Poor Onboarding
Onboarding is the first real glimpse into an organization – after the polished interviewing experience. It gives new employees a sense of the company culture, expectations, and norms. Your new hires are looking at everything with a keen eye, trying to understand the organization and assimilate as quickly as possible.
What do you suppose an antiquated onboarding process filled with paperwork and broken lines of communication tells them? If your onboarding is poorly managed, it could easily (and inadvertently!) give new employees the wrong impression and skew their perception of what’s acceptable in the company.
Employees rise to the level of expectation you set for them and your employees will work the way you onboard them. A seamless, modern, and consistent onboarding process sets the stage for engaged employees who can zoom to full productivity. You’ve spent a ton of time, money, and resources wooing the ideal candidate, don’t accidentally lull them into laziness with bad onboarding habits.
Manage the perception of your new hires by making sure your onboarding process is NOT:
Old-fashioned
Paperwork-based onboarding appears dated and makes the company seem complacent, unwilling to change, and unlikely to embrace innovation. This could inadvertently stifle new employee’s ideas and creativity.
Poorly Communicated
If your new hire shows up the first day after not hearing from anyone after the background check, they’ll assume that radio silence and nonengagement is OK.
Inconsistent
Some employees get the red carpet. Some hear nothing. Onboarding should be consistent but also curated to the individual. This inconsistency speaks to the organization not placing importance on the details – certainly not a trait you want your new employees to emulate!
Ineffective
Is everything ready for your new hire on their first day – equipment, security, log-in? Does everyone know who they are and when they’re starting? If it’s a scramble to get everything together on a new employee’s first day, it’ll make them think that disorganization and chaos is the norm instead of efficient cross-functional processes.
Slow & Boring
There’s no need to greet your employees with a stack of stagnant paperwork. Engage them on their phone with a custom onboarding experience that’s a breeze to zip through and filled with company culture and information to help them feel comfortable. Clinging to old, slow processes will encourage your new employees to just stick with the status quo.
Don’t risk losing good employees to bad onboarding. Review your process today and make sure your onboarding is none of these!
