Hiring top talent is expensive. Losing them because you didn’t provide them with enough support to get up to speed can cost you double. Without successful onboarding procedures, companies spend ridiculous amounts of money on employee turnover and loss of productivity.
A smart onboarding process increases employee engagement and helps get them up to speed much more quickly.
Smart employee onboarding saves time and money.
Many companies drastically underestimate the importance of onboarding when they hire new employees.
With a smart onboarding process, a remote employer should be able to remove a lot of the anxiety and uncertainty when someone new joins the team.
At Upstack as we’ve grown our remote team, we’ve given a lot of thought to our onboarding process to create a welcoming environment right from the get-go. This process sets our new teammates up for success so they can hit the ground running right from day one.
The best teams are built on smart onboarding.
Effective onboarding is one of the most important things a company can do to engage and excite a new employee. Onboarding should be an exercise that brings the team together rather than a boring informal session before they are handed their first tasks.
What’s the key to a successful onboarding process?
The key is to break the information into small pieces and to give enough time to the process. When you present small blocks in an intuitive and linear way, it’s easy for new hires to make connections between the parts.
Let’s look at some of the steps needed for a smart onboarding process:
- Assign a mentor
- Walk the new employee through important procedures and standards
- Introduce company culture
- Make sure they have the tools they need
- Help them out with the inside info you had to learn the hard way
- Make time for questions
- Put a two-week check-in on the calendar
- Encourage independence
- Start the feedback
Just keep in mind that successfully onboarding a new employee is not an overnight process.
It can take several weeks or months so be prepared to check in often and schedule regular catch-ups to give new hires the opportunity to air any concerns and receive feedback on their progress.
Take the time to observe them and ask questions. Facilitate any additional training that may be needed. Keep the employee motivated and engaged by celebrating success. It could be as simple as noting the new employee’s achievements in a team meeting.
The time invested in an effective employee onboarding process comes with a lot of long-term satisfaction.
It can lead to a faster learning curve, greater productivity and staff retention, and help to build a more motivated and engaged workforce from the start.
Now, as a wrap up on this topic, let’s review what we’ve learned and let’s take a look at the top 5 reasons employers should optimize their onboarding programs:
- Smart onboarding can reduce turnover — and turnover costs
- Smart onboarding is an opportunity to sustainably and strategically align the new hire and the organization to each other, so both can grow together
- Smart onboarding helps enrich the organizational culture
- Smart onboarding can cultivate teamwork, mentorship, and leadership
- Smart onboarding — never easy, always valuable
How can you add some spice to your onboarding process to quickly get your new hires motivated, productive and enthusiastic about your company?
