7 steps to bringing a new employee on board
7th June, 2017
Many quality employees can leave an organisation within the first few months if an organisation doesn’t have a structured onboarding process.
Like any relationship, it’s likely that your new hires are deciding whether they’ll stay or go within the first few months.
Can you afford to have them leave when you’ve just invested in hiring them?
Why would a new employee decide to leave?
Common reasons employees decide to leave within the first few months are:
- They don’t receive clear guidelines about their responsibilities
- They thought they should have received better training
- They found coworkers were not as friendly or helpful as they expected
- They felt they weren’t recognised for their contributions
- They weren’t included in an effective onboarding process
You can lessen the chances of having key talent walk away within the first few months with an effective onboarding process.
It’s not something to be left until the day your recruit starts work.
Get the early steps wrong, and you may find you’re the only one showing up on their first day.
Before you recruit
1. Create a guide to working in your organisation
You don’t need to make it too detailed or heavy. What’s most important is to let people know about what you do, why and with whom.
Describe the company culture, including what it takes to be successful in your organisation. This guide will also help you during the recruitment process to articulate why candidates would want to work for you.
Read: Talent acquisition: Building a modern workforce
2. Be clear about the role
If you don’t know what this job is about, how can you give candidates an accurate picture of what the work entails? Don’t fall into the trap of believing a good recruit will work it out for themselves, bringing their skills and experience to bear.
A few stars may do this, but the majority prefer to know what they might be committing to before they start.
During recruitment
3. Tell the truth
Paint an accurate picture of your organisation, the role and your expectations. If you’ve completed steps one and two, this will be easy. If not, it’s not too late.
Just make sure you avoid the temptation to ‘talk up’ the job and organisation to attract an outstanding candidate. Down that path lies disappointment for both parties.
4. Choose carefully
Selecting a person for a role who doesn’t fit your culture may work in the short run, but sooner or later you will find yourself recruiting again.
No matter how skilled or experienced the candidate, if their values, attitudes and personality don’t align with those of your organisation, you are sabotaging this important new working relationship before it starts.
Once they start
5. Provide a warm welcome
Introduce your new hire as early as possible to their coworkers and key stakeholders, including customers. Promote their skills and why you’ve hired them. From the outset, treat them as a valued member of your team.
For example, listen to and value their opinions, and ensure you include them in all relevant communication and social events.
6. Get the basics right
Starting a new job can be quite daunting. Make the transition easier for your latest staff member by making sure of the following:
- All the equipment and software they need is available, accessible and working
- Information resources such as policies, procedures, checklists and FAQs are up to date and easy to find
- They know who they can ask if they need help. Consider providing a buddy or coach for the first month.
7. Plan the experience and follow through
Set up a schedule before they start that includes adequate time for goal-setting, work hand-over, training, and reviewing progress and performance.
Include the names of people responsible for each step, and share the schedule with your new employee. This way, you will show you’ve thought of all the steps above and start on a positive note
Most importantly, set aside time to spend with them — not just on their first day but on a regular basis. You might be surprised how much you will learn from them!
There are many reasons employees leave a job, but poor onboarding shouldn’t be one of them.
These seven basic steps are easy to implement, and could make a positive difference in your employee turnover.