When a newly-hired employee begins their onboarding process, it’s still early days in your fragile relationship with them. So don’t lose the positive momentum you’ve already built through your job ads, social media presence and other hiring steps to date. With the right onboarding, you can solidify that relationship and set your new hire up for long-term success and loyalty to your company.
The Right Onboarding Matters
Your onboarding process should reflect how much you care about your new hire and how committed you are to their professional future. At the same time, it needs to be easy and user friendly. Their transition into your organization and its culture should happen so seamlessly that in hindsight, they won’t even remember where onboarding ended and their “regular” work routine began.
Especially since the pandemic, people’s career direction – like their lives in general – are driven by flexibility, simplicity and convenience. New hires naturally expect the same when they start out in a new role. Without having to spend time searching for information, they want to know your specific company, industry and workplace expectations, and that you’re doing everything possible to integrate them into your team.
- Employees who are positively impacted by their onboarding experience will share highlights on social media and be more likely to post good reviews on Glassdoor and similar sites.
- New employees’ favorable perception of your company and its culture, which you already began to mold earlier on, will be cemented with the right onboarding. And, they’ll be impressed by the effectiveness of your internal communication, having already experienced it first hand.
Some Tips for Effective Onboarding
Your goal during onboarding is for your new hires to attain a strong sense of belonging, self-esteem and confidence, as well as the initial building blocks for long-term loyalty to your business. Keep these tips in mind:
- Use your job ads and career site to clearly explain what new employees can expect from onboarding. The more they know up front, the better.
- Introduce any new tools or systems an employee will be using and, if necessary, provide needed training.
- Explain your company hierarchy so newbies know who to turn to for guidance and support.
- Offer introductory meetings, virtually and in person, so new employees get to know their team members even before Day One on the job.
- Send out necessary paperwork in advance. Nothing dampens the enthusiasm of a first week on the job than spending it filling out forms.
- Also send out detailed information on first-day-of-work steps and expectations, as well as answers to frequently asked questions. And how about a personalized video welcome from a person’s soon-to-be direct supervisor and/or colleagues?
For additional guidance and expertise in building your employer brand, optimizing your job ads or career site, or designing an overall recruitment strategy, consider partnering with Haley Marketing. Marketing for the staffing industry is all we do, and we’ve been producing winning results for more than 25 years. Contact us today to set up a complimentary recruitment marketing review.
