This process lasts between a few months and a year, although most organizations make the mistake of only focusing on the first week that the employee is at the company.
Effective onboarding programs focus on helping the employee settle in much longer than just the first week. The bulk of the structured onboarding program should occur at this time, but there should be ample follow-up and support continued after this first week.
You can’t just set up an employee at their desk, sign some papers, introduce them to their team, and go on your way. You need to have a process that ensures they are checked on long after their first day or week.
Of course, this is easier said than done in a dynamic organization with many new employees. The task of following up and ensuring that everyone is acknowledged isn’t always an easy one.
However, we have tons of tools and tricks that we’ll be discussing and linking in this article, so don’t stress out quite yet. This should be a fun process!
Besides introducing an employee to the technical side of their new work, it should also make them feel comfortable, accepted, and welcome. This should be something that you stress to your team and the new employee's coworkers as well.
It can be as simple as inviting them to drinks after their first day, or just sending them a personal Slack message to say you’re happy they joined the team.
Many employers and HR professionals tend to overlook the importance of creating relationships and bonding during an employee onboarding process, don’t make that mistake.
An employee that feels welcomed and valued on their team is more likely to stick around and acclimate to the work environment quicker.
An effective onboarding process leaves little to no questions about the new employees duties, ensures employee preparedness for their daily operations, and establishes a line of communication with co-workers within the work environment.
Ultimately, it should also ensure that a hire feels a sense of belonging to their new workspace. Set up meet and greets, lunches, and other forms of welcome that will make the employee feel comfortable.
Unfortunately, 88 percent of organizations don’t onboard well, according to Gallup. That can lead to new hires being twice as likely to look for other opportunities.
If your company establishes a strong onboarding process, you’ll be in the minority and you are more likely to set your team and your employees up for long term success.
An effective employee onboarding process is undoubtedly critical for preventing employee turnover and ensuring long and happy employee engagement.
That is why it’s essential to pay attentio to every step of the process from the employee's first day of employment until their last.
Steps of Onboarding Process
Every employee onboarding process requires well-thought-out and intentional steps. It can seem overwhelming at first, but don’t worry we are here to help.
These are the steps you can follow to establish a stable and consistent onboarding workflow.
Combine them with additional steps tailored to your company culture, values, and objectives. Each company is different and requires a different approach to onboarding. We can only give you the basics, the rest is up to you.
Pre-Onboarding Phase
The onboarding workflow and hiring process should start with a clear job description, strategic candidate attraction, careful recruitment, detailed administrative tasks during hiring, and an impressive workplace presentation.
The goal is to be transparent and convey the right message throughout the hiring process and onboarding program while also impressing the employee with your workplace, culture, and compensation plan.
Our Prior To Onboarding Checklist has some tips on how you can start out your onboarding process on the right foot.
Recommended Practices:
- Evaluate your website, social media handles, and job ads to ensure each candidate understands the job role, responsibilities, company policies, and company culture from their first Google search.
- Ensure communication from human resources is be consistent. Most of the time companies use employee handbooks to convey this information to the new hire. You can use our Employee Handbook Checklist to ensure you’re hitting all the most important points.
- Consider using case studies, personality tests, or job-related tasks to identify how candidates perform during a regular workday and how they might work with their team. That also helps them understand company expectations and results in employee satisfaction once the candidates are hired.
- Emphasize employee perks, initiatives, and procedures, such as vacation time, remote work, and well-being programs for a successful approach to onboarding and long-term employee retention.
- Assess your hiring process to ensure everything aligns with employee needs and role expectations.
- Show potential new co-workers the workplace and the tools they will use for their daily tasks. Make sure they know where they will potentially be located in the office and the tools available to them.
- Introduce them to the HR team, their team members and encourage them to ask questions and get to know the company better.
New Job Offer Letter
The effort shouldn’t fade after the ideal candidate confirms their interest in working at your company. Sending a new job offer letter isn’t enough to convince the future employee you appreciate that they’re joining the team.
Be sure to offer a competitive wage and make all benefits, relocation fees, and starting bonuses clear. Also, include a sincere note of excitement and appreciation for them selecting your company.