Best Practices for Your Onboarding Program
You have taken the time and devoted the efforts to finding and hiring the right candidates. Now, you need to retain them. One way to increase your employee retention is to establish an onboarding program. A few reasons to put effort into this program:
- New hires will immediately feel that they are a part of something bigger, and that they are important.
- They will get a good sense and understanding of your company culture.
- Newbies can become hooked into your social and professional networks more quickly.
- The training time required to get new employees up to full productivity is reduced.
When establishing your onboarding program, you should consider the following:
- Establish an official time frame for your program, probably 3 to 6 months or more, depending on the position. There will be a few days of intensive immersion at the start, and then a schedule for the remaining weeks. You may want to set up a “shadow” rotation so the new employee gets to spend some time in each department following another employee through their day to day tasks. Also, schedule periodic check- ins with supervisors or managers to make sure the new hire is feeling settled and learning from the experience.
- Make sure that your new employee has all the necessary resources available at their fingertips. This means everything from training manuals, videos and office equipment, to a peer mentor. Make sure they know where the break room is and what is available to them for their use such as a microwave, refrigerator, etc. It may seem overly simplistic, but you need to make sure they know how to use the telephone and have a phone list handy. Make sure they get a crash course in how the copier works. These are small items that can really take away some new-job stress for a person beginning with your company. And, it will allow them to be able to focus on becoming productive right away.
- Help them assimilate. So much employee turn-over is actually because a new employee never really feels that they fit in with the rest of your staff, or that no one is paying attention. Make sure that you have a supervisor or a mentor directly responsible for insuring that your newest staff members get included in all team meetings or functions. The manager should help the new hire to set goals, and then help them create a plan to meet and exceed those goals. Further, the manager should monitor the employee’s progress and give them feedback all along the way.
Once you find the right applicant for your open positions, you really want them to stay long-term. The time and energy you put into establishing your onboarding program will be paid back to you with increased employee retention.
ERG Staffing Services will find you qualified applicants for your light industrial jobs, and even prequalify and hire them for you. This saves you time and energy so you can focus on all the other aspects of your business. Contact our trained experts today to learn exactly how we can help you, and we can get started right away.
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