The 5 Essentials of New Hire Onboarding

With so many companies hiring, and a limited candidate pool, we are currently experiencing an incredibly tight candidate-driven talent market. It is harder than ever to recruit someone to a company because of all the opportunities available. In light of this, if you have successfully recruited someone to your company, it is more important than ever to do a great job of onboarding. A new hire’s first impression of your company will stay with them, whether good or bad, for their entire employment with you. Because of this, it better be good. These are the essentials of new hire onboarding… 

A Warm Welcome

Creating a welcoming environment is your number one priority. People want to know that they are valued the minute they walk in the door. You can communicate this value by giving welcoming gifts, a letter from your CEO, a decorated office, or many other ways of showing intentional care. This environment of welcome should last at least through their first week of employment, through their first team meeting, and really throughout their entire tenure with your company. Having a welcoming culture can be in the difference between long-term employee satisfaction or a high turnover rate.

 View The Big Picture

You’re onboarding should include intentional time looking at your company from a big picture of you. People want to see the wide-angle view of what your company does, the mission of your company, and what part they will play in that big picture. But before you show them their part, they need to understand from a high-level how their job will contribute to the company success. 

My Part of the Puzzle

New hires of course need to know their part of the puzzle. This is where companies spend the majority of on boarding because it’s training on their specific job. A part of this training should include introductions to everyone they will relate to and outlined specific training on what their first day and normal workday should look like. 

What Success Looks Like

As a part of their individual role, the onboarding process should include a review of their key performance indicators (KPIs). New hires want clear guidelines on what success should look like. It should be clear how their success is tied to departmental and company success and how their personal compensation (and job stability) may change based on low performance to high performance.

This is a Team

In addition to introductions within their work group a new hire should be introduced to the entire team at some point early on. If a company is over 100 employees, a new hire should be introduced to everyone they will report to and be given an opportunity to introduce themselves to the larger group at a company event, whether staff meeting or social event. New hires should know who to go to with questions or problems for 99% of the issues they will face. 

These are the essential elements you will need for successful on boarding process. What else should we include in this list?

By Bob Sutton