How to Create an Effective Employee Onboarding Process
Running your own company provides a lot of satisfaction. You get to be your own boss, make the decisions, and profit from your own success. There’s a reason why business owners are among the most contented workers in the United States, regardless of industry.
That isn’t to say that being the boss is always simple. Being a business owner has an unlimited number of problems, and there is always space for improvement. Managing a new employee is an area where a business owner can always learn and grow.
The onboarding process is important to focus on and improve for a wide variety of reasons. The better your new hire’s first few days are, the more likely their time with your company is going to be positive and mutually beneficial.
What can you do to improve and execute stellar employee onboarding? How can you ensure new hires are getting the best overall experience? Read on and we’ll walk you through a few tips and tricks that can help.
Go Above and Beyond With a Video
Employee onboarding is all about setting the right first impression. The atmosphere you create for a new hire’s initial few days can significantly set the tone for the rest of their time with you.
Is there a tried and true method to make a lasting and positive impression? Consider showing a welcome video to your new hire. When it comes to building a connection with your new employee, this short film can do a lot of fantastic things.
For starters, a welcome video can be a quick and easy way to convey information about your company that might be otherwise difficult. It’s a perfect opportunity to ‘sell’ your company’s core values once more, ensuring the new hire that they made the right decision by choosing this position.
You can help to cement your corporate culture’s concepts, convey all of the basic knowledge about your organization’s history and way of life across to them, and assist them in assimilating into this existing world.
A welcome video might make it simple for different members of the company to say hello to the new hire. It’s also a good idea to personalize these welcome messages if you have the time.
You can send this video to a new employee in an email or show it to them in person when they arrive at your workplace.
An employee will see a welcome video as proof that you went above and beyond to make their first day memorable. This extra effort will be appreciated, and it will help you get off to a good start with this new hire.
Decide On a Reasonable Timetable
Getting the schedule right for your onboarding process can be one of the most difficult parts of getting things right. The last thing you want to do, of course, is to overwhelm a new hire by throwing everything at them all at once.
A day or two may be too little to expect them to fully integrate into the swing of things, but how long should you really plan for? When can they take on certain responsibilities, and which others can wait?
It’s important to get a solid sense of how long your employee training will take as far ahead of time as possible. There’s no one size fits all answer to the question of how much time will be necessary.
This will all depend on what your business does, who the employee is, and what their position really requires of them. The one thing that can be said is that you should plan for more time than you need. It’s preferable to overestimate as opposed to underestimating.
If you overestimate, the worst thing that can happen is that a new hire will be ready to move ahead with the process earlier than you anticipated. This shouldn’t be hard to adjust to.
Underestimating the amount of time needed is going to put your new employee in a stressful situation right off the bat. That’s the last thing you want, for the benefit of their experience and your overall business needs.
Getting an employee comfortable and confident before they full take over their duties is going to result in much better work in the long run.
It can be best to break down the timetable you’re planning out into steps. What day can they take over which responsibilities?
Having this plan in advance and communicating it to the new hire in question can set you both off on the proper path to success.
Give Them Paperwork Ahead of Time
What’s one mistake far too many companies make when it comes to their overall employee onboarding process? They force too much paperwork onto their new hires on their first day.
The new employees in question end up spending their whole first day in your office with their noses buried in papers as opposed to actually getting acquainted with the space, the team, and the work ahead of them.
Obviously, this paperwork is important needs to be taken seriously. No one is arguing that. However, considering if there is a better place and time to get this paperwork done can help to make your new hires’ first days run a whole lot smoother.
Doing so will give you back a whole lot more precious time that can be used in more productive ways. After all, there’s a whole lot that can be learned on that first day and it’s not going to get done with paperwork in the way.
When can this paperwork be done instead? If possible, it might be a great idea to see if your new hire can fill out their paperwork ahead of time. Providing the needed paperwork to them a few weeks before their actual start date can be a huge help in getting things done.
Your new hire will still have ample time to fill out everything needed on their schedule, and they’ll be able to show up on their first day ready to go.
Not all new hires will have the time needed to accomplish this task, but if there are a few that are able to, it can be helpful to both parties.
You can even use various programs to help make this easier. For example, HR software https://WorkBright.com. This kind of software can make it much easier for you to manage your onboarding and can provide ways for employees to access it all from the comfort of their homes.
Giving your new team members an opportunity to accomplish this first task ahead of time can allow them an easier time getting started on Day One of their new position.
Introduce Them To Your Team ASAP
For a new employee, the first day of work can feel a lot like the first day of school.
They are being assimilated into a situation in which they are the odd man out. Everyone else on your team is already acquainted with one another and is familiar with how things function. Any new hire may feel nervous or anxious as a result of this.
It will benefit everyone if you try to make this new employee feel as welcome as feasibly possible.
Consider how you can best introduce this new employee to the rest of your team. Sending out a new employee announcement to your existing team ahead of time can be a smart place to start. This way, your present employees are aware of what to anticipate and can make an effort to connect with this new person.
It’s also a good idea to schedule a team lunch on the first or second day of a new hire’s employment. Having a relaxed setting in which this person may meet the rest of your team will make it much easier for them to assimilate.
This is a task you should prioritize even if it is difficult to get your whole team together. If it proves impossible to get everyone to sit down for a casual get-together, at least try and get the new hire together with the people with who they will be working most closely.
If you can break the ice in a casual way, it can make the working relationship between these individuals a whole lot easier. The discussion doesn’t need to be centered around work – and it might be even better if it isn’t.
This is just a time for everyone to get to know one another as people.
Introduce Them to This Part of Town
Anything you can do to help a new worker feel more welcome on their first day is going to be a smart idea. The more thoughtful you can be during the onboarding process, the more you will endear yourself and your company to this new hire.
One of the best ways to do this? Go above and beyond and help orient them to things outside of the work environment.
Coming into a new office can be like entering a whole new world you were never aware of. Welcoming them to the area around the office can be just as helpful to a new hire (especially if they are coming from out of town!).
When you provide this new hire with initial documentation, think of including a help sheet that includes information about the area directly around the office in question.
The most important thing you can provide on this help sheet? Information about eateries and lunch spots near the office. Unless you’re the kind of place that provides catered lunch every day, your new hire is going to need to fend for themselves when it comes to the lunch hour.
Giving them a helpful guide to their options in the area can be a great help. You can break down this information in a number of helpful ways. You can organize it by type of food, budget, or even use your employees and have them list their favorites.
This can take the anxiety around lunch hour and turn it into something exciting and new.
Other Resources in the Area
You don’t have to stop at just lunch, of course. There are a number of other establishments in the area that might be helpful for your new hire to know about.
Entertainment options, like bars, after-work eateries, and movies theaters can all be good to point out. If there’s a particular bar that your team enjoys going to for a happy hour, it can be helpful to point this out early on.
Many people try to get their exercise in near the office as well. You can point out gyms in the areas, or point towards public parks that have areas where one can go on a run.
If parking near your office is complicated for any reason, it can be extremely helpful to point out where are the easiest and most affordable places to leave their vehicle.
The more comfortable this new hire can get with their daily work routine, the better they’ll feel about working at your business. This is important when it comes to employee retention, which should be a high priority.
Therefore, it is in your best interest to try to make this transition for them as seamless and enjoyable as possible.
Improving the Onboarding Process
A successful employee onboarding process is essential to making your new hires feel welcome and prepared. The above can help you learn how to create an effective onboarding process.
The better and more efficient you make your onboarding process, the smoother transition you’ll have to a great new worker on your team.
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