Employee Onboarding: 7 Best Practices That Management Should Adopt

They say that first impressions are always the most important.

When it comes to your business, the way that you are perceived by your customers and employees alike can literally make or break you.

That’s why Business Managers and HR Professionals like you need to ensure you’re always making the best first impression on anyone who interacts with your business - in particular your new hires.

Your employee onboarding process needs to prove to these new members of your team that they’ve made the right decision and your business is the ideal fit for them.

According to Gallup, 70% of employees who had exceptional onboarding experiences believe they have “the best possible job”. What’s more, these employees are 2.6 times more likely to be extremely satisfied with their workplace – meaning the chances of them staying with your company for the long term are much greater.

So, not only does a great first impression help with better engagement and employee retention, but it also saves you the cost of re-hiring so often as well.

Today, we’re going to share 7 employee onboarding best practices that your management team should adopt to help you make the ideal first impression.

Let’s get started.

1. Get your new hires excited early with preboarding activities

We often think of preboarding as just filling out a few necessary forms early so new hires are good to go when they arrive on day one, but this is actually a golden opportunity to start the employee onboarding process on the front foot.

Get your new hires excited with a fun welcome pack. You can throw in some branded merch, tell them all about your company culture, run them through how their first day is going to go, and just let them know how excited you are to have them start.

2. Involve your team and managers in the onboarding process

Being the new person in a business can feel daunting, especially when you don’t know anyone. By taking the time to introduce your new hire to each member of the office, you can kickstart their new relationship with their co-workers and help them feel like part of the team from the beginning.

This doesn’t just mean introducing other employees, though. According to Gallup, when the manager takes an active role in onboarding, employees are 3.4 times more likely to feel like their onboarding process was successful. Introducing and involving direct managers in the process helps to make them feel more accessible to a new hire and more invested in their success.

3. Eliminate confusion by outlining expectations from day one

Setting realistic expectations with your new hires from the outset not only ensures they have a clear understanding of their role but also helps eliminate any confusion they may have had that could stunt their onboarding process. They can then settle in much more smoothly into their role and will be far less likely to feel overwhelmed at any stage.

As part of this step, you should also reiterate your company values with your new hire as well. Doing so will help them to understand the conduct you expect from them while also reinforcing the fact that they are now part of a larger team.

4. Provide new hires with adequate training, but don’t overwhelm them

This goes without saying, but giving your new hires the proper training and resources that they need to be successful in their role is one of the most important parts of your employee onboarding process. However, it’s a fine balance.

Don’t give them more than they can handle in their first few days. Overloading them with information will only lead to overwhelm, which is counterproductive and could lead to re-hiring a lot sooner than you anticipated.

5. Pair them up with another employee for their first few weeks

In addition to introducing new hires to your team, pairing them up with another employee to help them get started, settle in and show them around the office is a great way to make them feel welcome and valued in their new role.

In doing so, you’re also giving them someone with whom they can develop a particular bond within the office, and who can help field any questions they may have over their initial onboarding period.

6. Offer ongoing support and feedback on their progress

A well-supported new hire is a happy new hire. Not only is it smart to pair them up with an office buddy, but it’s also an important part of your role to offer ongoing support as well.

Check in with your new hire regularly and ask them how they are going in their role. In addition, you can also ask other team members how they think the new hire is going and gather some feedback on their progress so you can continue to help them settle in as smoothly as possible.

7. Get feedback from new hires to further improve the employee onboarding experience

Just as important as providing feedback to your new hires, you should also be collecting feedback from them about their experience to help you improve and implement more employee onboarding best practices for future employees to bolster your engagement and employee retention rates.

Fortunately, there are innovative platforms like VibeCatch that make it easier for you to prepare surveys and polls for employees.

VibeCatch empowers you to actively listen to staff

In the digital age, data is king, and regularly measuring your employee engagement and well-being levels equips you with valuable insights that can enhance your work environment for everyone.

At VibeCatch, we offer the ideal way to proactively listen and communicate with your team so you can foster healthy relationships and reduce the turnover of your best employees.

Built on science, our platform collects frequent and anonymous feedback from employees and delivers an automatic and clear breakdown of the results to help you make smarter decisions for your people.