Employee onboarding is a crucial player that the HR (Human Resources) industry has realized majorly influences retention and talent acquisition. For much of corporate history, onboarding was overlooked, leaving many organizations in every sector losing their investments in talent.

In this post, you can expect an inside lane into the realm of ‘immersive onboarding,’ a phrase coined by HCM Tech Analyst, Top 100 Influencer, and Thought Leader Steve Goldberg. Goldberg recently wrote the article, “An Under-Performing HR Process Gets Reimagined: Introducing “Immersive Onboarding.”   Furthermore, we’ll look into new employee onboarding, the value, and how to guide and pursue your candidates and future employees.

Preboarding 

Preboarding has an identity crisis and often slips between the cracks of Talent Management or Talent Acquisition. That said, your first job in HR is to identify whose responsibility it is to pursue and guide your new employees down the road to an engaging and immersive employee culture. New employee productivity and connectedness must be catalyzed before day one on the job; creating an atmosphere of inclusion within an organization is vital. Ensuring employees understand their job roles, short-term goals, and how their performance impacts the organization’s goals, is crucial for long-term retention.

Did You Know?

Investing in effective onboarding solutions is imperative to maximize talent retention and ROI.

In other words, poor onboarding costs you much more than you think, and your investment in new talent… down the drain. So, what’s the fix? Adopting and utilizing an intuitive onboarding solution can improve employee immersion and with higher engagement and productivity.

Hard Work Made Easier

All things considered, following new employee onboarding best practices is challenging work. But here are our Best Practices for Onboarding New Hires:

    1. Digitize and automate your new hire paperwork
    2. Digitizing the collection of employee information such as W-4, I-9, direct deposit, and emergency contact information ensures productivity for the new hire and HR personnel. Studies show that HR personnel spend 5 hours on each new hire during the hiring process.

Before Day 1

  1. Call your employees via phone, zoom, or teams and create a personal connection with them. Starting a new job is daunting, so having a familiar face will help them immerse themselves in the company culture.
  2. Give your employees the NEED TO KNOWS like their start date, who are the team members they are working with, what they will need on their first day, and where to go for their first day of work

Day 1

  1. Welcome your new hires and introduce them to your team! Set the new employees up with what they need to be successful.
  2. Fill in your new employee about company culture, values, missions, etc., and find out what your employee wants from their career and how you can support them in achieving their goals.
  3. At this stage, Goldberg states, it is most critical that you make the new employee feel as though they made the right decision. Establishing trust begins before the first day on the job, so remember to be reliable and responsive.

Post Day 1

  1. Provide an overview of your new employee’s responsibilities: daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. Consider setting aside time once a week for new employees to ask you questions about their role in the organization.
  2. Onboarding doesn’t end after day one, week one, or month one. Your employee may know their way around, but they are still constantly learning each day, so remember to continue to courier the relationship to the new employee.
  3. Consider conducting a survey for your new employee after week one, month one, month 6, and one year. This practice will provide a more helpful understanding of your onboarding process and when your new employees are falling behind.

Go the extra mile

  1. Studies show that it takes up to 8 months for a new employee to become a viable resource.
  2. Tracking your new employee’s Employee Lifetime Value (ELTV), the expected future value of an employee’s time in an organization, is positively affected by a well-established onboarding program. Results show that good Onboarding leads to better and faster contribution while increasing long-term retention.
  3. These are the benefits on the front end of tracking ELTV, but there are also backend benefits, such as when your new employee hits their max potential and how long their max potential is sustainable. However, all these benefits depend on the employee, managers, training, and experience over an employee’s lifecycle.

Additional Tips for HR Directors and Executives

  1. Monitor and Measure
    • Regularly assess the effectiveness of your onboarding process through KPIs such as employee engagement scores, time-to-productivity, and retention rates.
  2. Leverage Technology
    • Utilize onboarding software to streamline processes, gather data, and provide a seamless experience for new hires.
  3. Foster a Culture of Continuous Improvement
    • Encourage feedback from new employees and use it to refine your onboarding practices continuously.
  4. Align Onboarding with Strategic Goals
    • Ensure your onboarding program aligns with broader organizational objectives, enhancing its strategic impact and ROI.

By implementing these strategies, HR directors and executives can not only improve the onboarding experience but also contribute to the overall growth and success of their organizations.

Conclusion

Effective Onboarding is not merely a checklist but a strategic investment in your organization’s future. By embracing immersive onboarding practices, organizations can transform new hires into engaged, productive team members who align with company goals and values from day one. The journey begins with clear responsibilities and expectations, extends through personalized pre-day-one preparation, and continues with supportive day-one experiences and ongoing engagement.

By adopting these best practices—digitizing processes, fostering personal connections, and maintaining continuous support—organizations can mitigate the costs of poor Onboarding, enhance employee retention, and ultimately maximize the lifetime value of their workforce. As businesses navigate the evolving talent acquisition and retention landscape, prioritizing a comprehensive onboarding strategy is essential for sustainable growth and success in the modern workplace.

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