After a long process of finding the right candidate, your job offer has been accepted and the new hire is set to begin next week. While you’ve put a lot of time into the process already, are you prepared for your new hire’s their arrival? According to the Allied Workforce Mobility Survey, many companies don’t feel they are, with only 28% saying they have a successful onboarding program in place. In this post, I look at a few ways to make your new employees feel like part of the team on their first day.
Offer Meet and Greet. Entering a new job, one of the many unknowns for new hires are the people that they’re going to be working with. You should ease this concern as soon as possible by taking them around the building and introducing them to co-workers, supervisors, managers and anyone else they may deal with on a daily basis. Ideally, all of these meetings should be done on a one-on-one basis. This way, the employee gets to know each person individually and isn’t overwhelmed by an entire group of people.
PREMIUM CONTENT: Temporary worker awareness and use of staffing firm websites and apps
Prepare Workspace. It doesn’t get much worse than when a new employee gets to their work area and nothing is ready for them. It is crucial to make sure that your employee has all the tools and resources to step into their role and contribute. Because it takes an average of eight months for new employees to match the productivity of tenured employees, you’ll want to make sure assignments are provided as soon as possible.
Allow for Q&A. The back-and-forth communication between employer and employee will take up the bulk of the onboarding process. The new employee will have questions about the job and company and you’ll want to make sure that you are able to give those answers. Then from your end, you’ll want to relay the important information as an understanding of the company culture or the impact their position will have on the organization. By allowing them see where they fit and providing them with goals, you’ll set them up for a successful future with your company.
The overarching message that should be taken from this blog is that communication is key to any onboarding process. If you invest the time and resources to build a successful program, you’ll limit turnover, increase productivity and save money in the long run.
MORE: Find and engage candidates — even inactive ones
