13 Best Practices for Onboarding New Hires

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Excerpt

What is onboarding?

Onboarding is an essential process in the workplace that helps new employees get acquainted with the company culture, mission, vision, values, job, coworkers, and other elements designed to maximize a new hire's performance capacity.

The onboarding process can be formal or informal.

Formal onboarding often includes a series of orientation sessions for new employees, which may include:

watching some videos

filling out paperwork,

training on how to use company systems

executing tasks etc.

In contrast, informal onboarding may include spontaneous one-on-one coaching sessions or meetings with management and new coworkers, as well as the details of joining a company, like collecting badges and equipment.

Why is the onboarding process important?

Onboarding is a vital phase of the hiring process. Studies show that implementing an effective onboarding process for new hires can dramatically increase organizational success and long-term employee engagement, retention, and productivity.

The numbers show that workers with good onboarding experience are 18X more likely to feel a sense of commitment to their employer.

Similarly, 61% of businesses expect new workers to stay on board for at least two years.

The first few days or weeks of a new hire's employment set the tone for their entire experience with the company. Much so that studies show around 10% of employees left their employer due to their inadequate onboarding experience.

That’s why it is essential to implement an effective onboarding process to increase retention, and save money on recruitment costs, training costs, and lost productivity.

What does a successful onboarding process for new hires look like?

It's important to understand that onboarding is a process, not an event. You can't just throw a new hire into the mix and expect them to hit the ground running.

To be successful, onboarding should start far in advance of a new hire's first day of work and continue for several months afterward.

An effective onboarding program will involve having a checklist with time and dates for sending welcome emails, welcome packages, orientation, job-specific training, introductions, setting up a workspace, culture acclimation, scheduling routine check-in sessions, etc.

A checklist is a crucial tool in creating a successful onboarding process. With Splainy, you can quickly build a step-by-step visual checklist and begin the process of a successful onboarding program.

Best practices for a successful onboarding process

The onboarding process can be time-consuming for employers if they want to do it right. It requires a lot of resources and effort from the employer and the new employee.

But there are some strategies companies can use to make it easier on themselves while ensuring that they provide an excellent experience for their new hires.

An essential tool to use, as mentioned before, is to have a checklist that will streamline onboarding processes.

With that said, here are the 13 best onboarding practices:

1. Start communication with new hires before their start date

The numbers show that 29% of workers agree that their employer could aid in their effective onboarding, which they believe is essential in helping them to be better prepared to start their new positions.

To separate your organization from the crowd in terms of onboarding practices, begin communication with your new staff before their first day at work. Early communication creates a positive impression, builds excitement, and helps prepare them for their role in your company.

You can begin by sending an introductory email before the new hire starts working at the company. The email should include information about what they will do at work and mention that you are excited to have them join your team.

You can also send them a copy of your employee handbook in advance.

2. Get the paperwork done as soon as possible

The three Ps of an onboarding program are people, performance, and paperwork. Among these three Ps, paperwork is the most tedious and confusing aspect.

Companies need to give new workers a head start on administrative tasks, such as setting up a company email address or filing HR paperwork, so their first day isn't spent filling out boring paperwork.

Before they start their first day, you might encourage them to work on new hire paperwork, such as

Employment contract

Payroll forms – banking, tax, etc.

Direct deposit forms

VISA & Work requirements

Policies that require acknowledgment

Employee handbook acknowledgment forms, etc.

It is best to allow these documents to be filled out electronically so that your new hires won't have to manually fill out the forms and print them out, saving you and them time.

3. Set up the employee's workspace before they arrive

Before the new hire arrives, you should prepare their workspace. This includes setting up their phone lines, email, and computer. Ensure that they have access to all the necessary materials they will need to work efficiently.

If you use complex tools in your organization that they might need to become more familiar with, ensure to provide a guide on how to use them in the workplace.

Also, a welcome gift, such as messages from their new coworkers, notepads with the business logo, or a coffee cup, should be left behind to make them feel welcomed to their new environment.

4. Hold a group orientation

The orientation is a meeting, typically conducted with new hires, to introduce them to your company culture and communicate your company's values, mission, and vision. Orientations are often led by HR or senior members of management.

Before any orientation, it is crucial for whoever is in charge of the orientation to understand what the new employee will be doing in their new job and how it aligns with the company's goals.

The new hire orientation time is also an excellent moment to give them a chance to ask questions about the organization's policies and procedures and its benefits package.

You'll need to cover a lot of knowledge during these sessions, so it's typically more efficient to hold them with several recruits at once rather than as individual one-on-one encounters.

5. Send out a new employee announcement

It could be disconcerting for new hires if no one knows who they are or their responsibilities.

To make new hires feel welcomed as soon as they are hired, companies must send out an announcement to let everyone know that a new team member has joined the company. This update will help others be aware of the new workers and encourage relationship-building.

In the announcement, mention the employee's name, job title, key responsibilities, educational background, and professional experience.

Also include a few fascinating facts about them, such as their hobbies, unique talents, or favorite sports teams, that can be utilized as conversation starters with coworkers.

Depending on the size of your company, you should inform everyone or only those who will work closely with the new hire.

Consider tagging the new employee in the announcement email so that people may welcome them personally.

6. Involve teammates in the onboarding process

When new hires begin communicating with team leads and other executives from day one, it helps them feel welcomed and at ease.

For effective onboarding, more people than simply hiring managers and the HR division must be involved. It is crucial to involve senior executives, managers, supervisors, and other teammates during the onboarding process and tell them how they will fit in.

Use this moment to assign new employees a mentor and introduce them to their team.

Also, be proactive and use this time to ask your current employees about their experiences when they first joined your company. What did they like and dislike?

Then inquire further if there is any training they wish they had received during their first few months of employment. By doing this, you can ensure your onboarding program makes the impact you want to achieve.

7. Assigning a mentor for new employees

Research shows that 87% of companies believe giving a mentor or buddy to new hires during the onboarding process is helpful.

Why?

Assigning a mentor or buddy to your new hires gets them up to speed faster. When picking a mentor, ensure they are experienced employees who have been through the onboarding process at your organization, so they can answer questions and provide guidance as needed.

On the new employee's first day, their mentor may be the one to show them around the workplace and introduce them to the rest of the staff.

They can also clarify any unwritten rules at your workplace, for instance, why the last person to arrive always makes the coffee.

8. Set and communicate expectations early and often

One of the most common mistakes companies make when onboarding a new employee is not giving new staff a clear understanding of what is expected of them, leading to confusion and frustration for both parties.

A good practice would be to set and communicate expectations with your new hire from their first day on the job. Discuss with them, and give them a thorough breakdown of their duties and job description.

Explain what their position entails, what they will be doing daily, who they will be working with, how they should go about getting things done and what their goals are, and how their position contributes to the overall picture and advances the company's objectives.

Finally, discuss how the business will help them as new staff and what resources it will give them to ensure they can succeed.

Note that this should not be a one-off event but something you should do even as they meet short-term and long-term goals set by your company during the onboarding program.

9. Make their first day memorable

The first day at a new job is also the beginning of an employer-employee relationship. This means it should be both enjoyable and educational.

Suppose you handled best practice number two (get the paperwork done as soon as possible) effectively. In that case, you can easily make new employees' first day memorable since they would have gone through hours of filling out paperwork earlier before resuming the job.

Make new employee’s first day memorable by treating them to lunch, giving them a tour of the office or facility, introducing them to their colleagues, building camaraderie within the company, etc.

However, while making their first day exciting, you also want to ensure they gain knowledge and are better equipped to begin their role in your company.

Here are some tips to help them have a successful first day.

Prepare their desk or office with their ID cards, passwords, manuals, a map of the complex, and anything else that will make their lives easier on day one.

Plan a classy lunch out with coworkers.

Send an email introducing the new employee to the entire team.

Give a welcome present.

Be responsive and patient.

Ask current workers what they liked or disliked about their first day on the job. You can use this information to gain meaningful insight into future first-day planning.

10. Create a tightly structured schedule for new hires

According to a 2018 survey, 77% of employees who underwent a structured onboarding procedure successfully met their first performance goals.

Hence, creating a tightly structured schedule for a new hire's entire first week or two in advance is essential and has the following benefits:

New employees will always be aware of what to do next.

It creates the correct impression that you know what you are doing.

It increases the chances of them getting a memorable first day and beyond

It saves you time and makes your Onboarding seamless

You can create a tightly structured schedule and ensure you're covering everything needed before the employee starts work using a checklist.

11. Form a cross-departmental onboarding team

A cross-departmental onboarding team is a group of people from different departments who work together to help new hires get up to speed.

This team can include anyone from the HR department, the training department, IT, the different departments' managers, and even executive leadership team members.

By creating this small team with members from each of these areas, you can ensure you've addressed every issue crucial to a new hire before they even step through the door.

12. Allow new hires to give their own feedback

To keep employees engaged and motivated, giving them a voice is essential. A recent survey states that 38% of employees believed that when executives rejected their suggestions without considering them, they tended to lack initiative.

The onboarding process offers this opportunity for a fresh viewpoint that may benefit your entire company. So, feel free to ask new hires what they like and dislike about their jobs thus far.

Some may not feel comfortable telling you what they dislike. Hence, conducting anonymous surveys, polls, or anonymous feedback forms on your website or through email integrations with other platforms might be more helpful.

You can also use tools to collect data about how satisfied employees are with their job, what they want regarding career development opportunities, etc.

If you find their suggestion reasonable and act on their recommendations, your new hires will feel heard. That produces a win-win situation in addition to building loyalty in them.

13. Prepare a collection of new-hire resources

New employees can be overwhelmed by the information they need to learn and things they need to get familiar with, so it's crucial to prepare a collection of new-hire resources to keep them engaged and moving forward.

Here are a few items new hires will find helpful:

Company History

Org chart

Employee directory

Facility map

Mission statement

Policies and procedures

Furthermore, you can provide both paper and digital versions of the content to ensure that employees can readily access it wherever they are.

Onboarding considerations for remote employees

Statistics show that following COVID-19, 82% of employees who had previously worked in an office switched to primarily working from home when the pandemic struck. And only 50% of them have even been given an estimated time frame for when they might be able to return to work.

Many of the largest businesses in the world, such as Twitter and Facebook, have dramatically widened their work-from-home policy, with some going as far as permitting employees to work from home permanently.

In other words, your onboarding strategy needs to take remote work into account.

This creates a new challenge for HR professionals to think about, as it is easy for remote workers to feel lost, overwhelmed, or confused if they can't check in with a familiar face nearby.

So, how do you make a new hire feel welcome and supported from a distance?

Consider the following:

Streamline the formal onboarding process

Communicate the process and explain all necessary details to remote staff as thoroughly as possible.

Set up video calls or virtual meetings with the appropriate managers and team members.

Help them become accustomed to the business communication tools as soon as possible.

Consider providing them with an "onboarding buddy" they may contact if they experience any issues.

Consider using Onboarding software to organize the process

Stay in touch

Reacclimate in person

Don't skip culture

Takeaway: Successful onboarding begins with a checklist

Studies show that onboarding programs for new hires can boost retention by 25%. In addition, effective onboarding techniques can also increase recent hire performance by 11%.

With that said, onboarding is the process of introducing new employees to the company, their roles, and how they can be successful in that roles.

It's also about getting them up to speed on the company culture and familiarizing them with your company's policies and procedures.

You can set your organization apart by using the 13 best onboarding practices discussed in this post and creating an effective onboarding program for your company.

To ensure you get started quickly, use Splainy to build a detailed step-by-step checklist guide that is clear and concise for your onboarding process.

At Splainy, our goal is to empower businesses to build how-to guides instantly. In other words, we want to help you succeed with your onboarding program.

Get started with Splainy!