Growing your company with new employees is an exciting time. This means you want to do a better job meeting your clients' needs and the company is doing well enough to grow. Here are suggestions to make employee onboarding efficient and effective without overwhelming your Human Resources team or the new employee.
Before their first day, communicate the new hire to their team and anyone else who will interact with them. The communication can happen at staff meetings, via email or any other means that make sense. Share the details of the employee's role, how/if the job responsibilities will be different moving forward and how the employee's skills and talents will enhance the role. This will help the team feel comfortable with how this will affect them now or in the future. It could even build excitement for the team to welcome and mentor the new team member. And when they start, display a little fanfare to show your excitement about their arrival.
Inevitably, the new hire will have gaps in their knowledge and skills. Identify these gaps so they are incorporated in their training. Meet the new employee where they are, knowing that some of their skills will be transferable or should be stronger to meet the job responsibilities.
Creating a detailed training plan will lead to quicker success for the employee. We use Asana to manage this process for our new hires. We have specific tasks to be completed by a due date, and we assign a team member to those tasks to follow up. We also keep notes about the process along the way which we incorporate for future employees.
During the training process, keep in mind that we all learn differently and incorporating visual, auditory and tactile techniques will be helpful. Our team utilizes the Kolbe personality test during the hiring process, so when we hire someone we already have an idea of which learning formats will engage that employee.
An obvious but critical component of training is ensuring your new employee has the tools and equipment needed on Day One like a laptop, phone, office supplies, etc. We have a dedicated person on our team who handles this for our new employees and that person knows when, how and what to provide.
Although it seems obvious, remember every person has their experiences and history before coming to your company. Their habits and behaviors can benefit or hinder success. Cultivating positive habits and behaviors will work wonders, as will addressing those that need redirection.
Don't assume your new employee knows how you want things done. Invest time and effort to clearly and consistently explain processes and expectations to create efficiency and prevent misunderstandings. This will require more time and energy upfront, but the investment will pay off in the long run.
Ideally, your search process attracts applicants who embrace change. Be watchful for signs that an employee is struggling with this and be willing to cut ties sooner than later. On the other hand, listen for and consider insights and ideas from the employee who has a fresh set of eyes on the company and its processes.
Schedule regular check-ins and conversations with the new hire to ensure they are getting the support and information they need. Moreover, make sure you are both aligned on priorities and deadlines and possible adjustments to both. You don't want a new employee to feel like an island, especially a deserted island.
Make every effort to focus on the new employee as an individual. Their performance should be your focus and any mention of a former employee, positive or negative, is counterproductive.
Building confidence and momentum with your employee can lead to their success. The onboarding process is like a marathon, not a sprint. Rather than working through a long To Do list, focus on two to four critical wins each week that are a bit challenging but attainable. Bite size chunks of success each week will create confidence and momentum for the following week versus a To Do firehose that may feel like drowning.
Make the time to define what success looks like so there is no ambiguity about expectations. This is beneficial to the employee and enables them to know their target. And when success is achieved, celebrate it. Recognizing and applauding success encourages more success, and therefore, employee confidence and momentum.
During the onboarding process, infuse the company culture and beliefs into training schedules and activities. You'll want to include how the company values shape your organization's strategy, structure, systems and skills. Your embrace of the company's core beliefs should be reflected in your daily work life and will serve as an example to the employee.
Encourage the employee to attend and participate in team and company-wide activities which also serve as a culture conduit. It's easy to get caught up in the hard work, but engaging with teammates in a group activity supports employee morale, connectedness and strengthens culture.
Onboarding a new employee successfully requires an immense amount of time. To prepare for the process, clear time on your calendar, and if it isn't needed, you'll be gifted with time to grab coffee or get ahead on the next training topic.
In addition, get others involved in the onboarding pie. The more people who take a training slice, the more welcomed and integrated the employee will feel. This will also serve as an example of your leadership, demonstrating your commitment to teamwork and confidence in your team.
Lastly, surround yourself with the support you will need throughout the process. This is a time consuming process if done well, so you should prioritize and ask for help when you need it which also shows your leadership strength. This could be especially helpful with your "normal" workload which will likely be affected.
Chances are your new hire will feel like the "new kid" in class. How you bring that "new kid" into the fold could be the difference between their excitement about this opportunity and doubt about their decision to join your team. Your goal is to make the employee feel they made the best decision.
You want your new employee to feel welcomed and excited about working for your company. Every interaction, training, experience and conversation is a brick in building the employee's company home. Your employee onboarding process can do this if it's done with intention, planning and organization. You've got this!