Delight your employees with these 4 onboardig tips

According to Glassdoor, strong onboarding processes can improve new hire retention by 82%! Since onboarding has such a strategic impact on the business, it's essential for businesses to button up this crucial program that helps new hires and in turn your organization succeed. Wondering what to consider while building out an effective onboarding program? Consider the following 4 points to create an effective onboarding process that helps retain new hires.

High Touch

Everyone likes to be pampered with a little extra attention especially when you are joining a new company after toiling through the job search process! The one thing that new hires love most is having multiple touch points not just during onboarding, but before a new hire joins your company (pre-boarding).

• Send frequent emails about what to expect on their first day/week prior to joining the company
• Once a new hires joins, ensure they have ample touch points with hiring managers throughout the first 90 days

Build Rapport & Camaraderie

The onboarding program opens the door for the new hire to experience the company culture and form their first (and usually lasting) impression about the company. Help new hires validate their decision of joining your company, by facilitating numerous conversations with stakeholders, leaders and colleagues who embody the cultural values of your company.

• Create an immersive experience where the new hire gets to witness first hand the culture of the company, be it company all hands, ice-breaker sessions, donut- chats in slack, ERG meetings, fun events etc.
• List out the names of stakeholders & team mates the new hire should meet in their first 2-4 week time frame, that will help them solidify these key stakeholder relationships.
• Help the new hire get in touch with your skip level manager, and other business leaders (even if they are not key stakeholders for the new hire’s role) to make them feel valued and help them understand the leadership vision for the company and their respective teams
• Set up the new hire with a “buddy” who can help them get settled in their new role and answer common questions

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Define goals and expectations

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One of the biggest mistakes company’s make with their onboarding program is failing to define goals and OKRs for the new hire. Although you might think setting up goals for new hires during the onboarding process is premature, failing to do so, risks the new hire feeling unvalued and directionless. Most new hires are often ready to jump into the full swing of work and prove their mettle. Setting goals and defining expectations for new hires, will help set them up for success:

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• Define OKRs that the new hire will be responsible for in the first 3 months etc.
• Let the new hire run with key initiatives or projects that will help achieve a strategic OKR for the team/company
• Setup project completion milestones for the new hire to use as guideposts for a larger deliverable

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Provide resources and tools to achieve goals

As important as it is to define goals and metrics to measure new hire success, it's more important to provide the resources and tools that will equip the new hire to succeed in their endeavors.

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• List out the systems/ training or internal employees who can help the new hire with their goals
• Have an open door policy, where the new hire can reach out to hiring managers and stakeholders at any point to unblock themselves
• Create a culture of transparency and trust which will allow the new hire to voice concerns, share opinions and feedback.

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