You’ve sourced the right candidates, interviewed qualified people, and come to a decision that you feel confident will improve your workplace productivity. Story ends there, right? Not quite. The process of transitioning an employee from the “newbie” to veteran is crucial not just for productivity, but for building a company culture. How you onboard hired employees is more important than ever.
With an employee pool that is constantly searching for companies that don’t see them as a position to fill, but rather as a person to invest in, onboarding becomes a crucial part of your company’s ability to attract and retain the top talent.
Onboarding in today’s world
In the past, onboarding was a process that started when the employee arrived for their first day of work. Today, that idea is ancient history.
New employees are eager to start working quickly, so we are going to investigate in this article why onboarding is important, what factors drive your onboarding process, and some tools to help engage with your newly hired talent.
Attracting top candidates
Onboarding is no longer just a process, it is part of the pitch for your company culture.
According to Inc., “Experts suggest you begin the orientation process before a candidate is formally hired by including ample information about your workplace and your culture in the Careers section on your website.”
Workplace culture is a growing selling point for candidates, especially Millennials. By including information about the company in your careers site, you are more likely to attract candidates that fit within your culture.
Retaining employees
During the onboarding process, new employees are looking to have full transparency into the company culture. Part of the culture that is especially important for employees is the performance review process and potential for internal mobility.
Deloitte, a company that has been investing in their employees substantially, has noted this necessity. “High-engagement companies have executives who spend money in learning, regularly meet with teams and provide feedback, and genuinely care about each individual.”
With onboarding, the feedback process, as a well as a glimpse into future opportunities and areas for growth, is critical to keeping employees engaged and, ultimately, with your company.
What should your onboarding process look like?
Obviously, every company has their own initiation process for new employees. However, there are some common factors to take into consideration when deciding what type of onboarding process is best for you company:
- Paperwork
- Projects
- People
The three P’s of onboarding: Paperwork, Projects, and People, lie at the heart of what separates company’s who seamlessly integrate new employees into their workforce from the rest.
Paperwork
Unfortunately, there is no getting around the fact that paperwork will be a part of the onboarding process in some shape or form. What paperwork is needed will depend on your company’s location, payroll practices, and use of non-disclosure agreements.
I9 Forms, NDA’s, direct deposits, etc. are all necessary to running a smooth and compliant business. Whatever your practices may be, paperwork will be involved.
Projects
To waste as little time (and money) as possible, employers are always looking to train new talent quickly. And, from the employee perspective, they feel the same was as this will lead to more interesting projects and responsibilities.
Matching new employees with new or existing projects is critical to helping them become a productive and engaged employee.
People
The last P has to be “People” because an office is more than stacks of papers or rows of computers. An office is a collection of individuals that spend a third of their day together.
The first aspect of this part of onboarding has to do with details. Where is the new employee going to sit? Who will be their mentor during the first couple of days? Who will they receive feedback from? All of these questions demonstrate the human element that is associated with onboarding.
Beyond the details, onboarding practices for introducing new employees to coworkers builds trust and increases office morale.
Whether it is something simple like a team lunch, or a full office tour and meet and greet, your company uses onboarding as a way to create a team atmosphere.
Technology can help your onboarding practices
Whatever your processes are for onboarding new talent, there is no denying that implementing software solutions will make the process quicker and easier.
Some examples of technology use in the onboarding process include using e-signature to fill out forms before the first day of work, making the employee’s initial day more about the company, and not paperwork. Another is the use of workflow applications to make sure that the employee is tracked all the way from sourcing to their first performance review.
According to the Brandon Hall Group, “Recruitment, development, and retention become simpler when employees are consistently engaged through every stage of the employee lifecycle.”
Eliminating paperwork
The most obvious application of technology in the onboarding process is the use of mobile-optimized forms to eliminate paper waste and to save time on the first day. According to Entrepreneur, “fewer than 12 percent of new hires can access onboarding paperwork from their mobile device.”
With more people wanting to have all of their desktop capabilities on their phone, investing in mobile optimized forms seems like a no brainer.
Hit the ground running
Onboarding is an inherently human experience. There should be face to face interaction to make the new employee feel welcome. However, before that nervous first day, an employee can come into the company with a solid grasp of their duties and projects.
Instructional videos and digital training are great tools to teach and onboard new hires. If an employee is engaged from day one, they will be more likely to produce results.
Consequences of poor onboarding
Think of onboarding like a balloon. Each misstep in welcoming or training a new employee is like a pump of air into the balloon. If the employee feels like the company has not given specific details for their first day, the balloon fills a little. If the employee arrives only to find a mountain of paperwork to sign on their first day, the balloon fills a little. If their computer is no ready when they arrive to their work station, the balloon fills a little.
All of these little pumps of air can eventually lead to the balloon popping, meaning that the employee quits.
Onboarding with Runrun.it
With Runrun.it, you can configure and organize your onboarding process in a way that attracts and retains top talent. Our time-centered task, project and workflow management solution offers companies an intuitive platform, complete with beautiful dashboards and powerful AI enabled reports. With Runrun.it, you can be sure that new employees are clearly aware of priority tasks, making it easier to manage their onboarding process.
Take a free trial right now to see how you can improve your onboarding processes: http://runrun.it
