A Complete Guide to the HR Onboarding Process

Did you know a lot of people have been quitting their jobs? Retain your employees and keep them happy. If you want to learn how to improve your HR onboarding process, we can help.

In this guide, we’ll go over how to improve the onboarding process so you can keep employees. Make sure your team feels appreciated.

Want to learn more? Keep reading.

Why Is Onboarding Important?

The onboarding experience is critical to retaining employees. A lot will ride on your employees’ first few days at work. Organizations need to perfect their onboarding process so they can keep new workers.

Keep in mind some principles when introducing new workers. What you set up for your employees in the early days can affect the rest of their work journey.

Make an Excellent Impression

During your recruiting process, your business should make an excellent impression. But it would help if you didn’t stop at the interview process.

During the onboarding experience, continue to prove your business cares about new workers. Show that you want to follow them along with their career and help them develop and grow.

Look at finishing paperwork before that first day. This way, your new employees won’t have to worry about filling out forms or passing in documents. Workers can enjoy meeting others and getting settled.

The manager should take new employees to a luncheon. This can help break that initial ice.

Prioritize Integrating New Team Members

New hires will need to feel connected to their team. Talented new hires need help understanding how their skills will help your organization.

When you meet with them early, talk about the business goal. Explain your expectations and how your team should communicate with supervisors and managers.

Open this line of communication. Facilitate conversations between employees and managers during the onboarding process.

Your managers should set training goals and share these goals with the new team members. You should try to integrate your new employees into various team projects.

Clarify the Worker’s Role

Next, you should clarify what the new employee will do as a job. Make sure you provide a clear job description and related work tasks.

Employees who find the onboarding experience helpful will have a better vision.

Try to Encourage Long-Term Engagement

Employees shouldn’t move from getting hired to getting lost in the pool of workers. It would help if you gave your new workers the tools they need to remain well-connected and engaged.

Effective onboarding will encourage employee engagement. Introduce employees to your performance management practices. This way, your workers won’t get caught off guard in the future.

You should also ask the employees what they hope to bring to your business that’s new and helpful. Clarify recognition programs or rewards.

Your employees will feel motivated by these incentives and know what to try and achieve.

Keep Your Employees Satisfied

Workers who had a positive onboarding experience tend to be more satisfied.

You want your new workers to feel happy. If your onboarding experience is chaotic, workers won’t feel satisfied. You should learn how to improve your onboarding process if you find it lacking.

You could use onboarding software to streamline the process. Click here for more information.

Support Your Team

Provide continual support even after the onboarding experience. You should set up different meetings between employees and managers once a month.

Employees who feel supported will work harder and be more productive.

What Is Your Brand?

Employees will need to understand your brand to know how they can hit specific goals. When you provide onboarding sessions, make sure you explain your business brand.

Help your team understand your business so they can describe it to others. If employees notice how much you value their understanding, they’ll see your passion.

Also, if employees leave your business years later, they may leave a review. This review should reflect their positive experience working for your company.

It would help if you asked candidates why they chose to work for you. Understand how they perceive your business and what makes you different from competitors.

You could ask other workers to watch new employees and ask how they are settling into the business.

Make sure you have an employee development plan. This way, employees can understand how to advance in your particular expertise.

Communicate With New Team Members

Before your employees start working, you should try communicating with them in advance. This communication could include an email about the onboarding process.

You could send them a new worker policy handbook and ask them to review it before their first day. Make sure it’s well-written and explains your business brand and goals.

Ask new hires to check out a document about your work culture. This information will educate your new workers on what to expect with your business.

Workers First Day Should Shine

The initial day should stand out to your workers. They should have a positive impression and look forward to working for your company.

Make sure their desk area is already set up, and spend time introducing them to key contacts.

You should also plan an orientation for your team. During the orientation, make sure you go over where they can park or what time they can take a break.

Ask For Feedback

Ask your new team members to provide feedback. Ask new hires to tell you how the onboarding experience was and if they would change anything.

You want to learn how you can improve things in your workplace. Encourage your recruits to share this information with you.

Create a supportive and open work environment. People will understand they can come to you and communicate what’s working and what isn’t working.

Employees who feel their superiors listen to them feel more appreciated and understood.

Try Going Digital

Instead of printing copies of onboarding information, you could send this in a file.

Digital’s the way to go for a lot of businesses. People don’t need to worry about bringing in paperwork. Instead, they can open their email and retrieve the onboarding document you sent.

Academic certifications, photographs, or financial documents can get sent in before the first day. This way, employees don’t have to stress out about all the different paperwork to pass in during this first day.

Try to Foster Cross-Department Connections

Often, businesses will have a few different departments. Don’t make the mistake of keeping everyone segregated.

Instead, try to create cross-department connections between other employees. Ask different departments to introduce themselves and tell the workers what they do.

You want your new hires to feel relevant. They should also know what department’s responsible for what, and who they need to contact.

If your new hires don’t get introduced or meet others, they might feel less important. New employees should get introduced to the different departments. Improve interdepartmental collaboration.

Bring In a Consultant

If you need to improve your onboarding experience, hire a third-party consultant.

The consultant could come to your business and watch your onboarding experience. This way, they can provide tips on what’s working and what isn’t working.

It would help if you asked them to provide tips on improving the experience.

After the First Week

Schedule a meeting with workers after week one. Make sure your new workers understand their job tasks and also the expectations.

You should make sure new team members also have a clear understanding of the internal processes.

Provide Excellent Training

Your team should have helpful training courses. These courses should teach about your business, and how to meet customers. You should also provide information about the upcoming year.

Some businesses will send this information in a digital presentation. Others will provide new workers with a printed workbook.

Don’t Forget About Compliance

Employees will need to sign the relevant documents and pass them to the right person.

Your team should also understand your workplace safety policies. Provide adequate training, and remind your old workers, as well.

Focus on Socialization

New hires should have a chance to go out for lunch with senior team members. This will give your workers a chance to feel welcomed. The group supervisor should meet with the new team.

A lot of times, new employees will feel more relaxed after meeting with different workers.

Consider Sending Out a Survey

After week one, you could always send a survey to your team. Ask your new workers how they found the first week. You could also provide a space where they could give you some feedback or share concerns.

Check-in With Team Members After a Month

You’ll want to touch base with new workers after a month. Your new hires should feel happy and engaged.

You could have a face-to-face meeting. Sit down with your new worker. Ask them how they find their job and if they fit in well.

Try to review their first month. Answer questions they have. Make sure your worker has a buddy to check in with, and you should meet with their buddy. Ask their buddy what they think about the new employee.

Give New Workers Feedback

You should provide new team members with feedback. Your new workers should receive feedback on what they are doing well at and where they can improve.

You don’t want your team to feel uncertain about their progress. Share how they are progressing and where they can grow.

What About a Few Months Later?

Make sure your employee remains well-adjusted. You can do this by checking in with them a few months later. You should find out if they recommended friends to apply to your company.

New hires will know whether they will stay with your company within the first few months.

Meet With the Manager

Your new hire should meet with their manager after the first three months. At this point in time, the employee can hear feedback on whether they hit certain goals. Your manager might tell them they need to improve.

Informal check-ins can also occur during these first few months. Your new hire can meet with their manager to talk about goals and performance reviews.

Ask Employees to Create Goals

To help motivate your employees, you could ask them to set up some goals. Your new workers could set goals for their first few months.

When they set a goal, they can understand how certain assignments will help them reach these goals.

After Six Months

Your new hire should begin hitting targets after six months. You want to make sure they understand your expectations and deliver the proper results.

Your new hire should also have begun to develop relationships with their co-workers. You want someone who remains engaged and is confident about their role.

At this point, you can have a formal check-in with your worker. The manager or supervisor should conduct a formal review. They will discuss how the new worker hit certain goals.

You should also consider how involved your new workers are with company events. Do you notice they speak up a lot at meetings and share valuable insights?

Start Improving Your HR Onboarding Experience

We hope this guide on improving your HR onboarding experience was helpful.

Send your new workers information about the business before their first day. You should also try and introduce them to the different departments.

Want to improve your employee’s productivity and happiness? Are you in need of more business tips? Please stick around and browse our many different resources on the blog today.