Your new hire accepted your offer and showed up … now what?
Not so fun facts: 20% of new hires leave in the first 45 days* and 4%** don’t even show up on the first day.
Losing that much hard-won talent can feel like a personal defeat or a company failure … or worse, both! It’s an expensive, deflating experience for any team. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to increase employee retention and engagement. According to SHRM, a structured onboarding program can increase those key metrics by 50%.
Structured onboarding programs provide new hires with a clear, guided path to integrate them into the organization, acquaint them with their responsibilities, and lay the foundation of their network. The best onboarding programs are standardized across the company but adapted to each new hire’s role and location.
3 Critical Onboarding Steps:
1. Follow through with your onboarding plan
You made promises about life after the interview, and well, the life after is here! It’s time to actually follow the onboarding plan you shared during preboarding. It sounds like a no brainer, but many plans are shared during preboarding and then cast aside once the employee starts.
This is a problem for several reasons:
– It makes the onboarding plan you shared during preboarding look like an empty promise
– It shows your new employee that you don’t follow through with your commitments
– It causes your new employee to feel uncertain – which is the last thing you want during this transitional time when your new hire is still deciding if it was a good idea to join your company
2. Introduce them to the team
You may have done this during the initial meet and greet but help your new hire feel like part of the team by introducing them to colleagues across the company – not just in their department. Review org charts and explain who’s who throughout the organization. Don’t assume they’ll reach out to unknown colleagues on their own or understand the lay of the land without a guide.
3. Establish a road map and share what success looks like
Your onboarding program should include milestones for 30/60/90 days and clear expectations for each phase. It’s important to discuss it thoroughly with your new hire during the first week and check in regularly to make sure they have everything they need to be successful in their first 90 days.
Your new employee should never have to wonder, Am I doing the right things? Am I performing at the level expected of me?
Onboarding is the prime time to make new employees feel great about their decision to join your company, build trust, and reinforce their commitment. Empower them to hit the ground running and feel like part of the team right from the start with these easy steps!
* Urbanbound
**SHRM
