Employee onboarding – warm welcome or completely clueless?
Carl Hinett
Director at re:find: successfully helping business leaders to find the talent to deliver change.
We know how important onboarding is for our candidates. The wrong experience can have a hugely detrimental effect on a new starter.
The process ensures new employees receive all relevant information and understand how the company works and what is expected of them. This information allows them to transition from a new joiner to a productive team member, and so is a vital process within any organisation.
It’s not just about the new starter
It's not just about the new joiner either, your onboarding process can affect existing team members who will register the way a new employee is treated.
Onboarding begins before the new team member even enters the building – both internally and externally. Calling the new employee is clearly important to let them know the basics, but also letting the existing team members know what is happening.
King of onboarding
We understand how important onboarding is, so we’ve incorporated it into our process. We’ve had congratulations packs created for all our new starters – a nice surprise and welcome on the first day in your new role.
Graze takes the title of 'King of onboarding'. Check out their desk set up for their new starters. How happy would you be if this was your desk on your first day…
Returning to work onboarding
My wife, Gemma, wrote a blog about onboarding, with a difference - the importance of onboarding returning maternity leavers. “Yes, they’ve always been employed and aren’t “new’, but when I returned to work after 10 months out, a lot had changed, and I mean a lot. It was almost like returning to a new business. This, coupled with the fear of returning to work, was surely a recipe for disaster.”
Some key points are addressed about being introduced back into the company/role after a substantial period away, including new technology, new faces and new structure. You can read the full blog here.
In any capacity, onboarding is important to your business – it makes for happy employees and better business efficiency, as it gets employees up to speed quickly.
To have a chat about your experiences with onboarding or returning to work you can contact me at [email protected].
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Marketeer with a passion for digital marketing and attribution.
5 年Some 'welcome' videos make me just cringe with embarrassment. Having the whole team form a tunnel and applaud the new starter 'arriving' is one I particularly dislike - but that might just be the introvert in me.
Facilitator/Director of Deborah Mullins Training Ltd and employed by NHS South Yorkshire ICB
5 年I totally agree!! Many organisations have started to solely focus on on-line induction but there really is no replacement for a good old fashioned face-to-face welcome! It’s the personal touch that staff like. We are social beings afterall!
The Other Way to do Internal Communication | Ex-Masgroves | Former HRD | Ex-host of Thursday Brunch | #TOWTDIC
5 年Onboarding needs to be seen as part of the overall Attraction Process, not something different or unconnected. Desk set ups are fine but onboarding is more about helping people feel part of a community, learning about the company and feeling they can make a difference.
COO & Director of People Science at The People Experience Hub | Transforming employee surveys into actionable insights for better engagement and wellbeing.
5 年Great point about returning - there are many times when we might need to renew our relationship with an employer. I remember as a young consultant spending months on client site and at times not being sure where I belonged..