The Watercooler

Nobody Puts Onboarding in a Corner: How to Perfect Your Onboarding Process

You know that feeling you get when you walk into a massive store looking for something specific…have no idea where to start…and can’t find a single employee to help you?

Then you know what it feels like to be a new hire going through an ineffective onboarding process.

The way you onboard a new hire – whether they’re on-site or working remotely, and whether they’re your direct employee or temporary staff – sets the tone for their entire work experience with you.

By investing the time to perfect your onboarding process, people will feel welcomed, prepared, motivated, and engaged from the moment they start work with you. As a result, they’ll have the confidence and resources to quickly make a positive impact within your company (which is why you brought them on in the first place, right?).

Here are a few practical tips from our national employment agency to optimize your onboarding process:

Tips for Perfecting Employee Onboarding:

Look for opportunities to improve “early onboarding.”

Onboarding actually starts from the moment your employees are first recruited. Review the following to make sure your pre-hire communications are complete, accurate, transparent, welcoming, and reflective of your brand and core values:

    • Job descriptions
    • Recruiting and hiring email templates
    • Offer letters
    • Salary negotiation communications
    • Communications during the waiting period between hiring and day one of employment (e.g., welcome letter)

Create checklists.

The more robust your onboarding process is, the easier it is to overlook important details. Make sure nothing gets lost in the shuffle by using checklists. For example, here’s a checklist for items to be addressed before an employee’s first day:

    • Send welcome email
    • Tech setup (setup email and other user accounts, setup laptop or desktop, setup phone, etc.)
    • Order business cards
    • Announce new hire internally
    • Assign parking spot
    • Make plans for lunch first day
    • Send new hire paperwork to be completed before the first day
    • Create a first-day schedule, including scheduling meeting and making introductions
    • Create a training plan and 30, 60, and 90-day goals

Equip your business for remote onboarding.

The rise of virtual and hybrid workplace models drives the need for more robust onboarding for remote employees. If you haven’t already, create a remote onboarding plan, adjusting your tech and processes to create a great experience for employees who will be working virtually. Check out this post, “Is Your Business Equipped for Remote Onboarding,” for best practices.

Extend onboarding beyond the first week.

New employees are likely to have questions for weeks (or even months) after they start working with you, so keep engaging with your new hires beyond their first week. Set a regular meeting cadence, and keep checking in informally to build a strong working relationship and ensure they stay on track with their training and goals.

Don’t forget about onboarding temporary employees.

Temporary associates face a fresh set of challenges with each new assignment. While they’re used to managing the change that’s inherent in their work, a thorough and consistent onboarding process can dramatically improve their time to productivity. As their employer of record, PrideStaff takes the lead in onboarding temporary workers (e.g., making sure paperwork is complete and providing complete descriptions of assignment responsibilities). Here are a few simple onboarding steps you can take to help assimilate temporary employees and make sure they’re happy and efficient:

    • Provide performance expectations to the staffing recruiter, so all parties are on the same page and working on toward the same goals.
    • Make sure everyone on your core team knows who is coming and what they will be doing. Explain to your employees what they can do to make temporary staff feel welcome.
    • Have all the materials and supplies associates will need available, and setup work areas before they arrive.
    • Once associates arrive, spend a few minutes introducing them to their supervisor and your employees – so they know where to go for help.

Continually review and improve your program.

The world of work is changing faster than ever; onboarding processes that work well today may not be as effective a year or two from now. Periodically review your processes, gathering feedback from both managers and new hires to refine onboarding – and make the experience even more beneficial and rewarding.

Partner with PrideStaff to maximize new hire success.

A national staffing agency like PrideStaff leverages proven processes, best-in-class technology, and decades of recruiting experience to deliver your ideal candidates quickly – and get them off to a productive start. Contact us today to find out how we can help you build a flexible, high-performing team.