Building a Consistent Employee Onboarding Experience
Onboarding. It's that crucial element of the hiring process that can make or break a new employee's experience. Literally. Don't believe me? According to a 2022 Paychex survey 70% of employees believe the onboarding experience can make or break the employee experience. Even more eye-opening is that 80% of new hires who feel undertrained after onboarding had plans to leave their employees soon.
But I've got some solutions for you, so it's not all bad news! Employees who have a positive and effective onboarding experience are more engaged and better equipped to perform in the roles they were hired for.
The beautiful thing about most HRIS platforms is that you can do most of your traditional HR "paperwork" before the new hire's first day! There's a seamless flow once you click the hire button and documents can be completed without a single piece of paper being printed. If your HRIS platform isn't doing this for you, let's talk!
Communication Workflows
When you think about onboarding, you should think about designing an experience that is repeatable. Every new hire should follow the same process (if it's a good one) so there's consistency in what starting in a new role at your company looks like.
Within some HRIS platforms you can trigger communication workflows. These are pre-drafted communication that you can trigger to send to new hires, or their manager, or the full team at certain points in the process. For example you could set up a communication that is sent to all new hires and their manager two days before their first day with a schedule for the day.
There's some customization involved in building the schedule, but there is consistency in that no one is going to walk in the office or login on day one without a clue as to how the day will flow.
30/60/90 Day Planning
This is arguably the most important part of onboarding. It's important to not just think of it as HR paperwork and day 1 introduction. 30/60/90 day planning is not inherently the role of HR, though there are some HR components. But, onboarding is, so HR must work with managers to ensure 30/60/90 days plans are established and that they are given the attention needed through the span of those 90 days and beyond.
Templates are your best friend here. You can do it within your project management platform, or even a shared document or spreadsheet. However you create it, it should be organized details, include objectives, goals, and touch points, and be the foundation for the new employee's first 90 days.
This is a game changer!
I know that swag and social media post about who's new on the team are flashy and do feel really good. Don't leave them out of the process. But make sure the meat and potatoes are in check so that all new hires have a valuable and consistent onboarding experience when they join your team.
If you'd like some guidance or just need help building out your onboarding experience, let's set up a time to connect!