Overcoming onboarding hurdles

Onboarding Hurdles

Recruiting and onboarding new employees can be a tiresome if not long-winded exercise. Often recruiters spend large amounts of time interviewing and assessing if that candidate is right for the role and company.  However, many organisations fail to take the candidate one step further and consequently, must repeat the recruitment saga once again. But what is good onboarding? And how do you avoid reoccurring recruitment processes and ensure your early onboarding process is successful?

Onboarding 101

A well-organised onboarding process outlines exactly what a recruit needs to prepare, start and immerse themselves into a new role. This includes any physical assets they need such as equipment, stationary and business cards. Secondly, company documents such as strategies, policies and procedures and the employee handbook. And, most importantly, it includes peer support introductions and line manager identification. 

According to the Center of Generational Kinetics one-third of your new hires will decide if they want to stay at your company long-term within one week of starting the job.  Therefore, pre and post engagement is crucial to retaining staff interest from the moment they have decided to join!

Keeping staff’s interest in their role and in the business is paramount in sustaining employer brand attractiveness. Big brands such as Pepsico are using onboarding apps as a great way to achieve this. Another example of engaging new hires early on is the platform used by Royal Mail – the UK’s renowned myroyalmail.com,

Onboarding checklist

To ensure that your onboarding process is effective, check out our 8-tip guide for engaging and retaining staff, easily and effectively:

1. The aesthetics: Order & prepare new equipment a week before the candidate starts; providing them with exactly what they need from the moment they walk in the door.
2. Policies & procedures 101: prepare a welcome pack with a full 101 of the company background, current policies and procedures, and a checklist of forms which need completing before the end of their first week.
3. The guided tour: Assign a Mentor to the candidate with a full company induction and tour of the building (including facilities!).
4. Company understanding: Make time to go over what the company’s USP’s are, target audience and main objectives.  It may not be relevant to the role but it is pertinent to their overall understanding.
5. Shout out to the team: A new candidate warrants a shout out to the team they are working with and to the entire company. Also, the staff newsletter is a great channel for internal declarations.
6. Staff training & protocol understanding: Ensure the recruit understands the functionality of the tools or systems they will be using, giving clear and concise training and supporting materials.
7. Schedule periodic 1:1’s with line managers: Provide ongoing support from day one.  1:1’s are vital in ensuring the new candidate is settled and comfortable with the new role. In addition, it encourages engagement every step of the way.
8. Inspire & motivate: High staff retention is down to the engagement of your team.  Inspire, motivate and incentivise all members of staff; giving them reason to go above and beyond their role.

Have your say and tweet us @ClearVoiceComms

At ClearVoice Comms, we are experts in delivering employee engagement and communication strategies that inspire your people and transform your business. We influence change through the power of communication to improve your company’s performance. For more information or help with onboarding and retaining staff, call or email us today and let us show you how the power of communication can change your business.