The job of the recruitment team does not end when the employee has been recruited, rather the responsibilities start henceforth.
The experience of an employee depends on the onboarding process to a great extent. Even when the organization has designed the best onboarding program, the employees may not feel it satisfactory. This can eventually lead to a higher number of turnovers.
In a study conducted by Automatic Data Processing, Inc, it was found that in a survey conducted with 1500 employees only 21% were happy with the onboarding system.
So, what has to be done to satisfy the employees with the Onboarding process?
It is simply by bringing some small changes in the system.
Strategies to Improve Employee Onboarding
Most companies think the first-day lunch is the onboarding day. But a proper onboarding system is something much beyond this. In order to gain the loyalty of the employee, it is going to take some time. On average, an employee may take 100 days or so to adjust to the new environment and know the other employees better.
Hence, one of the biggest ticks on employee onboarding checklist should be the 100 days process.
So, what shall you do in these 100 days?
Tayla N Bauer has stated in her book “Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success”, about four important Cs. These are connection, culture, clarification, and compliance. She has mentioned that the best way to offer the finest employee onboarding experience is by working on these four C areas. Working on these four areas during the initial 100 days can surely yield some good results.
Compliance: Just offering the employee your company’s website to glance at will not help the person in understanding the goal of the company. The goal of an organization is mainly a feeling that every employee needs to have in order to work towards it. It is the responsibility of the recruitment department to make the employee understand this goal. Along with this goal, it is also important that you mention the policies and rules of the company in detail.
Now, again just sending copies of rules and agendas to the employee will simply bore them. There have been a number of times when many of the employees do not even look at these folders. The solution is to present these things in front of the employees in a much creative and interactive way.
Clarification: Having transparency is something that everyone wishes to have. When you wish to have a clean slate from your employee’s side, the employee will expect the same from you. Whether it is the salary, deductions, company policies, or anything else, everything should be presented in front of the employee in a clear way. This helps in increasing the faith of the employee on you. Quite obviously, with increasing faith, loyalty keeps on increasing.
Not just is it important to keep things transparent in front of the employees, you should be also ready to answer the questions of the employees in a clear way. When you offer proper clarification about every point, this boosts up the morale of the employee and this motivates the employee in working better.
Culture: Every company has its values that frame its work culture. When you make the employees acquainted with the history of the company, they may find some motivational stories and events within it. Also, it is quite logical that you need to let the person know about the history and culture of the place if you want him or her to stay for a long time.
It is only when the employee owns the culture by heart, then only he or she can camouflage in the environment better. Hence, helping the employee know the company and office culture should be the prime goal in your employee onboarding checklist.
Connection: Even for the most extroverted person, it can be really hard to break the ice initially. This can make the employee actually feel castaway in some cases. Of course, there are some people who may come up to comfort the newcomer, but it is the prime responsibility of the recruiter to do the needful.
You should help them in getting connected with the other employees in the company. Of course, the first day is the introduction session where you introduce the newcomer to all. But it is quite obvious that the new hire will not be able to remember all of them at once. But going blankly to talk to anyone can be a little uncomfortable. Create situations so that this discomfort zone can be removed and the connection building can start up soon.
Employee onboarding is often confused with induction. But it is to be understood that onboarding is much longer proper and induction is just a part of it. Following innovative strategies based on the four Cs can help in improving the employee onboarding recruitment process for sure.
