Filling open positions is becoming more of a challenge for many organizations. With the unemployment rate in the United States is sinking to just under 3.7 percent, employers are struggling to invent new ways to attract and retain talented candidates for their teams.
With today’s candidate-driven market, it is simply too easy to find new opportunities and new positions. Given that the average employee alters their career path ten times between the age of 18 and 37, employers are scrambling for new and creative ways to retain top talent. Arguably the most important impactful process to focus on is employee onboarding process. This is a chance for employers to ensure new employees that they made the correct decision in committing to work for them. During this period, new hires are set up for success via access to the right technology, scheduled trainings, culture events and more. Implementing a prudent onboarding strategy will not only increase retention, it will also offset further hiring costs and create empowered employees with higher performance rates.
What is an Onboarding Process?
Onboarding is the process of:
- Introducing employees to a company
- Integrating them into the culture
- Helping them understand company and team goals
- Preparing them for the job they will be performing and more
Think of this process as an initiation for new hires. This is a crucial time to prepare them for the obstacles that lie ahead and provide them with the tools they will need to overcome them.
Why have an onboarding process?
Many people are unsure of whether they truly want a position within a company, even after they accept it because they do not know what to expect from a company. The 90-day window is a time for employers and employees alike to decide if the situation will be a good fit. This beginning stage in an employer-employee relationship is a critical time for both the employer and employee(s) to get a feel for whether or not things will work out. Employers want to find an individual with a similar work ethic, and employees desire to find a company where they fit into the culture.
Employers should view this time as a window of opportunity in which they can give new hires the tools for success, while also understanding the huge imprint the onboarding process has on employees. According to the consulting firm BCG, onboarding has the second biggest impact of all 22 human resources practices, closely following recruiting. Onboarding serves as a time for employers to guide new employees, make expectations clear, implement trainings and leave a positive impression. A strong employee onboarding process enhances how employees will perform on the job, helps a team to flourish and reduces employee turnover.
To increase retention rates and help boost employee job performance, employers can work to create a streamlined strategy to welcome and train new hires.
How to Improve the Onboarding Process
Let’s discuss the ways to develop an onboarding process. It may simpler than you anticipated.
Engaging new employees in team building activities is a fun way to introduce them to your company’s culture. Their first day on the job is a chance to make a great impression and avoid the financial blow of losing a new and valuable employee. This helps to avoid having to conduct further recruiting activities and retrain someone else.
Instead of subjecting a new hire to a stack of paperwork, make them feel slightly more at ease with games and activities to “break the ice”. Such events might include scavenger hunts, Two Truths and a Lie, video games and team welcome lunches for example.
These creative exercises can help make introductions less awkward, which will help to boost productivity and communication later on. They are simple, yet effectively help to quickly break down invisible walls. They also help new employees to feel less shy and will encourage them to build their social network, strengthening the team dynamic overall.
Employers should also make sure new additions to their team feel “in-the-loop”! They can have a veteran employee show them around, discuss how things are done, what a typical workday is like, any office traditions, and detail company perks and benefits.
Employers can also take this time to enroll employees in training programs. This will help to clearly explain job roles, provide new hires with necessary skills, and communicate what daily tasks are to be expected.
To align with the objectives set by the organization, management should work to cultivate smaller goals with new hires first. Managers can also schedule weekly one-on-one meetings as another great way to continue connecting with individuals on a personal and professional level to ensure they are progressing and meeting goals.
Ensuring role-expectations, company policies and more is vital and must should be discussed during the onboarding process to ensure new employees are successful. This is a time to detail responsibilities and tasks that an employer expects to be performed. Not communicating this clearly will only result in frustration on both ends, for managers and employees later down the road. An open exchange creates a palpable understanding that communication is always encouraged.
Streamline Processes with the Arcoro Talent Management System
To ease the challenges of onboarding and new hire initiation, many HR administrators are jumping on the trend of using advanced Human Capital Management (HCM) software, which can automate most essential HR processes.
The Arcoro cloud-based HCM platform offers scalable modules which can be customized to satisfy all Talent Management processes. Arcoro fully automated modules streamline sensitive data in order to make activities simple for administrators and employees. Information is shared seamlessly between carriers and third parties from one secure location, and employees can access their personal information at any time.
Arcoro software offers solutions that will increase efficiencies, boost employee engagement and create a more clear understanding between administrators and employees Administrators can save time on essential tasks by utilizing this software, which can automate processes for:
- Applicant tracking
- Onboarding
- Performance management
- Learning management
- Succession planning
- CoreHR
- Employee self-service (Employee Portal)
- Workflow Management
- Reporting
- EZ Sign (electronic signature)
- Employee Record Management
- Surveys
- Benefits Management
- ACA Compliance
- Payroll Processing
- Time and Attendance
