6 Methods of Sharing Information to Enhance Communication
Learn the simple steps that will ensure that information flows effectively around each department of your organization
Encourage collaboration and teamwork with a recognition program that is effective and enjoyable!
Book a demo now to take advantage of some incredible offers!
Stick to these onboarding best practices and your new teammates will get up to speed as fast as possible.
First impressions matter.
And the way you welcome new employees to your company is no exception.
In fact:
In other words: best practice onboarding can transform retention rates and employee engagement within your company.
Despite this, 51% of employees think their onboarding experience at their current job was subpar.
Read on for the rundown of the best practices to follow if you want to create a retention-boosting onboarding experience across your organizations.
Stick to these new hire onboarding best practices to make sure every employee that joins your team gets up to speed as fast as possible:
Want to make a great first impression on your new hires?
Don’t wait for their first day to make them feel part of the team.
Reach out before their start date with a welcome pack that gives them a rundown of what they can look forward to about working for your company, like the benefits they’ll be entitled to and how to take advantage of them.
And for the best chances of getting off on the right foot with your new hires, send them some company swag to make sure they feel like part of the team from day one.
23% of employees who quit within six months say that clear guidelines on their responsibilities would have helped them stay at the job.
So, be sure to create a 30-60-90 day plan that lays out the projects that will be on your new hires’ plate during their first quarter at your company. That way they’ll know exactly what’s expected of them – and what “good” looks like in the role.
This plan should include everything your new teammates need to navigate their first few months at your company. So, be sure it sets the scene with:
And you’ll also want to include all the important links they’ll need so their to hand, including:
There’s a lot to take in when you’re joining a new company. Remembering all your teammates’ names can be enough sometimes.
So, don’t expect too much from your new hires. Give them a lax schedule, and bake in plenty of time in their first few weeks to meet their colleagues, get up to speed with your industry, and ask questions.
The sooner new hires get to know their teammates, the faster they’ll feel at home at your company.
You can help speed things along here by arranging half-hour meetings between your new hires and each of their teammates throughout their first few weeks at the company.
This way your existing employees can not only help show their new teammate the ropes, but it will also make sure they get the chance to get to know each other – which can have a huge impact on how fast your new hires fit in.
An easy mistake to make when it comes to onboarding new employees is to focus all your efforts on getting them up to speed with the way your company works.
While that’s undoubtedly important, to make onboarding a new employee as smooth a process as possible, you also need to know how your new teammate works, thinks, and operates.
So, be sure to take the time to get to know your new teammate as part of your onboarding process instead of just bombarding them with information (our new hire survey can help with that).
You’re setting yourself up to fail if you try to hit all the best practices for onboarding new employees every time a new hire joins your team without the help of tech. Things are bound to fall through the cracks if you’re relying on remembering to tick all the onboarding best practices from memory each time, and that will have a real impact on your new teammates’ first impression of your company.
So, be sure to automate your onboarding process with software that comes with tools tailored to provide the best employee onboarding experiences – like a new hire survey and icebreaker questions. This will ensure you don’t drop the ball on any aspect of the onboarding experience for your new hires.
38% of workers who quit do so in the first year – and 66% who leave in the first year do so in the first six months.
So, remember: onboarding doesn’t end after a new hires’ first few weeks. Keep checking in on how your new hires are doing during one-to-ones and through surveys to make sure they’re settling in okay throughout their whole first year with your organization.
Just 12% of employees believe their employer's onboarding process is adequate or successful.
Avoid these common mistakes for the best chances of becoming one of the minority of businesses that gets onboarding right with each new hire:
A haphazard approach to onboarding your employees leads to haphazard results.
And yet 35% of companies have no formal onboarding program in place at all.
If you’re part of that 35% then you’re making a huge mistake. Your managers aren’t going to hit all the employee onboarding best practices by accident – especially if time isn’t set aside in their schedule to help their new hires settle in and get up to speed.
Arm your managers with an onboarding best practices checklist to follow – and the time to follow it – to make sure you’re not falling at the very first hurdle with your new hires.
Every successful business is busy.
But the companies with the best onboarding practices know that if they don’t set aside time to make the new people they bring on board feel at home it will come back to bite them.
Because here’s the thing:
One of the worst things you can do to a new teammate is make them feel like an afterthought.
So, bake time in your people managers’ schedule to give their new employees a memorable welcome. Don’t carve this time out for your managers and you're setting them up to fail, as they’ll simply have no chance to hit all the onboarding best practices on top of their usual workload.
Remote work is here to stay, with 25% of workers expected to be working remotely by the end of 2023.
Which means the companies set to thrive are the ones who understand virtual onboarding best practices.
Luckily, the best practices for onboarding remote employees are largely the same as for your in-office staff: make sure they’re made to feel welcome, given time to settle in, and encouraged to ask any questions they have.
However, there are a few remote onboarding best practices you should be aware of:
The easiest way to bake onboarding best practices into your organization is by leveraging the latest and greatest onboarding tools.
For example:
Stick to the steps we’ve outlined here – and avoid the mistakes we’ve mentioned – and your new teammates will be firing on all cylinders within weeks.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore Guide