The first three months are critical for new hires and a company’s growth prospects. Unfortunately, over 50% of new hires feel they’re undertrained and under-prepared even after onboarding, according to a 2023 survey by Paychex.
When done well, onboarding can set up new hires for long-term success in your company. Alternatively, a bad first impression or a disastrous onboarding experience can push you back to square one—posting another job ad and sorting through thousands of resumes.
Onboarding in the 21st century workplace is a team sport that requires thoughtful planning, personalization, and consistent feedback loops.
Let’s dive into how you can create an onboarding experience that sets new employees up for success.
Tips to create a positive onboarding experience
1. Design for remote inclusivity
In the Paychex survey mentioned earlier, 63% of respondents who reported being undertrained after even onboarding are remote workers.
In one form or another, the hybrid workplace is here to stay. This means your onboarding process needs to work just as well through a screen as it does in person.
So what can you do? For starters, take a digital-first approach to work collaboration. Here are some suggestions:
- Combine in-person and virtual activities, whether it’s large-scale team-building activities or a simply a casual virtual meet over coffee. Remote workers can’t easily build rapport and connection through a screen, so you must create relationship-building opportunities on purpose.
- Make sure everyone is calling in from their individual devices—regardless if two or more people are in the same room. Talking to multiple people through a screen can often feel socially overwhelming.
2. Over-communicate early and often
Uncertainty kills decisiveness and speed. If your company values those two things, make sure you over-communicate with new hires. They’ll thrive sooner rather than later when expectations are crystal clear.
Clarify right from the get-go how information and feedback will be relayed, and which channels they should keep an eye on (e.g., email, Slack, Zoom).
3. Break down silos
Some companies may prefer an isolated approach to onboarding—keeping new hires focused solely on their respective teams/departments.
However, when new team members see a glimpse of how the whole machine works, they’ll likely have a better appreciation of how their individual roles contribute to larger company goals.
Help new hires see the synergy between separate teams or departments so they can have an idea of the impact of their work. Breaking down silos also has the added benefit of establishing key relationships within the company.
4. Combine async and real-time onboarding
Effective onboarding programs blend self-paced learning with interactive sessions. Recorded trainings and detailed handbooks help new hires build the necessary foundations at their own pace.
On the other hand, in-person interactions and shadowing opportunities allow them to ask deeper questions (and give you a better sense of how they think and solve problems).
This balanced approach can adapt to different learning styles as well. For instance, visual learners can feel at ease pouring through various onboarding materials and presentations. Meanwhile, hands-on learners will appreciate a more direct approach and learning by doing.
5. Empower managers to own the onboarding process
Onboarding programs can only do so much without manager involvement and support. Gallup research shows that onboarding is only truly ever effective when managers are actively involved throughout the process.
So, rather than considering onboarding as something that happens alongside their “real work,” managers and supervisors should take this one of their most important responsibilities.
Make sure your managers are held accountable for the onboarding experience. Schedule check points with them to ensure the new hires are settling in well or roadblocks are being addressed in a timely manner.
Common onboarding mistakes to avoid
While building your onboarding process, watch out for these frequent pitfalls that can derail even the best intentions:
- Don’t dump information. Bombarding new hires with too much information in their first few weeks won’t guarantee they’ll remember all of it.
- Don’t be vague with success metrics. Without key performance indicators and clear expectations, new hires will start to question why they even signed up for the job in the first place.
- Don’t rely on a one-size-fits-all solution. Each new hire in your team brings a unique set of skills and experience, so make sure you’re onboarding them according to what the role demands.
- Avoid onboarding whiplash. New hires will feel confused and abandoned when intense support in the first two weeks is followed by a sharp drop in engagement for the rest of the onboarding period.
Set up for success at the hiring stage
A well-designed onboarding process isn’t just nice-to-have. It’s an essential piece in an organization that hopes to achieve any measure of success.
But before you even onboard anyone to your team, you’ll need to find and hire quality talent first. We can help you do exactly that—in half the time you usually do.
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