We at CareerNation all know how much time, energy, and resources can go into the hiring process. According to LinkedIn, only 30% of companies are able to fill a vacant role within 30 days. I’m sure those who do not use the services of staffing/recruiting agencies also know when you and your team finish sifting and sifting through resumes, interviewing candidate after candidate, and you finally found that person who is just right for your organization, oh the feeling, there is nothing like it.  

Now that you have invited someone in, you need to make them feel at home, right? Ron Carucci, author featured on HBR who wrote an article on employee retention found that,  

“the most effective organizations onboard new hires for the duration of their first year — their most vulnerable period — and focus on three key dimensions: the organizational, the technical, and the social. By using this integrated approach, they enable their employees to stay, and to thrive.” (Ron Carucci, “To Retain New Hires, Spend More Time Onboarding Them;” Harvard Business Review) 

If you truly believe the employee is a good fit, you want to make sure they know their work environment is somewhere they can grow and improve upon themselves, as well as be of value to the organization.  Carucci, who also happens to be co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, believes there are three key parts of the onboarding process to consider: the organizational, the technical, and the social. Others approach onboarding by just looking at the organizational and social aspect.  

No matter how it is categorized, the common goal is to make employees feel welcome, comfortable, ready to work, and be able to contribute to your company’s mission faster. Below are different tips taken from a group of experts from different sources to give you some helpful suggestions that you can incorporate in a successful onboarding process. 

• “New hires, in partnership with their manager, should identify 7-10 people — superiors, peers, direct reports, and internal and external customers — whose success they will contribute to, or who will contribute to their success.… In addition to stakeholder cultivation, building social capital with teammates on a daily basis helps build camaraderie and trust. When new hires feel accepted and welcomed, they are less likely to feel like the new kid on the block.”  –Ron Carucci 
• “Help the new employee understand the firm’s culture – The norms, values, and unwritten rules that create the firm’s identity in the marketplace.” – Dave Ulrich 
• “There is a list of formal and informal procedures, norms, behaviors a new hire needs to learn in a new job and inside of a new culture. During this transition period, managers can provide support by purposefully introducing new hires into the workplace culture, by offering timely and constructive feedback, by providing context for the WHY of things as well as by educating on the HOW.” – Sesil Pir 
• “Never forget that you’re onboarding a human being who you want to get started doing the work that you hired them to do as quickly as possible. Therefore, employee onboarding should be organized, concise, and begin prior to their arrival on day one.”- Debra Swersky 
• “Formal orientation programs help new employees understand many important aspects of their jobs and organizations, including the company’s culture and values, its goals and history, and its power structure. Orientation programs also serve a social role, helping newcomers feel welcome by introducing them to their co-workers and other individuals within the organization.” – Talya N. Bauer 
• “Gratitude, check-ins and making people feel like their contributions matter are all great ways to ensure that your new hires feel seen and heard and it costs you nothing.” – Lori Almeida 
• “There should be a balance between welcoming the employee to the organization and having an organized, planned orientation that provides the necessary foundation of information to set the employee up for success. This includes a warm welcome, a structured introduction of relevant information along with having the employee’s workstation, computer, phone and passwords all set up ahead of time.” – Susan Ways 
• “Everyone needs to understand their role and responsibilities in onboarding. A checklist, supported by accompanying resources, provides a roadmap to the onboarding journey – and ensures consistent onboarding experiences for all new employees.” – Gregg Lindberg 

If that was not enoiugh to convince you to improve your onboarding process, did you know that unfilled roles don’t just impact productivity, but also have a negative effect on the morale of colleagues that are left to pick up the slack? As an employee or employer, you know the overall environment in the workplace impacts how well people work, which in turn effects profits. And we all want our firm to be the most profitable it can be, right? It starts with finding and retaining the right people for your mission.  

Citations: 

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/Documents/Onboarding-New-Employees.pdf 

(Talya N. Bauer, Ph.D; Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success) 

https://hbr.org/2018/12/to-retain-new-hires-spend-more-time-onboarding-them 

(Ron Carucci; December 03, 2018 ;To Retain New Hires, Spend More Time Onboarding Them) 

 Written by:

Marusya Madubuko