What is an onboarding program?
Organizations provide new hires with the training and tools they need to succeed in their positions through the onboarding procedure. The employee onboarding process should begin with the first interaction an organization has with a new hire and continue throughout the employee’s first year on the job, in contrast to new employee orientation, which is typically a standalone, one-day event.
What makes a good onboarding program experience?
It’s your responsibility as a manager to make sure each new employee has a positive experience at work, but understanding what steps to take to create an efficient onboarding plan can feel overwhelming. The three steps listed below can assist managers in developing strategic onboarding procedures that prepare new employees for success and enhance employee retention.
1. Establish precise objectives and success criteria
You should first review your onboarding objectives before starting a new onboarding program. The four Cs compliance, clarification, culture, and connection should all be included in your objectives when you are reviewing them. Here are some inquiries you ought to make:
- Have you recognized and thoroughly explained the rules, guidelines, and practices that staff members must follow?
- Have you established clear work expectations for employees and connected them to measurable, time-bound goals?
- Will participants fully comprehend your company’s culture upon program completion and receive assistance in forming all the connections necessary for their success?
- Where do the capabilities of your company need to be strengthened to carry out this new program?
- How will you continue to enhance and sustain the work-life balance of new hires after the onboarding process is over?
It’s time to choose how you’ll gauge success after you’ve established a set of objectives that take into account all four Cs. Your metrics, which should include both quantitative metrics (such as the proportion of new employees still employed at your business after a year) and qualitative metrics, should be directly related to your goals (like feedback from new hires about their onboarding experience). Before taking any further action, make sure you schedule a meeting with company executives because the development of these goals and measures needs input from stakeholders across your organization.
2. Form a cross-functional onboarding squad
Create an onboarding procedure that includes team members from pertinent departments, essential stakeholders, and the CEO if you want to enhance the employee experience at work.
Managers should integrate new employees into their teams as soon as possible. Make sure the team is aware of the new hire’s hiring reasons and the roles they will play in the team and the company before introducing them. Strong team relationships can take more initial time to foster, but they can increase employee efficiency and productivity.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that new hires will also communicate with parties outside of their direct team. However, it’s not always clear to new hires how they will interact with these individuals or how to approach them. By creating a roster of names with notes about each person’s background and significance to the business, managers can aid in the development of these connections.
3. Offer assistance during the hiring process
Managers should concentrate on reducing the amount of time spent on administrative tasks by new employees and increasing the amount of time spent on performance coaching and networking during the onboarding process. HR should have provided you with a technological platform to handle these important duties. With the aid of these tools, you will be able to apply and monitor onboarding best practices like the following at each step of the procedure:
With the aid of these tools, you will be able to apply and monitor onboarding best practices like the following at each step of the procedure:
- You can ask new hires to sign up for your company’s onboarding portal before they start working there so they can watch a welcome video, complete their initial paperwork, and receive their day-one schedule and overall tailored onboarding program. You can also see if the presence of the new hire has been communicated to all necessary parties.
- You can monitor whether a new employee completed their day’s schedule on day one, including whether they met important stakeholders, were assigned a workstation, got their tools for the job, and finished their day-one training program. Employee feedback on their first day can also be obtained, enabling you to make necessary corrections.
- You can check for completion and pass rates for e-learning modules, keep track of whether new hires have read important company information, and assess the effect of the onboarding process on the accomplishment of important onboarding goals at the individual and cohort levels throughout the rest of the onboarding program.
- By the conclusion of the program, you will have a thorough dashboard showing the extent to which each of your onboarding goals has been accomplished, allowing you to assess what is working and what needs to be improved.
Last but not least, you need to make sure that this new tool works with the rest of your HRMS. This will make it simple for you to monitor the effects of your onboarding program on the actual performance of new hires in the workplace and levels of new employee happiness.
How to Create an Effective Onboarding Program?
First day
Employers have the chance to discuss their investment in a new hire in greater depth on the first day. Specifically, total rewards and policies and procedures as they pertain to how to succeed as an employee are being discussed. The secret to ensuring that new hires have a good experience with this phase of the onboarding process is to customize your total rewards offerings and communications to highlight the company’s investment in the employee. Employers should concentrate on topics related to work-life balance, growth and professional development opportunities, engagement, and community outreach initiatives, as well as necessary information such as benefits deductibles and time-off requests.
The initial week
The onboarding program should gradually shift from “welcome to the organization” to “welcome to your position within our team” during the first week of the new employee experience. There should be an opportunity for the new hire to meet or learn about the organization’s history and operations from a knowledgeable member of the team, depending on the size of the organization and the new hire’s role. This stage aims to concentrate on creating a stronger bond with the company and other employees. This team member should also spend time discussing the specifics of working for the company, such as how to access the facilities, how to obtain business cards, and where to find coffee.
The employer should start concentrating on the new hire’s job as soon as they establish a relationship with the company during the first week. This would entail giving the new hire any necessary instruction so they can carry out their tasks effectively. More significantly, this should involve debating and formulating goals, expectations, and performance standards. To prevent new hires from wondering how they can add to the team, employers should make sure that managers are consistently having these conversations with them. Additionally, these standards, norms, and objectives form the basis of the employee life cycle and will direct future decision-making.
30-60-90 Plan
Companies must monitor and assess new employees’ development as they continue to settle in. Making a 30-60-90 strategy helps new hires succeed in their first few months and establishes benchmarks for employers to assess their progress. This is crucial for a successful onboarding program because it ensures that both the organization and the new hire are taking the right actions to enable the new hire to succeed in the position right away. The first thirty days should continue the programs from the first day and first week in addition to helping them get used to their new duties. The business culture should continue to be absorbed by new hires as they establish connections with their new teams.
The new hire should start to extend their wings as an employee within the first 60 days. This includes facilitating their work, working alone or with other employees, and/or identifying opportunities for growth within their team or position. At this point, the new hire’s contributions ought to be obvious, and the organization must make sure that the new hire is getting constructive criticism that is in line with the goals of the group or organization. This feedback is an essential component of the strategy because it encourages the new employee’s involvement and redirects or validates their prior efforts.
And finally, the new employee should be completely integrated and perform as a team member by the 90th day. The new employee should be looking for projects, chances for teamwork, and ways to advance. They should also be fully aware of their responsibilities and how they can support the squad. To maintain this level of enthusiasm and ambition and to make the most of your resources, it is crucial for you as employers to be ready to direct that energy and engagement to the proper projects and responsibilities.
An organization’s strategies for employee engagement and retention will be strengthened by the implementation of a successful onboarding program, which will also act as a guide for decision-making throughout the employee’s life cycle. Due to the potential impact on an organization’s total success, it is essential that organizations carefully consider how they will administer their programs.