4 Strategies for Developing a Successful Onboarding Procedure
When it comes to developing a consistently outstanding recruitment practice for your business, there’s a lot of talk about how to find and attract top-notch talent.
The idea is by building positive brand awareness, and cultivating an online reputation as a company who offers a fantastic work environment, quality job seekers will not only independently discover opportunities within your business during their search, your HR team will also be able to engage and vet them through social networking websites before even setting up an interview.
Utilizing social media to engage prospective employees is becoming increasingly popular, with more than 90 percent of recruiters including it as part of the hiring process, using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter most often.
That’s great and all, and admittedly it gives companies an effective way to reach new talent, but unfortunately many recruiters are still missing a big piece of the recruitment puzzle—and employers are suffering the consequences when they find the employees they worked so hard to recruit quitting after only a few months.
RPO
Recruitment process onboarding, or RPO, refers to the strategies organizations can use to help new hires adjust to the company culture, work environment and performance expectations of their new jobs.
A successful RPO strategy should kick off at the moment of hire, and continue through the first few months of employment, in order to ensure employees transition smoothly into their new roles.
Because 22 percent of staff turnover occurs within the first 45 days of employment, it’s absolutely vital to ensure work satisfaction for new staff from the start.
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when creating or revamping your company’s onboarding procedures.
1. Provide adequate training.
Take Zappos as an example. The online retailer provides an intensive five weeks of training for new employees to help them learn about company values and operations, and to top that off, offers $2,000 to those who decide they aren’t a good fit for the company after all!
By making it clear to new hires that their success and happiness within the organization is a top priority, they ensure satisfaction for staff who choose to stay, building a team whose members are all on the same page.
2. Formalize an orientation.
Employees want to enter into stable, organized work environments, where operations are practiced and streamlined. Having a formal orientation procedure in place is a good way to make sure new hires develop a sense of trust and respect for your business from day one.
Each new staff member should receive the same introductory information, highlighting your brand vision and company procedures in a clear and detailed way. Do your best to make it interesting and interactive. Use technology, avoid lecture-style delivery, and be open to questions and comments.
3. Define milestones.
Beginning a new job can be intimidating, and many new employees aim to prove their worth early on. Defining milestones, whether they be calendar or performance-based, gives recently hired team members clear goals to strive for, keeping them motivated and on-track.
Set up meetings to check-in with the new staff at least once a month for the first 90 days of employment, and be supportive as they find their way, which might take longer for some than others.
4. Consciously create a welcoming environment.
Enlist current staff members to serve as a welcoming parade of sorts. At Microsoft, onboarding is considered everyone’s job. When seasoned employees make an engaged effort to assist new team members, helping them get comfortable and making them feel welcome, new team members adapt more quickly and perform better too.
A couple of additional strategies to consider are assigning a mentor to each hire to assist in training, or planning periodic team gatherings to help new members get to know their coworkers in a casual setting.
Having an established onboarding process leads to higher employee retention and satisfaction rates. At the same time, it simultaneously increases productivity as new staff are offered adequate training and motivation to hit the ground running.
Don’t let your recruitment process fall flat as soon as prospective employees accept the job.
Instead, keep the momentum and ensure a strong start for the best results.
4 Tips For Successful Recruitment Process Onboarding
Anyone who’s ever had to do any sort of hiring knows how difficult and complex the recruitment process can be. Outsiders might think your job ends after an applicant is selected, but this is only the beginning. Your job then becomes ensuring that the employee successfully transitions into your company as quickly and easily as possible.
This is where RPO (recruitment process onboarding) comes into play. RPO is simply a term for the processes and protocols you have in place during your recruitment process to ensure that your new hire is integrated into your company successfully. This is especially important since 22% of new hires leave within the first 45 days of being hired.
So here are some tips to help you establish a successful RPO strategy.
Have Standardized Procedures In Place
Some companies improvise their onboarding process for each new candidate. Even worse, others ignore the onboarding process entirely. This is a mistake since 69% percent of employees are more likely to remain with your company for at least three years if they experienced a successful onboarding process.
So to obtain this level of quality and to ensure that every candidate is given the best introduction to his/her new job, it’s important to have a standardized process in place. Layout, in writing, everything your employee needs to know. This includes his responsibilities, company policies, the helpful information he’ll need on his first day, etc. A short training program to ensure that they understand this potentially large amount of new information can be helpful as well and is used by a wide variety of companies to great effect.
Incentivize Them
Giving your new employee something to strive for besides a paycheck can help make their transition a lot easier. Being placed in a new role at a new company can be difficult for any employee, and it’s easy to see how someone might become overwhelmed.
Offer them a way forward, a way to mark their progress and feel like they’re growing at your company. Share this plan with them during your onboarding process so they know exactly what they’re working towards, and offer a reward for each goal they achieve.
Remember the Importance of the First Day
The first day at a new job is a big deal for most people since it represents a major shift in their life. You shouldn’t treat this pivotal moment in your new hire’s career as a routine, even if it feels that way to you.
Find a way to make your new employee feel welcome, and treat it like the special day it is. You want your new hire to associate his/her new job with a feeling of happiness and inclusiveness so that he/she becomes a loyal employee, and that starts on the first day.
Onboarding Doesn’t End After the First Day
While the first day is important, it’s not the end of a good onboarding process. Companies with longer onboarding programs have employees that reach full proficiency at their new jobs 34% faster than companies with shorter onboarding programs. This is largely because employees that have guidance through the first few weeks or months at a new job avoid typical beginner mistakes and avoid learning bad work habits. Take the time to continue to train and guide your new hires until they are completely comfortable in their position.
Proper onboarding during (and after) the recruitment process can be the difference between a successful, loyal employee and a missed opportunity. Investing time and money into creating standardized onboarding procedures that promote the happiness and success of your hire is extremely important, and should not be overlooked by any company that wants a well-trained, loyal workforce.
