Employee Onboarding: Popular Topics and Why It’s Important
As time marches forward, new industries will arise, workplaces will transform, and organizations will covet different skills. Amid such change, one thing is sure: employee onboarding programs will remain vital.
Whether your organization conducts virtual onboarding or sticks to in-person onboarding, the goal is to prepare new hires to succeed in their roles. That’s easier said than done, especially considering the number of elements that impact employee success. The best employee onboarding programs account for them all.
In this article, I define onboarding programs, explain why they’re important, and discuss how to establish effective onboarding.
Read the full article on roundtablelearning.com.
What is Employee Onboarding?
Organizations use onboarding training programs to bring new hires into the company smoothly. They feature everything from strategy discussions to technical training — anything your new hires need to do their job comfortably and completely.
Additionally, you should warmly welcome new hires to the team. They want to understand how their role will help achieve department and organization goals. And they want to be equipped with the resources to do their best work.
All that considered, typical objectives of onboarding programs include:
- Get new employees working at full capacity as soon as possible
- Prepare a new employee for their position’s tasks and duties
- Get new hires immersed with the team and the company culture
- Help new hires understand their role and the tools and processes needed to do them
- Show new hires how their work will achieve department and organizational goals
The employer might have its onboarding goals, and the employee has theirs. But really, they seek the same outcome: a solid foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship.
Read the full article on roundtablelearning.com.
What Topics Does Onboarding Cover?
Given the many goals of onboarding training, a program often includes these topics:
- Workplace tours and company history
- Values and culture
- Employee benefits
- Workplace policies
- Position-specific tasks and processes
- Department-specific goals and projects
- Safety protocols
- Sales techniques
- Technology and systems
- Compliance
- Soft skills
Your onboarding program’s exact makeup depends on your organization and the new hire’s role. For example, onboarding for warehouse associates might have a greater emphasis on safety training, while sales may focus more on soft skills training.
Why is Onboarding Important?
Onboarding is a crucial step to seeing ROI from new employees. When you consider each new hire costs organizations $4,000 and 24 days on average, you know the importance of protecting that investment with effective employee onboarding.
Bad employee onboarding may be disorganized, impersonal, unhelpful, or any combination of the three, leading to your new employees feeling confused, disengaged, and unmotivated. 33% of new hires leave their jobs within their first 90 days, and lousy employee onboarding increases that risk.
On the other hand, good employee onboarding programs can excite and motivate new hires while also reducing their anxiety. Of the 33% who leave their jobs in the first three months, 43% pointed to their day-to-day role being different from what they expected. 32% cited the company culture as the culprit. Onboarding — and a transparent hiring process — can alleviate those concerns and more.
In other words, employee onboarding is critical because it can combat employee attrition.