Meta Description: Do you want employees who feel like a part of the team and are committed to your company’s success? Consider onboarding. Read on to learn how it can help your business.
Any business, no matter how big or small wants an employee who is engaged and capable. As soon as someone joins your team, you want them to feel like they are part of the organization’s dynamic. You need to engage in a new hire onboarding process if you want to ensure your new employee feels comfortable in their new role and to set the tone for a productive work environment. We explore here what employee onboarding is and why it is so critical for business success.
What Is Onboarding?
It is a process by which a business ensures new employees receive training and information to assist them in settling into their new role and becoming effective members of the team.
Onboarding vs. Orientation
Onboarding is different from orientation. Orientation is usually the first step in the onboarding process. It introduces new employees to the company culture, mission, and vision and possibly includes a welcome video from the CEO. Most orientations last a day.
However, onboarding does not end after one day. It begins with the job offer and continues well beyond the probationary period. New hires are integrated into the company through this process. You can ensure that your new hires feel empowered and motivated from the first day by implementing an employee onboarding strategy.
Why Is Onboarding a Key to Success?
An employee is one of the most significant investments your company can make, so you must make sure these investments are worthwhile. Onboarding is an investment in a new hire’s future success. For newcomers to succeed, you have to provide them with the right knowledge, resources, and support. Effective onboarding processes will:
- Help to Ensure Compliance
Compliance programs keep businesses safe. During onboarding, a new employee’s compliance training sets the tone for how he or she will interact with customers and other team members.
The non-standard approach to compliance paperwork cannot be risked, especially because regulators are beefing up their audits of I-9 forms and other employment documents. Do not push the new hire to begin working without completing the compliance procedures of documentation, employee verification, and employment authorization. When organizations neglect the compliance component of onboarding, employee performance suffers.
- Help to Align with an Organization’s Culture
An organization’s culture is determined by its conventions, core beliefs, and goals. People also evaluate job opportunities based on this. By browsing the organization’s website, an employee encounters the organization’s culture for the first time.
A company’s culture does not just describe its attitude; it also describes how its employees interact, cooperate, and generate results. To put it simply, culture is about how it’s like to work here. Onboarding is the company’s opportunity to answer that question.
A first impression can have a lasting impact on the way a relationship develops. By understanding the company’s perspective and what it offers, a new hire can align his or her professional goals with the company’s.
- Increase Engagement and Productivity
Higher revenue and better results are achieved by organizations with more engaged employees. Very few people walk into a new job knowing exactly what to do and how to do it.
You will have the chance to explain core expectations, address ambiguities, and answer questions about what it has to offer as part of the onboarding process. A well-executed onboarding process demonstrates an organization’s commitment to its people, which, in turn, results in engaged employees with a lasting connection to the organization. Additionally, it ensures that they are aware of their responsibilities and their position within the organization.
- Help in Equipping with Needed Tools and Resources
The ability to use the right tools and resources is directly related to how successful new hires will be in their roles. Everything from giving employees the tools they require to establishing a long-term connection with management and leadership is covered in the process. Happy workers are more productive. Nurture a positive work environment to increase employee engagement.
- Help in Reducing Employee Turnover
An organization’s employee retention is also important because high turnover is expensive and problematic. When a worker quits, an organization is drained of energy, time, and resources. As a result, it loses productivity, knowledge, and time. Additionally, there are costs associated with hiring temporary workers, recruiting candidates, and conducting background checks.
Employees leave their jobs for two main reasons: unfulfilled expectations and lack of training. It is important to have a comprehensive onboarding plan because employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous professional development and pays them well. In addition, organizations that invest in effective onboarding procedures save money by retaining their employees.
- Help to Cultivate Collaboration, Mentoring, and Leadership Skills
During the onboarding process, managers can take many concrete steps to foster strong, lasting relationships with employees. An effective onboarding program uses the human element to connect employees, old and new, in an emotional, personal way. Managers may use it to help members of their teams grow, convey institutional knowledge, and sow the seeds for future organizational leaders.
You can also encourage employees to pursue roles within the company instead of looking for new jobs. By introducing the new employee to the “ropes” and other important aspects of the work environment on the first day, awkwardness can be removed. You should not leave your employee on their own if you want your onboarding program to succeed. The mentor can serve as a resource for the new hire to establish relationships with peers and guide, reassure, and reorient them about the team’s culture and vision. Leaders help their employees develop their skills by empathizing with and understanding their skill sets.
HR managers can develop members of the team, pass on institutional knowledge, and contribute to the development of future leaders. When working in such an environment, employees are motivated to pursue responsibilities within the organization rather than seeking other employment opportunities.
- Help to Hold the Managers Accountable
A bad manager can destroy a good team by driving the best employees away and demotivating the rest. Meetings (between managers and employees, or skip-level meetings), especially at the start, serve as indicators of employee satisfaction.
Meetings like these also help create affinity, give employees a voice, and make management accountable. An employer can avoid losing a talented employee and avoid hiring by organizing such meetings.
- Help to Bring Remote Employees on Board
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in remote employment at companies such as online retailers, shipping firms, and communications firms. It is perhaps even more difficult to get remote workers on board. Due to the nature of their work, they are unable to form organic relationships in person and cannot observe office culture. Hence, it is important to support them not only with getting set up to work but also with connecting to the larger company culture from afar.
An organization’s onboarding program can help employees adapt to their new role and work environment, give them the information and tools they need to be successful in their roles, and allow them to become full members of the team.
The Five Cs of Onboarding
When it comes to your organization’s onboarding program, it’s important to follow the five “Cs” to ensure that all of the keys to success are addressed. Compliance, clarification, confidence, connection, and culture make up the five “Cs” of effective onboarding. Where:
- Compliance refers to complying with legal rules and obligations.
- Clarification is the process of ensuring that new employees understand their roles and performance expectations.
- Confidence refers to how much new employees feel like they can do the job well and rise to new challenges. It is a state of mind.
- Connection refers to the feeling of being accepted and valued as a new employee. New employees who feel connected to their colleagues feel encouraged and safe.
- Culture can be defined as how well new employees understand the norms, values, stories, and symbols of their new organization. Onboarding is a crucial part of forming, maintaining, and changing an organization’s culture.
Businesses that focus on the five “Cs” have better onboarding and business outcomes than those that don’t.
The Bottom Line
One of a company’s greatest assets is its employees. If you provide them with encouragement and stimuli and make them feel part of the mission of the company, you can attract and retain the best employees. You can achieve that through a properly planned onboarding process that helps them become productive team members. Since productive employees care equally for their own and the company’s goals, they are more likely to stay with the company. That means onboarding has a significant impact on keeping top people and ensuring your company’s long-term success.
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