Ideas to Help Onboard New Employees

With today’s competitive labor market, it’s important that your company has an onboarding system ready to go when you get a prospective employee to say “Yes!” to joining your company. Here are some ideas:

• Engage before day one. Once a contract is signed or a verbal acceptance given, candidates may still be hearing from other companies that they have interviewed with and could easily rescind their acceptance. So, keep your company front of mind until day one by making periodic check-ins to answer any questions and ensure your new employee knows what to bring and do on their first day of work.
• Immediately schedule one-on-one meetings with the supervisor. A study by Microsoft Analytics found that employees who got little or no one-on-one time with direct managers were more likely to be disengaged. Similarly, in a LinkedIn survey, 72 percent of respondents said that such one-on-one time was the most important part of their onboarding process. Whether these meetings take place in person or virtually, consider scheduling several one-on-one meetings with the new employee’s manager throughout the first few months of employment.
• Schedule meetings with other team members. In addition to scheduling one-on-one meetings with the new employee’s supervisor, consider scheduling meetings with other team members. These meetings will help the new employee further develop more personal connections with people throughout the company.
• Ensure equipment arrives on time. With widespread supply chain disruptions still plaguing many industries, double-check with your suppliers that all necessary equipment arrives and is set up and tested prior to your new employee’s first day.
• Develop milestones. Many new employees are unsure of their performance during the initial months of a new job. To help both the employee understand how they are doing and to give your business an idea of what tasks you want your new employee to be responsible for, consider developing a list of milestones to ensure the new employee is being properly utilized.