Onboarding is all about making sure that your new hires feel comfortable with you, their role, their team, and confident in their decision to work at your company. We’ve found that these 7 secrets to onboarding success really help create the best experience. When onboarding a new employee it’s best to:
1. Ensure candidates know basic company facts
New employees should already know basic company details like industry, product or service. But what about company structure? That’s an easy, albeit internal, detail employees and new hires should be made aware of. Even something as straightforward as to why you feel your organization is such a great place to work. In fact, 89% of job seekers want to know your perspective on the matter, so during the onboarding process, make sure they understand the most important and basic features of your organization.
2. Give candidates insight into organizational culture
Onboarding often acts as a determinant for accepting a job offer, and it can also dictate the longevity of an employee. That’s why it’s important for the onboarding process the be as easy as possible. Get them out of the legalese and into the culture as soon as you can. Melissa Suzuno, Content Marketing Manager at Parklet, said:
“Cultural fit is not just a fluffy woo-woo topic. Psychologist Natalie Baumgartner attributes 89% of an employee’s success on the job to cultural fit. And in a 2014 study, 43% of companies said cultural fit was the single most determining factor when making a new hire.”
3. Overview of company mission and values
Give employees a synopsis of what your organization stands for, what the mission statement is and what it means to be a part of the inner workings of the company, so they know their fit. Beyond the formalities, whether it’s with company language or processes, employees need to be aware of the culture they’re getting into. Before, during and after onboarding.
4. Identify areas for improvement and adjust accordingly
There is always room for improvement. Whether that means adjusting the spend on onboarding or how you allocate it within the program. Christine Marino, our Chief Revenue Officer, explained the importance of adjusting your program for the sake of improving and simplifying the process:
“This means successful onboarding is about keeping employees around, too. If you don’t buy how important employee onboarding is to long-term retention, consider this: 73% of organizations say the biggest reason they’re revamping their onboarding is not only to get new hires up to speed more quickly, but retain them as well.”
5. Use technology to eliminate redundant processes and take action quickly
Enter Click Boarding. Click Boarding helps HR more efficiently onboard new hires with an easier onboarding software solution, from engaging new hires and managing tasks and forms, compliantly. HR has more control over the onboarding process than ever before from prioritizing steps, assigning tasks, serving up content, and much more with ease. All those involved have greater visibility to take prompt action on what really needs attention. Available as a stand-alone or connected to different screening, ATS, or HRIS systems.
6. Set goals from the beginning so new hires know expectations
Why is it so important to set clear expectations from the beginning? Out of the employees who left the company within the first 6 months of their employment, 23% said that clear guidelines about their responsibilities would have changed their decision to leave the job. Give your new hires these guidelines from the beginning as part of your development of a successful onboarding program to prevent untimely resignations.
7. Give new hires a chance to socialize
Bonding with co-workers is a critical part of new hire integration into the work environment. Without a sense of inclusion, it’s difficult for new hires to want to stay. Instead, by creating an onboarding system that automates all of the paperwork, new hires have the time to socialize with coworkers before they’re pushed into their responsibilities.
There are strategic moves you can take to ease the onboarding process for your new hires. This places your talent competitors in a challenging position as they fight for the candidates you want. But if you can get them through the onboarding process faster, well, they’ve already signed the paperwork and are beginning their journey of integration into the culture and their new responsibilities.
