Onboarding is an opportunity to establish a good foundation for new employees with the company. It should be about welcoming, motivating and preparing recently hired staff to do their best and grow exponentially as professionals.

You’ll save time and energy when you improve your onboarding process. The most important thing is that your onboarding program should be easy to maintain, especially if your team simultaneously takes on other tasks such as offboarding.

Several reports indicate that 4% of employees leave their companies due to a bad onboarding experience. By ensuring a straightforward and simple program, your new employees will feel appreciated and in the long run may even become your top performers. Prior to onboarding, it’s advisable to use an applicant tracking system to boost the efficiency of your recruitment efforts.

Onboarding processes differ from organization to organization as business needs and goals as well as required job skills vary. However, following the steps below will help you build an onboarding program that will stimulate new employees, encourage them to do their best even on their first day, and increase employee retention.

1. Announce Their Arrival To The Entire Team

An announcement regarding the newcomer to the company should be made before the employee’s first day. This can be done via email or on the office floor. Tell them about the person’s job description as well as their experience in the industry, and encourage everyone to be warm and hospitable toward them.

Employees need to know that a new staff member is expected before their first day in order to be ready to help them. Such gestures will go a long way in allowing the newcomer to feel relaxed and not anxious once they start working.

2. Do Introductions

On the new employee’s first day, schedule a brief introduction and a few polite exchanges with critical people and departments. Even though they won’t remember everyone’s name, this will give them an idea of whom to approach should they need assistance with anything. Moreover, the information they’ll be able to gather will help them comprehend how your company operates and their role in the day-to-day operations.

3. Take Advantage Of Automated Systems

Onboarding is traditionally considered tedious or dull. It’s easier for both you and your employee if you can automate forms, videos and policy education. This will save both of you time and energy, resulting in a more organized employee onboarding.

Especially for new hires, sitting at a desk signing forms is not an excellent way to begin a job. Whenever possible, consider emailing or handing out the documents to your new employees in advance so they won’t have to go through these on their first day. You can then move on to more exciting things when they walk through the door, such as meeting other personnel and going on an office tour.

4. Make Employees Feel Comfortable On Their First Day

Here are some of the things you can do to ease a newbie’s nerves on the first day:

• Ensure that the receptionist or the security guard greets them warmly, and have someone accompany them into the office to prevent them from getting lost or confused.
• Providing the necessary access control details can help eliminate any nervousness that might occur on the first few days of work. A new staff member won’t have to wait outside before you let them in, and they’ll feel included in the team early on.
• Introduce them to the team personally.
• Give them a company directory so they can contact their colleagues and superiors with ease.
• Remind other staff members to be friendly toward the newbies and introduce themselves too.
• Tell them about the company and their responsibilities, and throw in some humorous questions or witty remarks to break the ice.
• Eat lunch with them or treat them to a meal so they can spend time getting to know their team members and manager.

Though these initiatives may seem simple or insignificant, they’ll make your new hire feel welcome in the new office and help them settle into their new role.

5. Organize An Office Tour

Start your new employee’s first day with an office tour after introductions and some shared conversations. It would be helpful for them to know where their workstation is, where the meeting rooms and pantry are, where the office supplies can be found, who the other key people in the company are, and so on. At the end of their first day, they should be able to navigate their new space without a hitch.

6. Prepare Their Workstation Early

Making an excellent first impression on new hires is a must for employee retention, so see to it that their workspace is equipped with everything they need to start working. It’s vital to set up their work computer, email and phone number in advance and provide any office supplies that would allow them to handle their tasks. This way, the new employee can perform well on the get-go.

7. Communicate Their Roles And Goals

The final step to delivering a better onboarding experience is to discuss your new hire’s targets and give them an overview of their roles in a structured manner. Many new hires’ top concern is finding out what they’ll be doing and how to be successful within the company.

On the first day, make sure they understand what their priorities should be. You can help their set expectations by doing the following:

• Tell them about your department’s or team’s key performance indicator (KPIs);
• Have the manager explain how they go about overseeing everyone’s work and their management style as well;
• Employees want more meaning in the workplace, so highlight the importance of equality and transparency;
• Discuss performance appraisals or bonuses;
• Explain their future career options; and
• Lastly, it would be best to make them aware of the corporate structure (hierarchy or parallel) and how decisions are made.

Conclusion

A proper onboarding process will enable your new employee to integrate smoothly into your company. They’ll be more prepared to handle their responsibilities, which would benefit your team and your business as a whole. By optimizing all new employee processes, you can retain top talent and engage new hires no matter what industry you’re part of.

Matthew Herriford is an applicant tracking system specialist. He also has a background in human resource data security management. Matthew shares his HR technology expertise in various guest posting platforms. During his free time, he loves to play tennis, swim, and scuba diving.