5 simple steps for successful employee onboarding

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When you find the right candidate for a role, you want to make sure they’re going to stay.

Whether you were lucky enough to find someone quickly or you’ve had a lengthier search, the recruitment process will have had a cost implication for your business, and ensuring that you retain this talented individual requires more than a few signatures on a contract.

Onboarding is essentially the modern buzzword for the induction process. It starts as early as the recruitment stage and should last for anything up to a year – after all, joining a new company and settling into the job can involve a large learning curve. The benefits of a good onboarding process are many:

• your new recruit is less likely to leave in the first few weeks (so avoiding more time/money spent on recruitment)
• greater employee engagement
• improved productivity
• positive impact on your company’s bottom line

Here are our 5 top tips for how you can successfully integrate your new employee into your business:

1. Prior to starting
Get all the paperwork sorted quickly as this will give your employee confidence that things are happening and that they really do have a job to go to. If there are opportunities to build relationships before they start, invite the person along to social events where they can meet colleagues in a relaxed environment. At the very least, you should make sure that team members and any other key stakeholders are aware that there is to be a new starter and what their role is to be in the onboarding process.

2. Day one
A clean and tidy desk, a computer that works and if necessary a set of business cards all give a positive first impression and will make your new employee feel welcome and expected. Don’t just leave them floundering at their desk, wondering what to do next. Talk through the job role and discuss the onboarding process you’ve set up. Introduce them to all the key people they need to know and, if possible, assign someone to act as a buddy to help them through their first few weeks and answer questions as they arise.

3. The first few weeks
It would be wrong to throw them in at the deep end and expect your new employee to perform brilliantly. Equally, you don’t want to leave them with nothing whatsoever to do and risk boredom or second thoughts. Give them a mix of short- and long-term tasks – quick wins will make them feel useful and productive, having a longer-term objective will provide motivation and greater engagement. Hold regular meetings to monitor progress and satisfaction.

4. Three months
Generally, the accepted probationary period, this is the time to hold a review and assess how your employee is getting on. By now they should be up to speed with the job and it’s useful to reiterate their role and responsibilities.

5. Between 3-12 months
During this time, you should find opportunities to discuss any training or development needs, as well as checking that they’ve adapted well to your company culture.

We mentioned that onboarding starts as early as the recruitment process. At On Target, this is something that we take very seriously. We work closely and proactively with our clients and candidates – taking the time to understand the needs of clients and their company culture, and getting to know our candidates, their personality, skills and knowledge. The more we know about our clients and candidates, the greater the likelihood is that we will find a perfect match. We also spend time preparing candidates at the interview stage so that they have a good understanding of the job and the company. Combined with our knowledge and expertise within your business sector, it’s all part of adding value to the recruitment process.

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