Effectively onboarding your new team member
For most people, it constitutes a whole new chapter of their life. This is why you should aim to make it a great experience for everyone involved. Onboarding done right drives productivity, accelerates results, and significantly improves talent retention.
Make sure everything is ready
While this should be a no-brainer, it's easy to neglect. Ensure that all accounts for software and platforms are ready for your new colleague before they even start. This will make it easier for them to focus on what matters and shows you care.
Set a framework, then follow it
You'd be surprised how many things vital to onboarding can be automated. You can create anything from a project in your favourite project management tool to a PDF to keep track of different steps. Create an onboarding checklist and let other team members review it. Is everything your new colleague needs to know and do in there? Then fill each task with necessary documents, guides and materials. Make sure to ask specialists in the company to make time to introduce your new team member to software and practices. Use the checklist to create a clear schedule for your new colleague to follow.Be mindful that onboarding can be a lot of things. Besides checking off task lists and software introductions, shadowing and sitting in on meetings may also be practices worth considering. Just make sure you plan ahead and don’t overwhelm your new employee.
Confirm their decision to work for you
People decide to switch jobs because they are convinced working at your company is a better opportunity than their previous employment. Maybe they get to do something more interesting, earn more, or appreciate the different culture. This means that when they walk through your doors on their first day, they likely have a positive bias.
You should take the opportunity to confirm their positive view of your company. Highlight all the coolest parts, fun events, speedy processes, and make sure to create a balance between boring onboarding paperwork and fun activities. What's unique about your organisation, your team, the team members? Make sure to lead with that. Tip: Most new hires are proud of their new job!
This is a great opportunity for employer branding. Give them a sweet welcoming gift or hip company swag if you're looking to get boosted on social media. Fresh flowers or a cute cupcake could do the trick if you just want to show how happy you are to have them. You could also introduce new employees on company social media channels.
Make them feel REALLY welcome
Starting a new job can be scary and overwhelming. Even the coolest guys and gals can get overwhelmed by the amount of new faces. It can be difficult to remember who you've already been introduced to and who not. You can help them tackle this fear by hosting a small reception for them when they start. Ask everyone in the department to take a moment to meet your new hire to take away the burden and responsibility that they have to get to know everyone all by themselves.
Tip: Working in a bigger corporation or with remote colleagues? Make sure to introduce your new colleague on slack!
Communicate company values and vision clearly
Most companies have a set of core values that they communicate to employees as a basis for the way work is done. These are the values that employees ideally live out in their decision-making day in, day out. Onboarding is the best opportunity to introduce new hires to these company values. If you want to make sure the value alignment goes beyond a simple nod-off, take the time to discuss the values with your new team member. How do these values respond to their personal set of morals? Talking about values is a great opportunity to educate your team member about the company vision and mission - on an organisational, team and personal level. How will their work contribute to this vision? Emphasising the importance of shared values and a shared vision reinforces that the employee made the right choice in accepting the position.
