As per a survey by Equifax, it was revealed that a large number of employees leave their organization in the first year of their joining, due to a lack of the best onboarding practices. Retention in this age and time is more critical than ever. Unfortunately, the best onboarding practices, which are an important aspect of retention, are habitually unheeded in most organizations.
Employers may ask if it even matters. Well, of course, it does. Topmost companies around the world implement it and retain employees by doing so.
It is no unhidden truth that hiring is a tough task. It takes up a huge chunk of resources from an organization. The first step is recruiting, the second is employee onboarding, and the toughest one is ensuring retention. Come to think of it, recruiting in itself is no piece of cake and it gets even more difficult if an organization is looking to hire top talent. And once this task is achieved, employers have to ensure they offer a great onboarding experience to their new employee.
Think about it, if you want an employee to stick around for a good number of years, you have to start by making their first experience in the company, a positive one.
If you think the same way, here’s how you can make sure your newly hired employees start with an eloquent first experience that will last.
Connect Before The Joining
This is a common observation that when a candidate is offered a job at a company, there is barely any communication between the newly hired and the organization until the day they join. Newly hired employees have no idea what to expect about the organization’s culture. They’re often clueless about the fellow employees or a mentor in case there’s any. In the worst-case scenario, they wouldn’t even know where the workstation is. The new hires are often oblivious to the executive management or the goals and mission of the organization. This doesn’t look like such a great start, does it?
The proper approach is to make sure the best onboarding practices plan is a detailed one, with enough information about the workplace and the fellow employees to help get started. Introduce them to the authority management so they’re aware of the reporting body. And most importantly, make sure you make them familiar with the workplace culture to help them settle in easily. Before they show up on their first day, send in an email to reconfirm everything.
An amazing approach is to be with them through this process so they have an idea of what to expect. It takes a good amount of time for any person to settle into anything new. In a new job, it takes even more. Newly hired employees don’t just need a desk, computer or stationary to start with, but they need a lot more support from the other fellow employees to help them understand work. It is a great practice to keep a check on new employees in the first week, and it’s best if you continue to do so even after that.
According to a Google study, it is integral that managers check on their new employees at least once a month for six months. Other than these checks, it is also important to have those one-on-one meetings with your new staff as it makes them feel valued and increases the chance of enhanced employee experience and retention.
Team Them Up
This simple idea is a very good one to improve the employee experience and reduce employee turnover. Pair your newly hired employee with other employees who have been around for a while. This doesn’t mean they should be paired with the manager but someone belonging to the same level, or grade. This eases the employee into their role. This way, they have someone to turn to if any problem arises. The teammates can help the new employee understand work and organizational culture on a more personal level. This is also helpful because employees new into the job have so much to ask and they usually feel hesitant if they have more than a few questions.
Highlight Key Performance Indicators
New into the company an employee might not know the correct definition of success. It is imperative at this step that it is conveyed to them. Once the employees understand what would mean they have done the job right, they will know how much effort they have to put in that job and when is it that they shouldn’t stop.
Highlight the key performance indicators for them on their job. It will make it easier to measure their performance and produce quality work.
There Is Always Room For Improvement
Even if your employees are happy with the onboarding process and the turnover rate is not high, it is all stable. Do not think that this is the best that you can achieve. It is always good to know what more can be done to improve the process, such as providing a facility to refinance student loans. Through feedback from existing employees, you can find where there is a need for improvement.
Remember that there is no stop to learning, the more you enhance your best onboarding practices process the more your organization will benefit from it and more value will be added to the process for your employees.