Onboarding: What’s the best process?

Published by Andrea Day on January 26, 2022January 26, 2022

What is the best employee onboarding process?

New employee onboarding can be daunting, for both businesses and new hires. Having a clear plan to follow is key to ensuring no valuable steps are missed in this process.

It’s also critical in terms of your company growth goals and seeing the ROI from your investment in recruitment. You will have invested substantially in recruitment and you need an equally aggressive approach to onboarding to give the new employees the tools they need to succeed.

For new employees, the first day at a new business can be nerve-wracking. Provide your new hire with a positive experience at their company introduction. This should set the tone for their continued employment.

Construct a plan based on each specific job role. By scheduling the first day, or first week, you avoid uncertainty for the new hire and the business.

Introduction

Try to avoid jumping head-first into their workload. Consider welcoming your new employee with a tour of the company. This is a great way to introduce them to their colleagues, and their workplace.

They will spend a lot of time with their team, so it is valuable to create a positive introduction.

The induction is also the best time to run through any relevant policies or procedures for your new starter. They will pick a lot of this up as they go along, but use this time to note significant details.

Once they have had a chance to visit the workplace, ensure that they have all the necessary tools. This could include setting up their desk, computer, or any other information that is required.

Schedule

A well-planned schedule is key to ensuring new employees feel comfortable in their roles. You should have one prepared for your fresh hire.

For their first day, this will likely include meetings and check-ins.

Ensure that your employee has points of contact within the company. Both group meetings and 1:1’s allow employees to build relationships. These should be regular throughout their first day or week.

There should be opportunities for them to ask any questions to current employees and managers.

By building relationships and a clear schedule on their first day, your hire should experience less anxiety.

Set tasks

So your employee has met their team and colleagues and has been introduced to their workplace. The next step is to introduce them to their work.

A new employee is unlikely to know where to start. Set them an introductory task. This should allow them to get used to the company’s working processes. Avoid scrutinising them too much on this task. This is meant to train them on working processes and highlight any missing information that they need.

Give them an opportunity to ask questions whilst they work through the task. Hands-on learning is typically a great way to get a new employee settled in.

This is also the time to begin setting expectations and further goals. Once they are to grips with the details of carrying out their job, discuss the future. This could include timeframes for work and any future training that may be beneficial.

Take your time

Not all onboarding processes can be done in a day. Depending on your business, you may wish to have weekly or monthly reviews of progress. This allows them to ask any burning questions, and make any changes.

Stay connected with your new hire past their initial introduction. Keep track of their progress and ensure help is always on hand. All employees need to be nurtured through their onboarding and beyond.

Train for success

All of the elements that we’ve discussed so far should be included in a detailed training program. You can’t expect your new employees to learn what you want them to by simply shadowing existing employees. The shadowing approach could actually perpetuate bad habits in your team.

The best approach is to deploy a custom-built training program that trains your employees on all aspects of your business from company culture, to product, marketing and how to interact with customers.

Digital learning and communication tools can drive your business forward. Get in touch with us today to discover how BAD’s custom digital training can help your business!