If you aren’t doing a stellar job at onboarding recruits, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
Why?
Because a robust onboarding experience can torpedo attrition and get new hires up to speed in double-quick time.
Need proof?
- A whopping 69 percent of staffers are more likely to run with a company for at least three years if they have a slamdunk onboarding process.
- Also, a well-executed onboarding can crank up employee performance by 11 percent.
Good news—
You’re a quick scroll down away from learning how to onboard new hires like a pro.
Strap in.
Pour Some Rocket Fuel on Pre-Onboarding
Here’s the thing—
Before a recruit arrives, you need to prep the scene.
Otherwise, you’ll spin the wheels trying to ad-hoc organize things and dent the experience from the get-go.
Here’s how:
First, shoot an email to a new hire with first-day agenda, place, arrival time, and documents to bring (e.g., social security, bank account details.)
It will keep him in the know on what to expect from the first day.
Second, never have a new person start his first day at 9 AM. Instead, have him come in at 11.
Why?
It’ll give you and the team enough time to rip through email and get everything ready for a new person to arrive.
Next, get the new digs ready. It’ll ensure a new hire doesn’t have to scavenger hunt for supplies and wait until 3 PM to get his laptop.
What should a new hire packet include?
Standard items include a laptop, monitor, notebook, and pens.
Last but not least, consider providing a welcome package before a new employee gets into the office.
According to research, the human touch drives onboarding success. Plus, powerhouses like Salesforce and Uber do it.
Here are some ideas for a welcome swag:
- Branded T-shirt
- Coffee mug
- Tote bag
- Congratulations letter signed by the whole team.
Want more? Check this guide for solid ideas and examples.
Come up with an Onboarding Roadmap
How long does it take to onboard a new employee?
Figure things out on your own.
When new hires hear it, you can toss your hopes to build a stellar onboarding experience atop a blazing fire.
So—
Always have an onboarding roadmap in place. Here’s what you need to know:
- What a new hire’s upcoming 90 days (typical onboarding timeframe) will look like on a day-to-day basis.
- Who a new person will meet and what topics they’ll discuss.
- Who will intro a newcomer to the company policies, culture, vision, mission, and values.
- Who will do an in-depth role and responsibilities discussion.
- Who will fill them in on how your business operates.
Important: New hires want managers to show them the ropes vs. HR. So don’t delegate onboarding.
Now—
It might not seem like rocket science to put together a roadmap like that, but it requires a ton of coordinated effort from different people.
So—it makes sense to create a structured process and use a collaboration/organization tool like Trello.
What’s great about it?
As Piotr Sosnowski, Head of HR and Co-Founder at Zety, puts it,
Trello gives recruits a feel for the upcoming day/week/month and ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
With Trello, you can create to-do cards (tasks to complete), assign other staffers, list helpful links, guides, docs, contact info of people they might need help from, etc.
Once a new hire completes a task, he can move it to Done, so everyone is on the page.
Pro tip: Don’t let a new hire sweat too much during his first week. Let him rip through a resource library with training documents and processes to get a feel for the role without growing overwhelmed. Once is the first week is finished, stick to a robust a 90-day onboarding plan.
Intro a Buddy Hire Program
Here’s a mind-numbing stat:
An average staffer isn’t fully productive until the fifth or sixth month. That’s like buying a Ferrari only to realize it doesn’t go faster than 30 mph for six months.
Good news?
You can help recruits get up to speed faster if you let them shadow a peer.
First, it’s what new employees want.
Second, it’ll help unleash their productivity.
They will watch a seasoned staffer power through tasks and processes and will be able to get real-time answers to their questions.
Need proof it’ll work?
Google introduced a Buddy Hire Program and improved onboarding results by a whopping 25 percent.
So—
Always match recruits with an experienced buddy and see productivity go through the roof.
Stick to Task Relevant Maturity (TRM)
The name doesn’t roll off the tongue, I know.
But—
The concept behind TRM is Boeing-jet-engine kind of powerful.
In his book on High Output Management, Andy Groove (Intel’s cofounder) argues you should be either hands-on or off based on employee’s experience within a role.
That means recruits need a ton of attention and support to get up to speed (see the chart below.)
So—
First, check-in with a recruit every day during the first week (10-15 minutes each day will do the trick.)
Next, set up a recurring, weekly 30-45 min 1:1 meeting with a new hire for the entire onboarding period (90 days).
Being hands-on will help you keep the finger on the pulse and clear potential roadblocks.
Take Onboarding to the Max
I loved my onboarding.
That what you want your employees to say. To get there, you need to continually solicit feedback from recruits and improve your onboarding experience.
How?
With onboarding surveys at the end of 30, 60, and 90 days. They’ll help pinpoint bottlenecks and streamline processes.
Here some questions you can ask:
- On a scale of one to 10, how satisfied are you with your job so far?
- Do you have a clear idea about the expectations we have for you?
- Do you feel you have all the tools and resources you need to do your job well?
- On a scale of one to 10, how welcome do you feel in the team?
- Is there anything we could change to improve the onboarding process?
- Name one thing you didn’t like about your onboarding.
- On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate your onboarding experience?
- Which part of the onboarding process has been the most useful so far?
So—What Do You Think?
There you have it.
A whopping five tips for a stellar onboarding experience.
Now—
How do you onboard recruits? Do you welcome new hires with a welcome package or you feel it’s overkill?
Let me know in the comments. I’d love to chat!