Onboarding is a vital time in your employee’s life span with your company. Done right, the process can promote retention, engagement, and company morale – and set the employees up for success. Done wrong, it may turn off employees from the beginning. Follow these tips to make sure you start the relationship on the right note.
1. Make the information and required forms easy to access
A large part of some company’s onboarding process is providing basic information to employees about policies and procedures. Employees may be required to fill out forms and provide required information.
Rather than having employees sit in a conference room or human resources department and fill out forms, you could send them prior to employment or make them accessible online so that employees could fill them out at their convenience.
Similarly, the information could be accessible online in case employees need a refresher.
2. Make introductions easy
Not knowing coworkers, supervisors, or other people in the company can make employees very anxious on their first day (and the first week)! So, can not knowing where to go.
The answer? Make introductions both to people and to the buildings easy. Introduce employees to their supervisors (if they haven’t already met). Make it clear to the supervisors that they should introduce the team.
Provide telephone or e-mail lists with names on them as part of the onboarding materials. Provide maps of relevant areas, including areas new employees will need to know about, such as cafeterias and restrooms.
3. Include a welcome package
Employees should know they are appreciated from the beginning. One good method of conveying this is to include a welcome package with the onboarding materials. Be creative! Welcome packages can include materials such as a company coffee mug or t-shirt, or a package of tea or chocolate.
4. Share the company formula for success
Employees like to know how to succeed in the job they’re just beginning – and what will occur if they succeed. As a result, a great onboarding tool is to share what the company is looking for in terms of performance.
Depending on employee level, you could itemize key performance indicators (KPIs) for the department, for example, or develop case studies of promoted employees – and what made them promotable.
5. Share the culture
A key part of succeeding, for any employee, is understanding the company culture. It’s important in terms of fit and morale. Develop onboarding activities that clearly illustrate the company culture, as it can be shown more vividly than told.
Is your company collegial and informal, for example? Then make an onboarding group lunch part of the process. Is it sports-minded and competitive? Then institute games or puzzles as part of the process. Have teams perform a treasure hunt for certain clues that will help them acclimate to the job or demonstrate their knowledge by team solving of puzzles.
Let a Consulting Firm Help with Onboarding
Onboarding is an important part of the hiring process. Let a consulting firm like Barracuda Staffing & Consulting help you strategize the best approach to onboarding for your company.