Some companies view onboarding as something to do that has little impact on the company other than allowing new hires the opportunity to fill out numerous forms or read company policies and history. But employee onboarding is much more than this.
Those who think that way are missing the point and value of onboarding and the benefits of making it a personal and meaningful experience for each new hire.
Studies from the BCG Consulting Firm reveal that onboarding ranks very high among HR practices. In fact, the study demonstrates that employee onboarding ranks No. 2 right behind recruiting in a 22 HR practices ranking. Proper and personalized onboarding can improve productivity, retain new employees, boost job performance, and impact your bottom line.
As companies grow beyond one building, city, state or country, making every employee feel like a valued member of the team is even more important and challenging at the same time. Global companies must find creative and unique ways to make their onboarding experiences customized and beneficial to every new employee.
Here are some suggestions you can incorporate into your practices to make your company’s onboarding more personal and meaningful to each new hire.
Utilize Web-Based Systems
The internet is a valuable tool for creating a personalized onboarding experience. A web-based onboarding system can help you customize, track, and create an onboarding experience that gets new hires engaged in the company.
Web-based systems, such as Trello will provide a customized management platform that will get your employees involved in the company at the start and allow to perform onboarding tasks in a personal and direct manner. In a sense, they have more control of the onboarding experience.
With new feedback from the employees, who are using your onboarding system, you can instantly implement their suggestions into the onboarding process of the next new hires.
Produce Podcasts & Videos
Using technology to socialize your new employees to the company and its culture can be achieved through effective multimedia platforms, such as podcasts and videos. These platforms can help explain your strategic goals, company values, present employee testimonials, and introduce key members of the team to your new hires.
Podcasts and videos can make your new employees feel a part of the team no matter where they are in the company.
Embrace Social Media
Incorporate social media into your onboarding plan. Social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) can encourage new employees to join interest groups or communities that bring co-workers together and foster a better understanding of the company, along with its vision and goals.
Establish a Mentoring Program
Establish a mentoring program in your employee onboarding experience that connects new-hires with seasoned veterans on the team. The mentor-mentee relationship will help new employees better understand the organizational culture and expectations of the company. Furthermore, a mentoring program will help new employees assimilate faster into the organizational culture of your company and make them feel like a valued and appreciated teammate quicker.
Make It Personal and Lasting
When you are creating and implementing your onboarding plan, think personal and how you would want to be treated and related to if you were the new employee on the team.
Create onboarding strategies that would attract you and give you a favorable first impression of your own company. Remember, first impressions are lasting so make a good first impression on your new hires during their employee onboarding, and they will make a lasting commitment to your company, too.
