Onboarding New Employees

Onboarding is a process for integrating new hires into the company culture and it is a first impression for new hires.

This process can seem trivial, but it is very important to create a good first impression for employee retention and engagement.

It is also important to empower your new hires with all of the information and tools they will need to become a productive member of the company.

At a minimum you should have an onboarding strategy that lasts one week, but best practice would be to have a strategy that covers the new hires’ first year.

The first week of your onboarding strategy would be more intense than the following months, however, meeting with new hires regularly and ensuring they are able to communicate how they are feeling or areas where they require additional help or information empowers them to be their best selves.

Onboarding should not be confused with orientation.

Orientation is a component of onboarding, but it is a legality of paperwork, not a process to acclimatize new hires to their new work environment.

Upper management needs to buy-in to the onboarding process, otherwise there will be breaks in the process and it will not be effective.

Your HR team can help you determine the important elements that your company should include in your onboarding process, and here are a few questions you should answer to start building your onboarding process:

• What is the first impression you want to give new hires?
• What do new employees need to know about the company culture and work environment?
• What role will direct managers and other employees play in the onboarding process?
• How will you measure the success of your onboarding process?

These questions will help you get started, but they are only the beginning.

Onboarding is a key process to implement in your company to improve employee retention and engagement.

Helping new hires get a head start with your company will make them more effective and productive members of your workforce.