One may say that onboarding is a vital process that gets the ball rolling for the overall tenure your recruits will have with your organization. It is not all about paperwork and introducing them to the workspace; rather, a well-designed onboarding program lays the foundation for long-term success, engagement, and retention.
Undeniably, a lot more critical in nature, creating an engaging onboarding experience has become a lot more important than ever. If well executed, onboarding can make recruits feel welcomed and set them up to make meaningful contributions toward the attainment of the organization’s objectives.
This has proved to be a hard test for many organizations in real life. Learn how to create a fun, engaging onboarding program in five steps that set your new employees up for success.
1. Start Before Day One
Onboarding should start way in advance of day one of the new hire. Enter “pre-boarding”: a great opportunity to make that fabulous first impression and get them pumped about coming to work with you.
You can also send a welcome package with personalized gifts like custom pens, a personal note from their manager, and any paperwork or information they might need to get up and running from day one.
You can even invite them into an online community where they can introduce themselves, ask questions, and get to know their new team. Thus, if you elevate employee onboarding experience, it creates a seamless and engaging transition that sets up long-term success.
2. Personalize the Experience
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all effective onboarding program. Each new hire will bring different needs, skills, and backgrounds into the equation, which requires creating an experience toward each specific need of each individual.
First, understand the details of the role and responsibilities and any past work experience that they have. That way, you can reasonably understand what knowledge gaps or attention they bring with them.
Then, formulate an onboarding plan that could offer personalization of what they need so you can set them up for success. For example, a newly hired salesperson with industry experience is more productively oriented to the company’s products and services and the sales process.
Consider hands-on training and mentorship if you want to onboard a new college software developer into your tech stack and development workflows. Consider the learning style and preference that this new employee would have.
While some will get the best out of a strictly formal, structured training environment, others would fancy it if it were barely informal and collaborative. Tailor the onboarding to each person’s needs and experiential preferences to let them know you value them and are interested in their success for the long haul.
3. Set Clear Goals and Expectations
A well-designed onboarding program should provide an overview from the very beginning of what is expected regarding specific goals that shall be communicated to the new hire. In this way, the employee will specifically know what they will be expected to do on board and what the organization expects in return.
Start with some key milestones and objectives you would want this new person to achieve within 30, 60, and 90 days. These could be items such as, but are not limited to:
- Complete all required training and certification programs
- Familiarizing oneself with the company’s products, services, and workflows
- Relationship-building with key stakeholders and team members
- Demonstrating competence in their respective roles
- Aligning personal goals and objectives to the objectives of the larger organization
Also, clearly outline the expectations around work hours, communication protocols, and performance reviews. Clearly outline the company policies and procedures that they will be expected to follow.
Such transparency instills confidence in a new hire that they will be able to meet your expectations and contribute to the success of the team.
4. Create a Structured Schedule
All new hires must understand how everything fits into the big picture via an onboarding schedule. The lack thereof makes an already disjointed and overwhelming experience even more daunting, depleting the new hire’s confidence and enthusiasm.
Begin by outlining a specific schedule for the new employee’s first weeks, including formal training sessions, individualized meetings, group socialization, and hands-on learning opportunities.
Make time to complete paperwork, get them settled at the workstation, and familiarize them with the office. Timing onboarding activities: Consider what time of day/week will result in the most productive engagement.
Plan more intensive training sessions early in the week and save the end of the week for social events or team outings.
5. Make it Interactive and Engaging.
While effective onboarding programs could be even more informative, their ultimate objective is to create interactive experiences that allow new hires to feel they are going through a process in which they will take ownership and become excited about their role.
One way this is done is through a variety of learning modalities being incorporated, for example:
- Interactive presentation/workshop
- Hands-on, simulation-based training
- Peer-to-peer learning and mentorship opportunities
- The virtual or augmented reality experience
- Gamification elements, such as quizzes or scavenger hunts
That way, you will cover different learning styles and motivate the new hire throughout the onboarding process with different learning activities.
Final Thoughts
An adequately designed onboarding program, appealing yet effective, is critical in giving new employees a sense of welcome, equipping them, and making them excited to apply all their talents toward the success of an organization.
If you set your journey in the best possible direction by following the five steps highlighted in this guide, you will be well on your way to creating an onboarding process that sets your new employees up for success.