A New Hope: The Millennials are Coming
It’s a New Year, and with that comes new predictions. I’m sure you’ve already read a lot of blog posts about all the poor onboarding practices you might be enacting. Forget those! Here at Click Boarding, we want to show you how to make your employees’ first day, their best first day EVER.
Take heart, we’ve got you covered! Here are the 4 true trends to pay attention to and how you can implement some simple steps to master them and make 2016 your best onboarding year ever! Are you ready to conquer onboarding pitfalls this year?
Enough. It’s time to end the gen-wars. Millennials are expected to be the largest generation in the American workforce by 2020. In fact, 28% of millennials already hold management positions and two out of three millennials see themselves as managers within the next ten years. Invest in this incredibly large generation and watch them flourish with a few simple changes.
To Do: Invest in a co-worker mentoring program that pairs experienced managers with newer hires and focuses on frequent (read: weekly) check-ins! If you’re a Click Boarding user, you can set this in the goals section.
To Avoid: Refusing to change onboarding processes for this generation. If you can’t beat ‘em, hire ‘em!
Increased Employer Competition Makes Onboarding a Game-Changer
The job market has recovered from the recent financial crisis and the unemployment rate is improving. As of September 2014, the U.S. created nearly 250,000 new jobs which saw the unemployment rate fall to 5.9%.
What does this mean for onboarding? As the economy continues to improve, the desperation that used to fill job seekers is slowly diminishing. Candidates are fielding more offers and as openings increase and the interview process continues to remain frustratingly long…they’re offer-hopping instead of job-hopping. You can become an innovator by creating an onboarding process that starts toward the end of the interviewing and offer process and doesn’t end until your new employee has been with the company for a year, or longer!
To Do: Reach out to candidates AT the offer letter process. A simple introduction to their new team, a lunch or a welcome to the company card in between the offer letter and their first day can make all the difference in the world.
To Avoid: Assuming an accepted offer means your candidate will show up on day one after being ignored for a month.
Employee Retention Problems to the Max: Get Engaged!
Eighty-six percent of employees are on the prowl for a new job outside of their current occupations. Employers are fighting to create strong company cultures to retain their employees, but is it enough?
Nearly one-third of employers expect their employees to jump, skip and hop on out of their current positions. Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, advises creating a strong company work culture to retain employees. How can onboarding help? By enlisting its current employees into mentorship programs and leadership training!
To Do: Make a list of 3 changes your managers can make to their daily or weekly routines that will fundamentally change the way your company works and will harness greater skills and knowledge into newer employees.
To Avoid: Showering your new employees with oodles of attention and ignoring the ones who have been with you for awhile.
Long Onboarding Process: The Saga Continues
Ninety-percent of companies surveyed believe that an employee’s first-year experience can determine their attitude for the remainder of their career. Only 37% of current onboarding programs last longer than a month, compared with 61% in 2012, even though the same survey indicated lower employee retention at the companies with shorter programs.
To Do: Get the first-day stuff done prior to the first day. Doing so will give the new hiring what they need to get dialed in. While a longer process can, not always, increase employee retention, it will give the employee the needed foundation so they can excel.
To Avoid: Trying to get onboarding “out of the way”. It’s crucial to do it right! Here’s how.
