While orientation may already be a piece of your onboarding process, it shouldn’t be the entirety of that process. Onboarding should help new employees understand the company and their role in that company which, in turn, sets new employees up for career success. Use these five tips to create an onboarding process that is inclusive and thorough.
Facilitate Camaraderie
Onboarding isn’t just about what you teach your new employee, it’s about giving them the resources to perform their job independently. A great employee doesn’t know everything but they do know where to find the information they lack and that requires connections. New employees should be introduced and allowed to interact with not only their co-workers but also other departments and managers. This ensure that employees know the faces of employees who can help them solve problems. Creating an onboarding process that facilitates camaraderie and relationships is essential to ensuring future success of your new employees.
Standardize The Process
Many businesses rely on their best employees for training because they are able to create an engaging and educational onboarding process. While this works when your best employees are available, if the task is handed off to another, less extroverted employee, the training may not be as effective. Creating a written, standardized process that any employee can successfully follow is essential for ensuring that all new employees get the best onboarding possible.
Provide the Right Tools
It’s not just what you say during onboarding but also what information you provide. It’s simply not possible for a new employee to soak up all the necessary information to perform their job in a short amount of time. Help new employees acclimate by providing employees with a “New Employee Guide” that provides phone numbers, an organizational chart, and frequently asked questions from new employees. Reach out to employees hired in the past year to ask what they wish they had known during those first months on the job and prepare documents that address those issues for new employees. By providing written documents over verbal communication, you ensure that employees have a resource to perform their job after onboarding is complete.
Take Your Time
Onboarding isn’t accomplished in a single afternoon. It takes weeks, or for some positions, even months to ensure that new employees understand how to accomplish their job independently. Don’t expect onboarding to be over in a single afternoon. Instead, spread onboarding over the course of a few weeks, allowing new employees to receive bite-sized pieces of information as they are also learning their job. By elongating the onboarding process, you allow new employees time to fully understand their role and ask questions pertinent to their new position.
Follow Up and Ask for Improvements
Onboarding is an important process and receiving feedback from employees is essential. Take time during new employees’ first year review to discuss the onboarding process. Ask what they liked and what could have been improved. Integrate this feedback into the process and start individualizing the onboarding process for different departments and positions. By keeping up-to-date with feedback and continuing to improve the process, you ensure future business success as your business grows.
The purpose of onboarding is to provide new employees with all the tools they need to excel at their job. Companies who value and invest time into this process keep their employees longer and ensure their employees are happy in their new position. Use these five tips to create an onboarding process that results in new employees feeling confident, empowered, and ready to tackle their new position.
