10 Top Practices When Onboarding Employees

The hiring manager is one of the most influential people for the new hires during the first workdays. The manager’s primary role is to help the employee adapt to the new position and ensure that he/she understands the responsibilities and company’s values.

It is possible to compare the hiring manager with the paper writer expert. Both of them provide necessary recommendations, help overcome challenges, and share all vital information to finish the tasks. Here, we will talk about the best practices for the hiring manager to ensure the successful onboarding of the new workers.

1. Start with Preboarding

Starting with pre-boarding is the best strategy to make the whole process comfortable for the new hires. No doubt that the employees suffer from anxiety after they sign a job offer. Thus, the first day at a new company is very stressful. So, the main aim of the hiring manager is to help the new hire overcome this challenge.

Here are the main steps for the pre-boarding:

• Send a welcome kit and introducing email to tell about what to expect on the first day;
• Make sure that the new employee finished all the admin tasks;
• Host informal team session to introduce the new hire to the team;
• Prepare the onboarding checklist.

2. Prepare the Plan for Onboarding

One more good idea is to prepare the plan for the whole onboarding. You should list all necessary tasks to complete during this period. Think about what information is crucial to be shared during the first days. A good plan should be well-structured and diverse.

The next step is to split the list of tasks into several periods. Then, you need to set a deadline and plan a meeting after each period. This way, the onboarding will be effective to its full extent.

3. Introduce Company’s Values

The company’s culture and values are among the top interview questions asked by job seekers. And it is not surprising at all, as the values are a crucial part of the working process. So, the hiring manager's goal is to introduce and demonstrate the company's culture as soon as possible. 

You can prepare presentations or send an email/a short guide with main values. However, only reading about it won’t be effective. Additionally, you can engage the team members in this process. Other workers can share the stories from the company’s experience to demonstrate each of the values. 

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4. Involve the Team in Onboarding Process 

Social interaction is also an integral part of the onboarding process. The new hire should feel the part of the company from the first days on the position. That’s why the hiring manager should inform other workers about the new worker and encourage them to welcome him/her. 

One more nice idea is to arrange a welcome meeting where every team member will introduce himself/herself and talk about main responsibilities. This way, the employee will get a more clear vision of the team and main work processes. 

5. Assign a Teammate to Help the New Hire

The next step is to assign a teammate who will help the new hire to adapt to the company’s atmosphere. Sometimes, employees feel confused when asking for advice from the hiring managers or the team lead. Hence, someone from the teammates can provide a helping hand during the first days of work. And the new hire won’t hesitate to ask mundane but very important questions.

6. Let the New Hires Learn in the Workflow

No doubt that it is easier to learn something new in the workflow. This way, the new employees will get the answers to crucial questions right when they need them. One of the best ways to ensure workflow learning is to prepare the course with specific information about the main job responsibilities.

Creating a collaborative learning platform is also useful to provide the new hires access to all mandatory data during the onboarding process. Hence, the workers will combine the work process with necessary learning.

7. Do not Overload with New Information

The hiring managers should remember that the excessive amount of new information during the first workdays is not a good idea at all. If you want to improve work efficiency and ensure that the worker adapts to all processes, divide the whole data into several blocks.

Provide enough time for the employee to learn all the information and understand how to use new data in practice. Also, the new hire should have an opportunity to ask questions during the onboarding process concerning each process in the workflow. 

8. Conduct Regular Check-Ins

Conducting regular check-ins will ensure that the new hire learns all necessary information. Also, it is a nice opportunity to discuss the progress, find out possible challenges, and prepare the strategy on how to solve all issues. 

One more benefit of regular check-ins is the ability to analyze the worker’s performance. So, make sure that you set up the deadline for each training period and arrange a meeting at the end of the timeline. 

9. Collect and Analyze the Feedback

Collecting and analyzing feedback from new hires is necessary to understand how the employees are engaged in the process. Furthermore, it helps to clarify whether the new worker understands his/her role and the company’s policies. 

While communicating with the new employee, ask whether he/she is satisfied with the communication with the manager and other team members. Finally, ask for possible suggestions on how to improve the onboarding process.

10. Celebrate First Year Anniversary

After the new hire finishes the onboarding and probation periods, it does not mean that you should forget about him/her. As the studies show, the onboarding process continues right till the first anniversary. So, it will be a good opportunity to celebrate and reflect on achievements.

The hiring manager should discuss the main employee's achievements, set up new goals for future development, and ensure that the worker is satisfied and happy with his/her position

Final Words

Now you know all the secrets of effective employee onboarding. But we would like to add that the new hires are really vulnerable and need your help and support. So, remember that you are the main person who will guide him/her for quite a long period.

Author Bio: This article is written by our marketing team at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee engagement, and intranet software. Our aim is to help your company improve employee engagement, employee productivity, and to save you valuable time!