Quick wins for an effective onboarding process

I think we’ve all heard the phrase “ You can never make a first impression twice.”

When starting out in a new business, the whole experience will give the employee the first impression of your business that will be hard to undo if things don’t go well.

I have put together some quick wins that will help you to improve the experience of the employee;

1) Initially, think of them as you would do a “customer” of the onboarding process. In most businesses, it is a top priority that the customer experience is a good one. That shouldn’t change for the employee experience, particularly at the start. Anything you can do to make the process smoother or to help them settle into the role more quickly will have a positive effect to allow for a smooth transition into your world

2) Send as much paperwork in advance as possible so they don’t have to spend the whole of the first day filling out bank forms and reading policies. If these things can be issued in advance, give them a chance to have a read through in their own time, whilst making it clear that it’s not mandatory to know everything prior to the first day

3) Do you have any special systems, like an HR self-service for holiday bookings? As above, anything that can be sent out in advance to give the new starter a bit of time to familiarise themselves and have a little look at how things work may help to take some pressure off the first-day stresses.

4) Ensure all of the necessary IT is ready ahead of the first day. This one sounds super basic but it’s amazing the number of times I’ve heard from new employees who spent several days in their first week waiting for laptops and log-ins before they could get going. If they are going to be coming into an office rather than being remote, anything you can do to ensure their workspace is inviting and ready to be used is also a great way to show you are happy to have them on board.

5) Try to help with the bonding of any other team members as quickly as possible, so perhaps you can organise a team lunch in a local cafe, or order some pizzas in for lunch on the first day to get people chatting early on.

6) Having some early targets read for them to be working towards will help them feel valued early on. It also helps your business to have some “quick wins” in the bag, especially if you have an initial probation period you have asked them to complete.

The final part of all of this is to follow up on a regular basis with your new starter. Everyone who runs a business is busy and juggling a lot of balls, but just think how that feels for the person coming in who is still learning the ropes? Ensuring you have regular feedback sessions will help you and them to know how things are going, and highlight any potential issues as quickly as possible.

It’s important to remember that onboarding is a process, and isn’t complete in the first day or week once all of the welcome items and meetings have been ticked off. Onboarding should be about helping the new person to become a fully fledged member of the team, and that won’t happen overnight.

Do you think there are any key factors I have missed out? Please drop me a comment on the blog if you have one