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Alexandre Diard What constitutes the finest onboarding experience for workers has been a topic of discussion throughout every firm.
A new employee’s integration into the workplace culture, training for their job, and independence in the new environment are all achieved through the process of onboarding. Within the first 120 days, half of all hourly employees quit their jobs, and within 18 months, half of all senior outside recruits fail. Organizations believe that the employee onboarding process increases customer happiness, productivity, and retention rates.
It’s crucial for employers to seize the chance to make a strong first impression and pay attention to how new workers are greeted. The employee onboarding process may be utilized to provide the groundwork for long-term success from the moment an offer is issued until the day the new worker is fully productive.
The Four Cs: Fundamentals of Successful Employee Onboarding
Compliance, clarification, culture, and connection:
Compliance
Compliance is two-fold. On one hand, it is ensuring that your onboarding process follows all the regulatory requirements such as employment authorization verification through I-9s or ensuring that employment contracts are accurately written to reflect the law.
On the other hand, sharing rules and compliance requirements with newly recruited workers is common practice especially those in management or administrative positions. Legal policies are available to employees using a simple internet. However, this establishes the tone for how the business operates and what its potential corporate culture may be.
Clarification
Making sure an employee is aware of what exactly their job is within the organization is crucial and can have an influence on retention rates. It’s crucial that employees have conversations with their managers about their work roles and performance standards from day one if they are to grasp their roles and responsibilities. Additionally, organizations need to ensure that the employees have access to the resources that will enable them to understand their place within the company. Resources like their job description, organizational charts, software, and process and procedure documentation fall into this category.
Culture
It’s impossible to truly comprehend organizational norms and culture until you’ve been a part of one for a long. However, this does not exclude culture from being included in a new recruit’s onboarding. The word culture is relevant in both casual and formal situations. This familiarizes the new employee with the company’s current norms. If there are any practices that may cause confusion for the new employee, it is better to address them during the onboarding process.
Connection
Introducing the new recruit to the individuals with whom they would be dealing will make the employee feel more at ease. This is also a critical stage for current employees, as they will be informed about the transition and urged to assist the new hiring.
Types of Employee Onboarding Programs
1. Passive Onboarding program
This type of onboarding is called level 1 onboarding. Compliance, or training new workers about the company’s policies, rules, and regulations, is a component of passive onboarding. The new hire is given a partial position definition, but there is still considerable doubt regarding the employee’s function. Connection and culture are utterly overlooked.
2. High Potential Onboarding Program
This is the second level of onboarding. This level is attained by thoroughly and formally defining compliance and describing the function. Compliance and explanation of the new job and performance goals, as well as some culture and connection to assist the employee to understand the company and introduce coworkers, management, and information sources, are all part of high potential onboarding. While the first two are fully specified, only a portion of the culture and connection has been properly described. Meeting these prerequisites is the fundamental definition of achieving level 2 onboarding.
3. Proactive Onboarding Program
This is the final level of onboarding. Proactive onboarding combines all four components into a holistic program that integrates onboarding with strategic human resource management. This employs formal paperwork to provide the new recruit with a thorough understanding of how the organization operates. This makes use of a strategic strategy as well as Human Capital Management ideas.
Another stage in this process is to check in with the new employee. It is the 30-60-90 day check-in when the employee’s senior conducts one-on-ones with the employee after one, two, and three months with the business.
Although this strategy takes a little longer to get an employee adjusted in the workplace, it dramatically minimizes the turnover rate. This helps the employee to feel more at ease and welcome in the organization.
4. The Peer System
This strategy is frequently used in workplaces that demand a lot of communication and have a distinct culture. In this strategy, the new recruit is assigned a peer who is responsible for teaching all of the office’s informal conventions as well as assisting in the formation of cross-functional ties. This is a mentoring program that focuses on clarity, engagement, and culture.
This strategy provides a brief glimpse of how the organization operates, but it also requires time for the peers to connect. This method can take longer periods of time as it depends on the company culture and peer compatibility.
5. Making an Onboarding Checklist
The checklist approach is one of the most often utilized. As the name implies, it is based on a checklist that provides a step-by-step onboarding procedure. The outcome of onboarding might vary depending on how thorough the checklist is. This type of onboarding program has several pros and cons.
Pros:
- While carrying out this process, you feel confident
- Everyone participating in the onboarding process understands what measures are being taken
- It is simple to follow the applicant’s progress during the onboarding process
Cons:
- Since this method is based on paper, it might feel quite impersonal
- If too much information is provided at once, the employee gets unsure
- This method may mimic a school-like framework, which may diminish the impact of the experience
- Check out our 90-day onboarding plan that we’ve put together to include everything you need for the first three months of the employee journey.
Ways to Create the Best Employee Onboarding Experience
Here are some concrete steps to make the employee onboarding process a memorable and momentous two-way experience in which the company learns as much about the employee as the employee learns about the company:
1. Compliance Document
Create an official compliance document. This will contain all legal aspects to consider as well as corporate policies. The document can be reused if there are any questions concerning corporate rules or regulations.
2. Provisioning
Laptops and stationery are given to each new employee. Making an inventory of all of these assets prior to allocating them to an employee may be quite valuable to the organization.
3. Provide Points of Contact
It would be a helpful tool to provide contact information for all of the persons with whom the employee would need to interact as part of their work. This would enable the individual to meet the appropriate person at the right moment during their career.
4. Mentoring Opportunities
This procedure entails allocating the new employee to someone who does the same or comparable work. Allowing workers to readily connect with the company. This is the most effective technique to instill a business culture in employees. It also boosts the allocated employee’s leadership qualities, which is always good for the firm.
5. Casual Office Tour
A casual tour would entail more than just showing them around the company and introducing them to individuals. This type of tour might include demonstrating the popular hangout locations outside the workplace, as well as where the greatest food is stored and where the best air conditioning is located.
6. Feedback from Employees
The idea is to allow employees to include input in the onboarding process. This stage is based on a 30-60-90-day observation period. After 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days, the employee will have the opportunity to provide input as well as get feedback from their supervisor.
Prioritizing the Onboarding Experience
Many onboarding processes are poorly planned or sometimes even non-existent, leaving firms vulnerable. Companies may wrongly believe that onboarding new recruits consists of just completing essential paperwork and then allowing them to integrate into their new work environment with the assistance of coworkers or fully on their own. Employees may suffer unfavorable repercussions as a result of an informal onboarding procedure, such as:
- Retention rates are low
- Increased recruitment expenses
- Employees with inadequate training
A new employee onboarding program is essential since it helps them to get a head start and become acquainted with the organization. Employees are more likely to get involved if they grasp the company’s perspective and what it has to offer. The onboarding experience is critical because it shows that the organization cares about them, which leads to engaged workers with a strong connection to the company. Taking the time to teach new workers and make them feel comfortable boosts their commitment, which improves employee retention.
Conclusion
Perfecting the onboarding experience is crucial since it helps new recruits assimilate into a company. New recruits are given the information, education, and support they need to become effective team members.
The proper method of onboarding an employee may improve workplace productivity, speed training, and development, and help drive outcomes in a healthier, more collaborative business culture.
