Only 12 percent of employees think their company does a good job of welcoming new hires according to a study by Gallup.
If onboarding and making new hires feel welcome weren’t so important, maybe that statistic wouldn’t be so troublesome. But industry research consistently highlights the critical role onboarding plays in both keeping new employees and helping them be most successful.
- Effective onboarding increases retention of new hires by 82 percent according to an often-cited study by the Brandon Hall Group for Glassdoor.
- The same study found a 70+ percent boost in productivity for new staff who found their onboarding experience was positive and helpful.
- Employees who are the beneficiaries of great onboarding are 18 times more committed to their organizations, according to a study by BambooHR.
When only 1 in 8 employees feel onboarding is effective for their new colleagues, the message is clear: incremental improvements are not enough. For most companies, onboarding isn’t working and it’s time for a major overhaul in the way we welcome new hires.
As a follow-up to our last blog that exposed four myths that can sabotage effective onboarding, here are specific recommendations to help operations and HR teams think completely differently about how we welcome new employees.
Start onboarding long before an employee’s first day
Making an employee feel welcomed and prepared is a process. So, the earlier we start, the better. That means thinking about onboarding the first time we meet a prospective candidate in the initial interview.
No, we haven’t and maybe never will offer the applicant a job. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask questions that lay the groundwork for how new employees enter our organizations:
- “We put a priority on supporting our new employees coming into XYZ Company. What types of support have you found most beneficial when you start a new job?”
- “Teamwork is key to success in our department. Give me an example of when and how you’ve supported your colleagues to make the entire team more successful.”
These questions emphasize the importance of onboarding in your organization and help you assess whether an applicant will be a team player that supports his or her colleagues.
Once an applicant says “yes” to an offer, the important work of onboarding must begin immediately. We’re hearing more and more examples of great candidates accepting a position only to call and renege before their first day. An employee’s manager and/or one or two key colleagues should be reaching out to answer questions and reinforce the team’s excitement about them coming on board. While you don’t want to overwhelm or expect work before they’re on the payroll, we’ve heard a number of new employees in focus groups share that additional information about their new job would be helpful. Some have even asked about online learning modules so they can hit the ground running.
Make onboarding a team sport
Successful onboarding is about more than just the strategies and meetings that HR choreographs. The people working alongside a new employee play the biggest role in making their first few days and weeks successful.
“Who are you?” is a question a new employee should never hear from teammates. To prevent that, involve team members in planning and making onboarding successful. Here are a few specific suggestions:
- Allocate time during staff meetings to talk about making onboarding of new colleagues successful. Lean on recent hires to talk about what worked and didn’t work when they joined the team.
- Charter a small improvement team of frontline staff to assess and propose strategies to make new colleagues feel welcome right away.
- Assign a “buddy” for each new employee who can supplement the support that the manager provides to new colleagues.
Rethink the primary goals of new employee orientation
Forever it seems, the three Ps of new employee orientation have been “policies,” “procedures,” and “paperwork.” And while understanding key policies and completing essential forms is necessary, that shouldn’t feel like the primary goal of an employee’s first few hours with our company.
Rather, new employee orientation is successful when a new employee ends his first day saying without hesitation to himself, “I made a great decision to take this job.”
If that’s our goal, then there are a different set of three Ps we should be emphasizing: purpose, pride, and passion.
Over the last few years, smart companies have gone beyond the traditional mission/vision/values statements to lean into purpose. Considering why we exist puts the everyday work of the organization and its employees in a new, meaningful light. Considering purpose means that our customers have to play a central role in new employee orientation discussion:
- Who are our customers?
- What is most important to them?
- Why do they turn to us instead of our competitors?
In focus groups, recent hires have told us that information about the company’s roots is really interesting and important to them. Talking about how the company was founded, key milestones in its history, and the role it plays in the community and/or industry builds a sense of pride in the organization a new employee has just decided to join.
Discussion of purpose and pride ultimately contributes to a new employee’s sense of excitement and passion about the important work that they will be doing and how it contributes to the collective success of their team.
Encourage questions rather than just providing information
Human beings process information and gain real understanding when they have the opportunity to internalize facts and ask questions that are important to them. But joining a new organization can be intimidating, and no one wants to look foolish in their first few days. That’s why making questions a planned, expected part of an employee’s early experience is critical.
Making it comfortable for new hires to ask questions has to go beyond the standard offer of, “Do you have any questions?” Leaders and colleagues need to emphasize that they actually want questions, not simply that they’ll tolerate them. Questions are a key part of effective onboarding during every stage of the process – pre-employment, in orientation, and in the early day-to-day work with them.
Research by leading organizations like Gallup and BambooHR delivers a strong message: how we welcome new employees needs serious attention. Thinking differently about the goals of onboarding and new employee orientation is an important first step.