Properly onboarding your employees increases employee engagement, performance, and productivity. This process also elevates job satisfaction, employee morale, and retention rates.

Your onboarding process helps new hires integrate into their job and your company. Onboarding also facilitates building relationships between new hires and other employees so they remain long-term.

How you handle onboarding impacts the employee experience. What happens during a new hire’s first few days and months affects whether the new hire stays with your organization. As a result, your onboarding process should last for at least a year for maximum results.

Follow these guidelines to properly onboard your employees.

Engage in Pre-Onboarding

Pre-onboarding begins when a candidate accepts a job offer. You help your new hire complete the necessary paperwork.

The pre-onboarding phase is typically the most sensitive time for your new hire. They have a lot to do to prepare for their transition between companies. Therefore, you should provide adequate time to finish with their current organization and start working for your company.

Be transparent about your company policies regarding the work environment, scheduling, and employee leave. Also, answer your new hire’s questions to provide a foundation for long-term success.

Begin Orientation

Welcome your new hire on their first day of work. Start introducing them to colleagues and coworkers they will be working with.

Share information about your company’s mission, vision, and values. Include how your employees carry out your organization’s culture.

Talk about attendance, timekeeping, and taking time off. Also, discuss the company’s health insurance plan, retirement plan, and other benefits.

Show your new hire where the break room, meeting room, and restrooms are. Also, answer questions as they come up.

Introduce Job-Specific Training

Encourage your new hire’s manager to begin showing your new employee how to handle their job duties and responsibilities. Include the expectations for quality and productivity and how success will be measured.

Share specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound (SMART) goals for your new hire. Include when your new employee will have their first performance review to see how they are doing. This review typically is 1-3 months from their start date.

Consider blending on-the-job training with quizzes, tests, small tasks, and brainstorming to evaluate your new hire’s learning and acclimate them to their job. Include a list of routine tasks, first-year goals, stretch goals, and key performance indicators so your new employee understands what they are working toward and will be evaluated on.

Prioritize Team Building

Ask your new hire’s manager to organize activities for your new employee to get to know their team members. Supporting strong relationships encourages your employees to stay with your organization.

Pair your new hire with a seasoned team member who can help with training, answering questions, and providing support. Having a teammate to turn to helps your new employee feel comfortable as they begin learning and producing.

Do You Need Help with Onboarding?

Breaking down your onboarding process into pre-onboarding, orientation, job training, and team building helps with properly onboarding your employees. Effectively carrying out your onboarding process leads to strong employee engagement, job satisfaction, and retention.

If you need help to properly onboard your employees, get in touch with Arlington Resources. Contact us today.