In one of our previous post, we’ve talked about onboarding as a pleasurable experience. But it mostly talked about providing a better experience for the HRs, the Talent Acquisition Experts. But what about the new hires? Shouldn’t the onboarding experience be a much better, the least, for the new joiners?
The experiences that new hires get before they join is far more essential in terms of bringing down the overall attrition rate for your company. Hence, we’ve put down 5 quick and easy-to-follow steps to give your new joiners an A1 onboarding experience.
1. M.A.P: Mastery, Autonomy & Purpose
The new hires must be technically good at what they are doing. That’s why you’ve hired them in the first place. Haven’t you? This essentially means they are masters, in a way, of what they are doing. Even though, one might think that ‘mastery’ is something that will be tested during hiring but it is equally important during onboarding because only when the skills of the new hires is acknowledged will they be more interested in the work they are doing.
You should give them space to do what they want to do i.e. give them as much autonomy as possible. MAP is essential for an organization as these 3 things make the employees feel useful and connected without having the management being an overpowering influence on them. This helps them find a purpose before joining your organization.
2. Keep your promises made during recruitment
During recruiting, HR departments pump up the new hires with hopes of an amazing work environment, friendly staff, and cooperative managers. Therefore, the office must be prepared to deliver the promises they have made because recruits come into their first day with a lot of expectation and if they are disappointed right in the beginning, it is all downhill from there.
It is essential to remember that it is not just one thing that makes them want to leave your company, but the small things that add up to the collective result. Be around when they arrive and show up for appointments. If you are always unavailable, the employees will become disengaged and therefore increase the turnover rates. Jay Samit, Independent V.C., Deloitte righty says
“Onboarding starts with satisfying the most basic of Maslow’s psychological needs: belonging. New hires shouldn’t arrive at an empty cube and be forced to forage through corridors searching for a computer and the bare necessities of office life. A new hire isn’t a surprise visitor from out of town. Plan for their arrival.”
3. Do Not take a Sales Approach
Hiring is not the same as selling your product. When you are hiring you are not looking for a potential lead, but you are looking for someone who believes in your vision and is willing to put the effort required to achieve it.
Distinguish your company from what you want it to be, from what it is. This means, in order to inspire the new-hires you need to tell them what you can possibly achieve with their help rather than what you currently are. The latter can only intimidate them and introduce them to some daunting realities before their time.
4. Conduct frequent Orientation Sessions
Studies suggests that the new hires decide whether they want to stay or leave within the first to the sixth month. Therefore, it is not enough to have orientation sessions only in the first week. The recruits need to be continuously reminded of their purpose and how each of their work matters.
These sessions can be held at regular intervals for the first six months, and they can be coupled with feedback that goes both ways. You must ask for their concerns and queries along with addressing their grievances. Not only that, but you must also, give them positive or negative feedback, to show that their work is not going unidentified. Feedback is essential to boost their morale and push them to work even harder.
5. A Great Manager is the Key to a Great Onboarding
You can do everything right and still end up losing your hires if they are not managed efficiently. Having an influential manager is very important as the hires will be working in close quarters with them and if they are unable to inspire the new joiners to work harder it will never work out. A manager is not just the head of a committee, he will oversee everyone’s work and will be answerable to the higher management for the output.
A manager needs to be competent enough to perform the aforementioned duties alongside being a good boss to the people working under him. He/She must not be an unreachable concept. They need to meet their employees on a regular basis and form an appropriate relationship with them.
These basic steps are essential and easy to follow for building a world-class onboarding program. The key point to remember here is that, treat your new hires with respect and be in constant contact with them. They are here to contribute to your vision and help you realize your business objective so it is your duty to make them believe in it. Hence, build an amazing onboarding program so that the process begins from day one.
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