The Benefits Of Successful Onboarding Of New Employees
When employers hire new employees, they focus a lot on the hiring process and appearing attractive to potential employees. However, once an employee is hired, the employer may not pay much attention to the new hire’s experience. Making sure your new hires have a proper onboarding experience is crucial to the retention and success of employees. Here are some reasons why it is so crucial that your company offers a good introduction to new employees.
Strengthens commitment to the company
When a new hire is brought into the company, they need to feel like they are part of a supportive community that appreciates their contributions. By onboarding the employee property, they feel like they are valued and have the potential for success. Successful onboarding includes offering tools and tips for the new hires to be successful, and the feeling that their success is important will make them more committed to the company.
On the contrary, if you bring in new employees and leave them on their own, they may feel like you set them up for failure. This will make them feel like they could do better at a different company and may eventually lead to their resignation. If they do not receive the proper training and they are constantly hounded for making a mistake they never learned was wrong, they will see errors in training and feel like someone wanted them to fail.
Improved community among employees
Proper onboarding includes training employees to be successful. Many times, this includes one-on-one training with an employee who has been in the role and knows the ins and outs of the position. Having a peer trainer allows the new hire to interact with an experienced employee, allowing them the opportunity to ask questions freely and make connections within the company. This one connection can introduce them to others. This will help the new employee feel like they are part of the company culture and community.
Increased productivity
As mentioned before, it is important that employees are given the training and tools they need to be successful in their new position. The better the training, the quicker they learn and can start making significant contributions to the company. If training is unsuccessful, the new hire will continually make mistakes in tasks that are crucial to their success. Again, this can make them feel like they were set up to fail, making them feel unvalued so they leave the company. However, if they receive great training, they can be productive. This will increase their confidence and will make them feel like they are a valuable asset to the team. In turn, they will stay with the company and will continue to grow.
Overall company retention
If onboarding is successful, employees will want to stay at the company since they feel like they are part of a community and that they are valued as a person as well as an employee. In the examples mentioned above, the opposites will make new hires feel left out and like they are set up for failure, making them want to leave the company. The process of hiring a new employee is tedious and costly on many levels, so ensuring that employees have a positive onboarding experience is crucial for the company’s success.
Bonus: how to successfully onboard new employees
Make the training experience great. New employees need to learn the ins and outs of your policies and the technology you use. They may be intimidated to learn how you work if it is different than previous positions. While training videos can be helpful, new employees should be paired with a few employees that have been in a job for a while so they can learn the ropes from those who do the job regularly. This also gives the new employee a chance to meet new coworkers.
Offer benefits to all employees, even during the evaluation period, during which employees are observed. Many times, employers do not offer new employees benefits during this time. Employees need to feel like they are appreciated, and one way to do so is to offer benefits. Even if you only roll out a few basic ones during the evaluation period, it still gives them an incentive to work hard. Since many companies have a 90 day evaluation period, you may want to decrease the time to 30 days.
Provide the training needed to ensure that the employees can succeed in their new role. From compliance and safety to basic skills, it is important to teach the employees how the company runs and the policies they need to adhere to. Offer online training classes coupled with pairing new employees with those who have succeeded in their role so the new employees can meet their coworkers, ask questions, and learn in a hands-on way.
Successful onboarding of a new employee is crucial, especially since hiring a new employee is costly in time and money. However, the rewards of successfully onboarding a great employee can make your company even better.