Top Tips for Effective Employee Onboarding

Bringing on a new employee costs a lot of money. So, when you hire one, you want to ensure that they stay for a long time and quickly become a productive team member. This is when effective employee onboarding should become your top priority. Today we’re going to discuss what employee onboarding is, what it involves and how to ensure it occurs successfully within your workplace.

Why is Employee Onboarding Necessary? 

At some point in your life, you probably had a job working for someone else. Have you ever started a new job and had a situation where no one knew you were coming on your first day? Or perhaps your new manager or team didn’t know what to do with you all day.  If that’s happened to you, I’m sure you would have felt frustrated and maybe even like you made the wrong choice. This is a situation you want to avoid.

Employee onboarding involves introducing your new employees into the culture and values of your business. Doing so helps them to feel more comfortable and a part of the team. They are exposed to your training programs, understand what is expected of them and are more likely to remain a part of your team for the long-term.

When a business provides a great onboarding experience, you help make life easier for your new employee and can give them feedback on how they are doing. You decrease the length of time needed for a new employee to get up to speed, plus you improve engagement and productivity.

Managing Effective Employee Onboarding 

What makes an effective employee onboarding program? Here are our top tips on implementing one into your workplace:

• Start before their first day. Don’t wait until your new employee first walks through the door. Instead you should create a welcome package which includes information about your workplace, team members, facilities, their workstation, who to see if they need help and any scheduled events. The first day is always overwhelming, so help them out by giving them a head start before they start!

• Introduce everyone. Take a walk around your workplace with your new employee. Introduce them to other team members, explain their role and what expected interaction they’ll have with each member. Even arranging a lunch together for their first day goes a long way at breaking down those initial barriers and helps build positive workplace relationships.

• Ensure both sides understand each other’s goals. Not only does your new employee need to know what is expected of them, but you must know what their career goals are too. Create a plan together of how both sides can achieve these.

• Schedule time for training. It can take several months for a new employee to become fully productive and that’s with training! You can’t expect a new employee to comfortably use your software or equipment correctly without being taught how. Make sure you have booked enough training for them to master it effectively.

• Create a checklist. On it needs to be a list of everything that should be done for effective employee onboarding to occur. This includes computer accounts created, workstation ready and with the correct tools, workplace security access organised and the existing team members know who is starting and what their job will be.

Effective employee onboarding is a must for every business, big or small. We’re available to help you through this process, saving you time, money and helping you keep new employees for longer. Contact us today and let’s get your business’ tailored employee onboarding program sorted.