Employee Onboarding

Employee Onboarding is a process where a new employee is introduced to the organization’s culture, people, environment and so on. The way every organization does this is very much different. A strong onboarding process brings about higher employee engagement, branding and satisfaction from Day 1. Start your employees’ first day right and they will be very grateful for that. There is no fixed answer to how the process should be like but here are some suggestions that you can consider when designing your employee onboarding process.

1. Post-hiring

Your employee onboarding process can commence right after the offer stage. From delivering the offer until the day the employee officially starts work, engagement cannot stop. This is especially important if the employee does not start work immediately as they can still choose to explore other opportunities during the waiting period.

Actions that can be taken during this process are – 

• Stay in contact with the employee
• Clear any administrative procedures with them before the first day of work
• Invite the new employee to any teambuilding activity to break the ice before work starts
• Start any online training programs if applicable

2. Building up to the First Day

Setting up their workstation is one of the most important things to do. However, it is often pushed till the first day of work to be set up leaving the employee sitting there doing nothing.

Things to prepare at this stage –

• Any necessary programs, their email address and stationery should be prepared before the first day
• Programs lined up for smooth onboarding
• The team should also be informed about the new hire’s name and title  to facilitate a better experience for the employee on the first day

3. First Day of Work

There should be someone assigned to orientate the new employee on the first day. Newcomers generally feel a little nervous due to the new environment, so it will be great for employers to have a proper program to alleviate these.

Some of the suggested programs can be –

• To do an office tour
• An introduction to the team
• Showing them their work desk
• Inform them of the plans for the next few days
• Allocating a mentor to the new employee, so that if he/she needs any help, they know who to look for

4. Moving Forward

There are many things you can do moving forward to ensure constant engagement and satisfaction. Always remember to follow up to ensure that things are okay for the employee. This is also a perfect opportunity to get feedback on what could’ve been better to improve the onboarding process for the next newcomer.

Activities at this stage can be – 

• Training programs
• Team bonding activities
• Getting feedback – end of the first week, 30, 60, 90-day check-ins for a smooth transition into the role.

Kingfisher Recruitment Group is a global provider of total recruitment solutions. We help clients design people strategies, attract and develop talents worldwide across the Healthcare & Life Sciences, Professional Services, Technology, Retail & Consumer, Manufacturing, Automotive, Property & Construction, and Engineering industries.