Let's be honest: starting a new job is scary, and meeting a new employee can be just as intimidating. On both sides, neither person is sure what they are getting into and each of them is paying attention to every detail presented. So how can an effective onboarding process minimize the anxiety we all feel beginning a new career relationship while also maximize the offerings of your organization? Through engagement.
Onboarding could simply be introducing the details of a new hire's job, or it can be a whole experience. Research has found onboarding experiences produce the most favorable outcomes, including higher employee satisfaction and higher rates of long-term retention. By building your onboarding toolkit you can make sure you have the essentials covered for your new employee. Also, by creating a social experience the new hire can more comfortably get to know the company's culture and team. As an HR professional or conductor of this onboarding experience, you will learn creative methods to help save your organization money and time by maintaining the best talent from the beginning.
Developing an Engaging Onboarding Program
Effective onboarding programs have been found to decrease turnover and increase employee engagement. Since we already understand the basics of onboarding, we now need to build our toolkit. The activities below assist you in creating an onboarding plan for new hires and existing employees that just received a promotion. When building your toolkit you should consider the new employee's career journey and make your process the first stop on their path. Remember, you want more than just someone who knows how to do their job; you want someone who wants to do their job, specifically for your organization. These activities cover the basics and then offer additional solutions to further develop your onboarding process.
There are several ways to promote engagement at your organization and one very simple way is through the onboarding process. It has been found that new hires make decisions and assumptions about your organization within the first moments of interaction. Your onboarding process is a strategic way you can save money by maintaining good employees and prolong the longevity of their tenure with your company by engaging them at the onset. One way to do this is to launch a pilot program where you can try very creative means to engage them. Since it is just a pilot, you are able to improve the process in the best interest of the organization and the new hires as needed. The activities below will offer creative and tangible ways you can promote engagemnt.
New hires should be immersed within the experience your organization provides. You should think of the 'Onboarding Process' more as an 'Onboarding Experience' and brand it as such. It is important that your organization's culture is presented throughout the experience and that the new hires receive all of the information they need and a chance to interact with key members of the team. Remember, as the conductor of the onboarding experience, your role is also to offer engaging activities to bolster the overall feel of your agency.