Samar Birwadker — April 1, 2019 — April 1, 2019
Finally, you’ve made it! After going through hundreds of resumes, screening applicants, and conducting interviews, you’ve selected a candidate that is the best fit for your organization. After managing through extensive hiring efforts, you think that the hard part is done, but sadly, it’s not.
Welcoming your new hire into your organization is a critical component in making sure that they feel welcomed and supported during the first couple of months of being in their new role. Without a proper onboarding experience, 25% of employees are likely to leave their newly appointed position within a year. To prevent that, HR managers need to ensure that new employees’ onboarding experience is smooth, productive, and as welcoming as possible.
To improve employee productivity, retention, and engagement, every company should have an effective, yet fun onboarding experience for new employees. About 25% of companies stated that their onboarding program doesn’t include any form of training. Check out the top four tips you need to get your onboarding process off in the right direction.
Give a Friendly Introduction
During the first day on the job, it’s essential for new employees to get to know the people that they’ll be working with on a constant basis. A supervisor or manager should take a new employee on a tour of the company so that they are familiar with their new workplace. The first day can be overwhelming, so don’t throw a bunch of names to them at once. In some cases, it may beneficial to provide new employees with a look book of coworkers and their roles. Don’t forget to shoot a message throughout your departments in welcoming your new employee.
Be Transparent
Here’s a scenario for you: Would you rather walk into your new job blind, having no idea of what will go on or what you’ll be doing? Or would you like to be prepared and aware of what to expect after getting a detailed plan of expectations? Most likely you’d go with the second option. After all, no one likes to be blindsided! On the first day, new hires expect to know what’s going on regarding their role. When onboarding training starts, let them know what the plan is right from the get-go.
Find Balance
Sitting through weeks and weeks of training doesn’t sound like fun, right? Training doesn’t have to be long and tedious. If you can make it short and sweet while still giving new employees the information they need to succeed in their job, then do it. Of course, training will continue months, even years down the line, once new employees have entered into their new role, but initial onboarding training is meant for new employees to become familiar with the company and the expectations and duties of their new role.
Make it Fun
We get it, onboarding training is often… well, boring. For most of the day, new employees have to sit in a room and listen to someone talk about what to expect in their new role and workplace expectations. But that doesn’t mean onboarding has to consist of hours and hours of lectures and PowerPoints. There are various things you can do to make onboarding a fun experience for new employees. About 53% of HR professionals stated that employee engagement rises when onboarding is improved. Make it fun by hosting a special lunch, a scavenger hunt, or a new hire happy hour. Use this time to make a great first impression and let your new employees know you made the right decision.
Fun Onboarding Ideas:
- Company Lunch– Depending on your company, food can be a huge part of your company culture. If so, having an off-site lunch could be ideal for new employees. Venture out on a food excursion or have new employees choose their favorite restaurant or cuisine to have others learn more about them.
- Scavenger Hunt– Honestly, who doesn’t like a good old fashioned scavenger hunt? Get your company together and break into teams or send new employees out on a scavenger hunt throughout the office. Hide various clues and objects throughout the company and have them find it. Offer rewards and incentives such as gift cards or company gear in completing the hunt.
- New Employee Trivia– What better way to really get to know your new employees than with trivia? Trivia can be a great opportunity to get to know new hires and their interests by testing their knowledge about your industry, your company, pop culture and more.
- Various Ice Breaker Games– There are so many games you can play with new hires to give them a cool onboarding experience that they will never forget. Games such a Two Truths and Lie, Would You Rather and Lost on a Deserted Island are great icebreakers for new hires.
When it comes to onboarding new talent, you want your new employees to have the best experience possible. Furthermore, you want to ensure that you are providing the right tools and technology to further improve their skills moving forward. At Good&Co, we strive to empower employers with information to make better, more informed decisions that will strengthen your employees’ skills. By applying psychometric assessments onto your onboarding process, HR professionals can create a personalized onboarding experience for new hires so that they are effectively integrated into their new roles. Utilizing psychometric testing at the core, Good&Co Pro allows talent management teams to gain valuable insight into the new talent’s personality. Within minutes, you’ll be able to assess individuals’ strengths and weaknesses and uncover opportunities to develop and coach employees to improve overall performance effectiveness moving forward.
Investing the right tools to personally develop new employees’ skills can add serious value to your organization by increasing engagement, productivity, and performance. So, if you’re ready to drive your bottom-line results with the best talent management strategies, it’s time to get onboard.
This article was originally published here.
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