With talented employees being in huge demand and turnover a growing problem, onboarding is more important than ever.
Regardless of company size or industry, onboarding is one of the most important parts of the employee experience. A well-structured and engaging onboarding program sets employees up for success, allowing them to attain peak productivity in less time. On the other hand, done poorly, it can increase turnover and become a major financial drain on your business.
Onboarding has never been particularly easy. It’s a process that includes a lot of moving parts, such as logistics, employee training, enrollment in benefits, and team-building activities. Today’s remote and hybrid work environments add further complexity to the process. After all, it’s inherently more difficult to provide a consistent onboarding experience and preserve company culture everyone is working in different places, at different times, and on different devices.
Despite these new challenges, employee expectations haven’t changed. If anything, they’ve increased, as the ongoing Great Resignation suggests. As a result, employers find themselves facing ever-greater pressures to boost employee engagement and, in doing so, hold onto the best talent. Onboarding is fundamental to those broader goals.
Here’s what you need to be doing to make sure it works:
Focus on building trust and commitment
Onboarding begins right after the final decision to hire a specific candidate has been made. It exists to motivate and engage the new hire by attuning them with your business culture and their new roles. Many onboarding programs focus primarily on formal processes like training and enrollment in benefits. However, while these are undeniably important, trust and commitment must always be the main drivers. This is especially important in the era of remote work, where it is harder, and yet even more important, to promote social connection. A successful remote onboarding program will help new hires feel comfortable in their place of work, and that’s a key ingredient for high morale, productivity, and engagement.Build a structured training program
Training is, of course, a major part of onboarding. It’s during the first weeks or months that the employee will come to understand the business and its values and culture, and how to be successful their role. In remote environments, it’s vital to give hires the means to collaborate over training programs and strike a good balance between self-paced learning and learning on-the-clock. Moreover, training should be structured, strictly role-based, and centered around a robust network of support and collaboration.
New hires will have plenty of questions and concerns, address them by providing the right support.
Provide reliable managerial support
Managerial support is vital in any onboarding process, especially during the first few months. New hires will no doubt have plenty of questions and concerns, which must be addressed as quickly as possible. As such, they should always have a point of contact, an assigned coach within the team with whom the new hire should have regular meetings to assess their progress, create a sense of belonging, and address any problems they might be facing. For HR leaders, supporting new hires is arguably even more important than looking for new applicants.Review and refine on a regular basis
Given today’s dynamic and disruptive market environment, businesses must always be ready to adapt to change. Onboarding is no exception. Processes should be regularly reviewed and redefined in order to adapt to new needs and expectations. This is another reason why you need regular meetings to ensure your onboarding processes are going in the right direction.
With a robust onboarding plan, empowered by collaborative cloud technologies, organizations can accelerate time to productivity, enhance core role competencies, build job-specific skills, and ensure a successful integration with the team.
Coreteam helps enterprises get more out of their Workday deployments with tailored success plans and dependable guidance. Contact us today to start transforming your business.