Onboarding - first impression?

Are new employees getting the right messages during onboarding with HR and with their managers?

1. Compliance executives are often surprised at what is – and what is not – said during employee onboarding, have you ever requested to review the materials being used in the onboarding process and offer to help refine them
2. Consider designating someone from your department or a supportive manager to attend new hire onboarding meetings as the face of the department and get them 10 minutes on the agenda.

it’s important to keep a few things in mind.

1.    Employee onboarding is not just a one-day activity.

2.    Always adapt and evolve your employee onboarding process as needed.

3.    Look beyond your onboarding list for opportunities to improve.

4.    Think of onboarding new employees as a precursor to performance management.

5.    Listen to your employees – let them tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Your safety onboarding program says a lot about your organization and the importance it gives to safety. Make sure your new hires are getting the right message.

A new employee’s first few days on the job are a crucial time for conveying essential safety information and establishing a proper orientation to workplace safety.

During that time, someone—your safety staff, the new employee’s supervisor, or an experienced employee appointed by the supervisor—must:

• Reinforce the message about the organization’s commitment to safety.
• Explain your accident prevention programs.
• Talk about hazard reporting procedures and the need to report hazards spotted anywhere in the facility, not just the employee’s own work area
• Discuss PPE selection, inspection, and use requirements.
• Talk about safety signage and other information that helps keep workers safe.
• Discuss in more detail safety policies, rules & procedures related to new worker’s job.
• Preview upcoming training and talk about training schedules.
• Encourage and answer any questions new hires have about their safety on the job.

In other words, always be aware that your employee onboarding process can (and will!) evolve over time with the end goal of getting the absolute most out of individual employees and the team as a whole.

Stage 1: After you say “you’re hired”

The moment you call your candidate and tell them the exciting news that you’d like to hire them for the job, you have begun the onboarding process. You should do everything in your power to make sure the candidate knows that your team is excited for them to join. This is a time for celebration, so have some fun with it!

Here are some ideas to add to

Stage 1 of your employee onboarding:

1. ·     Call the candidate and tell them “You’re hired!”
2. ·     Gather the team and create a welcome video.
3. ·     Send them a welcome gift or a piece of company swag.

Stage 1 is all about making sure your candidate is happy to say yes to your job offer and get them excited to meet the team behind the hilarious welcome video.

Stage 2: Before the first day

Once your candidate has been thoroughly welcomed, you can now focus on preparing for their first day on the job. This phase really lends itself to an onboarding list because it’s predominantly a laundry list of to-do items (with some fun in it too).

Let’s get some of the more boring – but important – items onto your onboarding list.

These can include:

·     Assembling and preparing all relevant paperwork (payroll forms, benefits, etc.).

·     Preparing their work station (throw in some welcome signs and decorations).

·     Gathering all of the tools the new hire will need.

·     Creating all the required accounts (email, payroll, travel, expenses, etc.).

·     Draft a list of required readings and meetings for orientation.

·     Make the first-day schedule.

I have seen it so many times that your candidates go MIA (Missing In Action) prior to your candidate onboarding. Make sure you keep the lines of communication open and notify the new hire of what they can expect on day one.

Some fun items that you can add to your employee onboarding schedule that will help keep this “in between period” as engaging as possible include:

• Send daily or weekly “teasers” about what the employee can expect on day one (make this fun but don’t freak them out).
• Encourage your hiring managers to send over previews of exciting work they’ll be a part of.
• Tell them where they’re going for lunch on the first day or Anything else you can think of. Be creative!

Once you’ve thoroughly prepared for the arrival of your new hire, you’ll be ready to go for Stage 3.

Stage 3: First day

First days are all about welcoming your employee to the team, showing them around the office, introducing them to everyone, and getting them started on the right foot. There are many tried and test first day rituals and you should look to create your own traditions that are in line with your culture.

Here are some onboarding ideas for your new hire’s first day on the job:

• Meet and welcome the new hire to the team.
• Show them around the office (their work station, the kitchen, the washrooms, etc.).
• Help them log in to the system and their emails.
• Have them sign any required new hire documents.
• Introduce them to their new team members.
• Create any access badges or parking passes that they’ll need.
• Provide an orientation or an overview of the company culture and values.
• Review the first week’s schedule (required meetings, training sessions, etc.).
• Assign training and orientation materials.
• Take them out for lunch with members of their immediate team.
• Assign a mentor or a buddy to help with their first week.

The first day should be fun and welcoming, but also cover all of the necessary items required to get the new hire up and running as soon as possible. You don’t want to overwhelm your new hire, but you do want them to feel informed and prepared for their new role.

Stage 4: First week

After the excitement of the first day has died down, the new hire can begin to get their feet wet with some real work or by simply completing the orientation tasks that you assigned to them in Stage 3. The goal for the remaining phases of the employee onboarding process will be to transition your new hire into being a full and productive member of your team.

Here are some new employee onboarding items you should consider for Stage 4:

• Assign your new hire their first project.
• Explain expectations and projects for the coming months.
• Communicate opportunities for “quick wins” to help build confidence.
• Set professional development and job goals for the coming months.
• Meet with the new hire daily to ensure everything is going well, equipment is working properly, and that they are feeling supported.
• Encourage the new hire to socialize with their new team members.

·     Hold the first week debriefs to discuss how things are going.

As always, it’s important to keep the lines of communication open and honest with your new hires. This is particularly important in the first week of employment. It doesn’t take long for a new hire to start feeling disillusioned or lost, so you’ll want to make sure that you’re providing all of the necessary support.

This is also the phase that a rigid onboarding routine can start to break down. As mentioned, all employees are different, so you have to make the effort to adapt and evolve your employee onboarding process to account for those differences. If you’re following you’re onboarding list and everything’s going well, then great!

But don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and evolve your process.

Stage 5: First month

By Phase 5, your new hire should be starting to come into their own and be getting involved with important company projects. They likely won’t be a fully productive member of your team just yet, but the good news is that you’re entering the bridge period between “newbie” and “superstar”.

Encourage your new hire to continue learning, developing and asking questions.

During Stage 5, you should expect to cover the following items on your employee onboarding:

• Continue to provide (and receive) regular feedback.
• Discuss what has worked during onboarding and what work still needs to be done to ensure the best development possible.
• Review any assignment completed during the first month and explain learning opportunities.
• Assign increasingly important and challenging assignments to test your new hire’s abilities.
• Ensure the new hire is on schedule with the training schedule you assigned them.
• Make sure the employee’s payroll and benefits are working properly (address the issue if they are not).

You likely won’t have enough of a sample pool just yet to provide a full performance review of your employee, but there should be signs that your new hire is coming into their own.

Encourage them to keep going and provide support along the way.

Stage 6: First three to six months

Your onboarding checklist in Stage 6 will be largely based on your company policy around probationary periods and performance reviews.

By this phase, your employee will likely be quite comfortable in their new role and regularly contributing to projects and team success. There is still a need for regular coaching, so keep holding regular check-ins and review meetings. 

Some items to put on your onboarding list for Stage 6 include:

• Hold an informal or formal performance review, depending on company policy.
• Review the assignments they have completed.
• Continue to give and receive feedback on individual and team performance.
• Set goals and objectives for the second half of the year.
• Discuss and arrange the end of the probationary period, if applicable.
• Continue to assign increasingly important and challenging projects. 

Stage 7: First year

By the end of their first year with your company, employees should be fully productive members of your team Stage 7 is something of an informal transition from onboarding to general performance management.

At this phase, your employee will be able to provide valuable, retrospective insight into your onboarding process and provide feedback into how you can evolve and improve it for future hires.

As the employee moves into their second year, your onboarding checklist will begin to look a bit repetitive and, in reality, evolve into a list of best practice activities for performance management.

Items at Stage 7 of your onboarding checklist will likely include the following:

• A yearly performance review (ideally on the heels of many smaller performance reviews along the way).
• Recognition for completing their first year at the company.
• A discussion of goals, projects, and plans for the next year.
• A meeting about professional development plans and future movement within the company.
• Talk about compensation and raises if warranted.

As said at the start of this article, employee onboarding is critical to not only the success of your team and your company- Make sure you don’t forget it.

There is no “one onboarding routine fits all” approach to this process. It’s something that should be grown and evolved over time and adapted based on the needs of each individual employee.

It may seem like a lot of work, but having a team of fully engaged, productive and happy employees will be well worth the effort when it comes time to look at your company’s yearly revenue numbers.