At eQ, one of my passions is making sure each and every new employee has a proper onboarding and training. Generally, new hires will make the decision if a company is right for them within their first 90 days. As employers, think of it in terms of: you only have 90 days to make a good impression. You want to make sure the new hire feels they are equipped with the best onboarding possible.
As any new employee walks into a new company for their first day, it is hard not be a ball of nerves. However, an effective onboarding plan will help ease most new hire nerves because the company has taken the time to think through their onboarding plan. It might sound easy, but I am continually shocked by the number of companies that lose good employees due to a complete lack of training or onboarding for new hires. An effective onboarding will help a new hire start to feel more immersed into their job with a sense of purpose sooner.
Our comprehensive onboarding guides provide a tremendous benefit to new employees. It is said; the most important part of any house is its foundation, which is exactly what onboarding does for employees. It creates a solid foundation for them to launch into their new career. When we have implemented effective onboardings we have heard:
• New hires gain a sense of security and clarity in their role faster, within a shorter period of time, due to a pre-existing plan in place.
• He or she learns the teammates they work with faster and better, because they receive training from their peerTrainings.
• New employees obtain a stronger sense of the job (outside of just being told in an interview) and are able to start doing the job faster and more effectively.
• New hires are not awkwardly sitting at their desks waiting to do something, or asking nearby teammates/managers what to do.
With all of this in mind, it is still possible to have a poor onboarding. Just because you have a process does not guarantee it will be a successful onboarding. There are a few key steps we implement in our guides every time to ensure our employees have the best possible experience. Here is how we create a kick-ass onboarding kit:
• Be Proactive! Make a daily schedule of what your new hire should be doing and learning in the first few weeks. Yes, it can be time consuming, but what it does do is create an immediate expectation of where your new employee should be, learning, seeing, and doing. It keeps them on point every step of the way.
Pro Tip: Use an employee’s picture, not just their name so that the new hire knows what the other teammates look like. We have found this is incredibly helpful for new employees to get to know their new co-workers and adds a nice personal touch to the guide.• Develop a list of items and documents that are essential to a new hires employee life cycle. These are items like: an employee handbook, emergency contact forms, list of active clients, FAQ’s, brand guides, and any other reading materials that will be helpful to learn in the first few weeks.
• Plan out what a new hire should be doing, feeling, and saying by day 30, 60, and 90 with the company. These can be things like starting to complete tasks by themselves, running full meetings, or content publishing.
Onboarding is essential to the success of your employees, and a thoroughly executed one will prevent you from experiencing the very real costs of a bad hire. By guaranteeing your employees have a positive experience while training and being brought up to speed you can eliminate many of the employee’s lingering concerns about your organization.
As a Talent Consultant, Jonna Faulise focuses on finding the right candidates to fit our clients’ needs. She works with our clients to understand the exact skills and attributes that would fit with the cultural climate and their environment.
