while eliminating compliance risks often associated with the onboarding process.
With Proliant’s employee onboarding solution, you can:
Our solution helps engage employees immediately with an efficient and memorable onboarding experience. New hires can complete the process before their first day, and with E-Verify integration, they can fill out all of the necessary forms with confidence. Additionally, all of their employee data is automatically added from the applicant tracking system into Proliant, so there is no need for manual entry.
You can also use the solution for a second employee onboarding for employees that were working remotely and are now going to be working in the office.
At Proliant, we take pride in making your HR and payroll processes a breeze. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can streamline your onboarding process, please visit our solutions page.
ProLiant puts the human in human resources. We provide a fully integrated, cloud-based HCM solution that simplifies payroll and HR processes. The company serves small to large clients in multiple industries in all 50 states and is committed to providing the highest quality customer service in the industry.
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