Having a hard time onboarding your candidates efficiently? Check out our latest blog for getting a better grasp of employee onboarding and ways to perfect your employee onboarding process.

The Only Guide You Will Ever Need For Employee Onboarding

Recruiting nowadays is a challenging affair. From choosing the right hires to investing time and money courting them with numerous calls, company blogs, and videos among others. But amidst all these processes, they fail to focus on one primary aspect, which has become a necessity - building relationships and making the new recruits feel welcome and warm. As per Equifax, 40% of employees left their jobs voluntarily within six months of starting, with another 16% leaving within a year, implying that more than half of voluntary turnover occurs within a year of the employee's start date. This means it is during the first six months, that the employers need to concentrate on not just training their new employees but also building a good, healthy relationship with them. Remember, the key to effective employee engagement is a healthy employer-employee relationship. Because let's be honest, you don't want to invest so much time and effort in your new recruits, only to lose them after a few weeks or months just because your onboarding was not proper. So, make sure your onboarding process is effective and thorough and that your time and efforts are worth it.

What is Employee Onboarding?

The process during which new employees become acquainted with the organization, its people, and its culture is known as Employee Onboarding. On the one hand, an onboarding period is meant to get new employees operational as soon as possible. And, on the other hand, it is used to shape new employees' critical first impressions of the company (and this is a more recent role of employee onboarding).

A proper onboarding process will result in a number of consequences. After a successful onboarding, your new employees:

• have met their coworkers
• have a working relationship with their immediate supervisor
• will feel at ease within the organization
• have made a few significant connections
• have comprehended their role and work
• clearly understands their evaluation criteria
• have access to all of the resources they need to do their job well.

You can simply ask them about their experience after their onboarding. Ask them if they understand their role well and if they understand the process. If you get satisfactory answers, you have probably done a good job.

5 Stages of Employee Onboarding

The onboarding process begins the moment your employee signs the offer letter. It comes to an end when the employee is able to do the job they were hired for on their own. However, there are five stages of Employee onboarding. They are as under:

a) Pre-Boarding

The pre-boarding period is the time between when a candidate accepts the offer letter and their first day in the office. So basically, now is your ideal time to make your new employee feel welcome and at home in your organization.

b) Orientation Day

“You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.”

- Will Rogers

The first day is more about how you make your new recruit feel. It is more about experience than details and all work. They will always remember the experience of their orientation day for the rest of their lives and you have to make it great and make them feel welcome and special. You can do so many things - get a cake and distribute sweets to celebrate their joining, give them an office tour, introduce them to your entire team, discuss the day’s agenda, and then introduce them to your 90-day plan, weekly and monthly structures, provide access to employee resources and so on.

c) The First Week

This involves things like one on one conversations with colleagues, the hiring manager, among others. You may also want to add your new employee to the ‘About Us’ section on your website, and also share about them on the LinkedIn profile or other social media profiles of your organization. Additionally, you may plan the 90-day plan check-in meetings with your new employee duing the first week.

d) The First 90 Days

A 90-day plan serves as a framework for determining how to onboard, acclimate, and educate newly hired team members. It establishes expectations for what the individual is expected to deliver in their first 90 days, that may include both learning and performance objectives. It is also referred to it as a 90-day action plan, which emphasises the importance of being proactive.

A 90-day plan, like SMART goals, must outline the specific details that will help the new employee to succeed.

e) The End of the First Year

Although it is nothing mandatory, but it is a good idea to properly and officially wrap up your onboarding process. While you are going through the formalities, have a final conversation with your new team member and discuss their expectations and how they can be met. Talk about their performance and set up goals. Give them feedback, and seek feedback from them too.

The 5 Best Onboarding Practices

We have come up with a few practical tips that shall help you ace the onboarding process of your new employees. After all, a successful onboarding is the first step to a successful and growing organization.

1) Consolidated HR Practices

An ideal 90-day plan should be developed on the job description for the selected employee and the job posting. The plan must clearly state the reason behind the creation of this position, and must reflect the job description and job posting accurately. Otherwise, soon your new employee will simply start finding another job if they find that upon joining, that the actual work is different from the advertised duties. At least, the chances of such an occurrence are very high. This is why it's critical to integrate these HR practises, conduct a thorough vacancy intake, and match your job description to your job posting and 90-day plan.

2) Befriend Checklists

Checklists are a great way to organize all of the tasks you do. Make a checklist of what all need to be done to carry out an effect onboarding for your new team members. A checklist provides you with a definite structure and makes sure that you don't miss any important task. It helps you maintain consistency, saves your time, reduces your turnover cost (because a successful onboarding implies a happy hire and no turnover), reduces your stress, reduces your chances of error, and boosts your efficiency. Thus, befriend checklists.

3) Be Consistent

We have praised the checklists a lot, but they are of no use if you don't implement them. If that is the case, your onboarding practices will soon deteriorate increasing the chances of future turnovers. Thus, wholeheartedly and dedicatedly follow and implement what are included in your checklist.

4) Evaluate

Evaluate your onboarding process. Over time, you may receive feedback or you may need to add or modify certain details and so on. Every organization is unique and so are their cultures and ideal. Moreover, your company has its own journey, stories, struggles, habits and practices, visions and missions. So, ensure that your onboarding process reflects all these aforementioned aspects to your new recruits.

5) Make Efficient Workflows

Your company most likely already has an onboarding process in place. Incorporate the ideas from this article into your existing workflows. Each organisation has its own set of systems, and the process used by a company with tens of employees differs from the process used by a company with thousands or tens of thousands of employees. Make the process personal, however.

This concludes our blog on an efficient onboarding. We have jotted down the basic practices that may make an onboarding effective. Try and follow the aforementioned strategies so that you make your new employees happy for their successful engagement in your company. All the best for your upcoming onboarding of your new employees. Happy onboarding!