Onboarding: 8 Ways to get New Hires Onboard

*This was originally posted in The Asia Pacific Headhunter last year*  Although this happened in Tokyo, it addresses the global issue of transitioning new hires into your company.

About six years ago, I placed a mid-level executive with a company in Tokyo. As is my policy, I always check up periodically with a newly placed candidate to see how they’re getting along in their new job. After the first week, my candidate was a bit overwhelmed with the work they had given him. His direct supervisor was actually on a business trip, so he had to fend for himself for the first couple of days searching for help from others. Because he wasn’t given his own workspace yet, he had to set up at a conference table. After the second week, he was thrown into the deep end to face clients about the company’s products despite receiving minimal training. Moreover, he was still at that conference table. At the end of the month, he had serious doubts about whether he wanted to stay there. He hadn’t been given his business card yet (which in Japan is extremely important to have and easy to get), and felt that he wasn’t given any clear goals and how he was to be assessed. As you can imagine, he just didn’t feel it was the kind of company he wanted to be a part of.

The company was actually a successful and growing one. What went wrong? To say the least, this was a pretty extreme case of terrible onboarding. Unfortunately for all parties involved, time and money was wasted – he left after two months, and a repeated search for his replacement followed. A huge lesson was learned from all of this: Onboarding quickly and smoothly is key to productive happy employees who will stay.

What is “onboarding”? It’s getting your newly hired talent up to speed with the policies, processes, culture, expectations, and day-to-day responsibilities of your company. It’s making them feel welcome and excited, confirming why they joined your company.

Whether you’re a huge brand name corporation with thousands of employees, or a small start-up with 3 employees, all businesses have a similar goal: to attract talented employees and to keep them motivated to continuously contribute to the success of your business.

Getting them motivated and on board starts from DAY ONE.

Why onboarding is so important:

1) It builds your company’s REPUTATION for being a thoughtful employer, with great training, clear leadership, and strong organization. Good reputation equals good people wanting to work for you. Nobody wants to work with a company that has unclear goals, no sense of unity, a lack of training, and a haphazard, unorganized environment! First impressions really count here! If this is the first impression a new hire gets, they won’t stay there very long – and will tell everyone all about it.

2) It helps to RETAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES. After investing so much time and money in recruiting the right candidate – why ruin it by letting them down from day one with a poor onboarding program?

3) It REDUCES HIGH TURNOVER COSTS – in terms of both money and time in searching, recruiting, hiring, and training.

4) It gets new employees to REVENUE-PRODUCING LEVELS quickly. Welcome, encourage and nurture employee productivity from the beginning because a long period of struggling to get them up to speed results in productivity loss.

5) It builds a COHESIVE TEAM, therefore raising EVERYONE’S productivity. Once a new hire is up to speed, the whole team moves forward, rather than having to make up for the slack of a slower player.

Below are some basic ideas of what you would want to do to make a new hire feel like he made a great decision to join your company, and to want to stay there. Some things you may find really simple and obvious – but it’s quite surprising how many companies actually don’t do any of them, leaving the new hire to feel lost, uncertain, unmotivated, and frustrated, like my poor candidate back in Tokyo.

Eight Ways to Effectively Get your New Hire Onboard:

1. Clearly WELCOME them on the first day. Greetings and  introductions to everyone (or key colleagues for bigger companies). We often provide a cake with the message “Welcome to the Team!” on the first day for morning or afternoon tea. This is a GREAT and compelling reason to get busy employees away from their desks for a few minutes to chat with their new colleague over cake and coffee. Another good option is to have an informal get-to-know you lunch with colleagues.
2. Even before their first day, give them a written full job description and company manual/policies that clearly explains job responsibilities and goals, outlining what’s expected of them and how they will be assessed. Poor onboarding programs often fail to clearly explain what’s expected of the new employee – with no clear goals or outcomes defined.
3. Set aside a good length of time with no interruptions for the employee to sit with you so that they can ask questions about the job description/company policy that they have already read.
4. Designate a “mentor” to help the new employee during the first couple weeks.
5. Automated onboarding software is the way to go, esp. in larger companies. Administrative things like payroll, healthcare, stock options, sick days, etc. – all those things need to be ready to go.
6. Discuss with the new hire how you’ll be checking in on their progress. Schedule 20-minute meetings for the end of the first day, first week, first month, six weeks, etc. to gain feedback from the employee on their self-assessment and general concerns. Be prepared each time with a      set of questions/checklists to go over.
7. Incorporate a set TRAINING PROGRAM on your company’s products and services. Avoid throwing a new hire into the deep end without giving them sufficient training, no matter how experienced or quick on their feet they are. Of course, this all depends on the nature of the position and the qualifications of the employee, but gauge carefully how much you throw at them without giving them proper training.
8. Have designated workspace all ready with all office supplies provided. You wouldn’t believe how often a new employee is stuck in a cubicle with everyone else’s stuff still in it. Or having to wait for his computer to be networked.

By doing any combination of these, preferably all, you are showing your new employee your commitment to helping them succeed and achieve personal and business goals in their new position and environment. By investing time in getting them onboard quickly and smoothly and making them feel welcome, you are being a thoughtful employer people want to work for and stay with.

Next Action Points:

1) What is your onboard program?

2) How can you improve it?