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5 steps to onboard employees at all levels

Sep 27, 2022

The process of onboarding is one of the first indicators of success for a newly hired employee, and for your company overall. Research from Brandon Hall Group suggests that an effective onboarding strategy will increase employee retention by 82% percent and increase productivity can increase by more than 70 percent.

The days of the process of onboarding consisted of a brief office tour and lunch with your new colleagues. Today, onboarding documentation video, training materials, and many other materials help employees feel welcome and relaxed in a new workplace -- even when working at your home.

To fully understand employee onboarding and establishing a connected workplace for a connected workforce, we talked to Ali Gross, Director of employee Experience. In this guide will walk you through the fundamentals of employee onboarding, why it's necessary, as well as how to design an onboarding procedure that will make everyone successful.

In this article:

What is an employee onboarding process?

According Ali, according to Ali, onboarding is "the procedure of introducing a new employee with your company."

Onboard employees in two main ways: through cultural acclimation and within their role for them to do their job that they were hired to perform.

"Onboarding begins from when an offer is made to the employee until the moment when an employee has become an active employee of the company," shared Ali. In other words, from the time an employee is an employee of your business -- even before they begin their first day of work -- they're officially getting onboarded.

Managers typically schedule periodic introductions (like one-on-ones or checking-ins) with the new team members, while also allowing exposure to different teams.

"The managers' job is to make sure that the new team member has an organized onboarding process in order for them to succeed in their role," said Ali. "Managers could also provide mentors or onboarding buddies to new employees to help them with their onboarding.

What does onboarding look like from the perspective of an employee?

The process may differ between departments, organizations, and individual roles the majority of new employees are designated key projects that help their roles and the onboarding process feel engaging starting from day one.

This plan will ensure an optimum level of engagement, collaboration within the group, as well as a favorable first impression of the organization. The positive effects can last for years, as the new worker feels that they are able to have an immediate impact.

When an employee is finished with their first day or first week in your business and believes "I did the right thing," your onboarding program is a success.

What makes the process of boarding new employees crucial

Some team leads and executives believe that an extended onboarding period is wasteful and slow. In the end, wouldn't you want to ensure that employees start working on the things you hired them for?

What some supervisors tend to forget is the fact that an extensive onboarding process is significantly superior to high turnover.

Let's unpack a few other motives to aboard employees.

New employees can learn onboarding and be more productive.

The new employee takes approximately 12-weeks to become productive in their work. According to Ali that employee onboarding is a great way to help new hires increase their time in terms of productivity, and speed up the process of learning.

While speed isn't the only measure of achievement, it's nevertheless crucial. Employees and managers alike often are eager to start work as soon as possible.

However, tackling job duties in a hurry can lead workers to begin on the wrong foot by taking three steps forward and two back as they gather details and context regarding the business overall.

Learning is accelerated when onboarding provides the opportunity for employees to take in essential documentation and other resources.

In this way, tasks like customer service require deep understanding of the company's products and services. If there was no time to study and be able to master the information, any newly hired employees in these departments are likely to struggle a lot.

It helps them adjust and find their place in the workplace

Ali added that onboarding can create a sense of belonging, and also drive acclimation.

Onboarding employees creates a distinct feeling of belonging. I've been part of several onboarding teams myself, and I've always appreciated the immediate camaraderie with my new colleagues.

Similarly, having access to and having time to learn from essential resources may help new employees feel like they are part of the bigger organization. This is more easily achieved by onboarding than if employees were left to learn on their own.

According to Ali, onboarding of employees helps answer, "What does it mean being Vimean? Vimean?" This question will determine what forms of documentation and tools is provided to newly hired employees.

Five essential things to consider when planning to ensure a successful onboarding experience

Each employee's process for onboarding will be different for each employee. But, there are a few best guidelines and basic steps to adhere to when creating your onboarding process. We've detailed those below with the help of our in-house expert.

1. Prepare new hire necessities

"To set our new hires to be successful, we prepare all new requirements for new hires like office space, equipment, as well as documents for seamless integration into the company]," Ali said. Ali.

Whether your new hire will be in your office or work from home collect and deliver any office equipment and business swag ahead of the date they start. The best rule of thumb is at least 1 week.

2. Set expectations for the first day of the week as well as the following week.

With their tools New hires must have clear expectations on their initial day. "New employee initiations start with tailored getting started guides," said Ali.

For Vimeans, this guide includes information from managers about who they'll work with, the most important meetings for them to attend along with important team and department documents, as well as an orientation program for their first week.

Consider sending this information ahead of their start date -- by several days at the very minimum. It allows the new employees to familiarize themselves with the documentation before the date (if they'd like to do so) so their initial day doesn't seem too daunting.

3. Video can be added to communications with employees

4. Set goals to communicate for the onboarding process

It's crucial to explain to newly hired employees why they're going through the onboarding process both company as well as culture-wise. This lets employees set personal as well as interpersonal goals for their experience onboarding.

For example, according to Ali, "'s orientation covers company culture and vision, and provides information over a variety of times during the learning process for the employee."

Through the inclusion of cultural awareness in training at both the product and department levels, employees know what to expect from the first few weeks or months in your business.

5. Gather your feedback

The process of onboarding employees at all levels should be an iterative process. No matter the size or age of your organization, getting feedback from your new employees is incredibly important.

Studies from Sapling proves that asking employees who are new for feedback about their onboarding experiences can enhance the employer-employee relationship by more than 90 percent. Being open to feedback from new hires can also increase chances that they'll refer your business to friends and colleagues.

Like we've mentioned before, employee onboarding isn't just concerned with education or training. It's about making the best first impression with your new hires, demonstrating how they will grow in their new position, and ensuring that they are confident about the decision they made to join your company.

Set employees up for success

"At , we aim to set Vimeans to be successful from day one," said Ali. "We think of the experience at onboarding as the initial impression of the company and aim to ensure that employees are secure, stable and prepared to make an impact when stepping into their new workplace."

It's possible to achieve the same by implementing a solid and well-thought employee onboarding. Utilize the strategies and tools we've talked about here for the time comes to onboarding new employees at any degree, and do not hesitate to iterate on your program after you've received comments from your staff.