Are you a 12%er?

Proper onboarding… continued

Hopefully, you gave some thought to your new hire onboarding process after reading the last blog article.

It takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to recruit high-performing team members. 

So why drop the ball, and turn all that hard work into wasted time, effort, and energy?  

To quote my good friend, Lt. Col. Waldo Waldman, “All thrust and no vector.”  

I like to think that onboarding begins immediately after an offer is accepted by a candidate. 

A simple check-in after an offer is accepted with “next steps” is a great opportunity to bridge the gap. It can be a simple email or video that’s sent to them congratulating them for becoming part of your team.  

Immediately after a hire is made, we do both. 

An introduction email is also sent out to the new hire and all our team members are copied to it so they can each reply to say hello and welcome them to the team.

We schedule their first day with us on Monday (as that is when we have our company wide culture team call).  I do this because I want our new hires to feel completely in awe of our team and how we practice our company culture. 

If you’ve read my blog articles religiously, you know we have a weekly company wide meeting (every Monday morning) solely dedicated to our core values and expressing how we’ve lived those core values the previous week.  (We also do SNAPs immediately after). 

By doing this, we immediately show our new team members that we really are who we say we are, as our hiring process includes an extensive culture fit screening, and we explain how culture is the most important driver in our organization. 

Also, the experience on the first day at work tends to stick with people forever. This is how we start to make it memorable and fun!

We also have a set plan in place for our new hire (exactly what and who they will be meeting with each week). 

We resist the urge to bombard information on our new team members (as this will overwhelm them right off the bat). We give them the information they need in steps and order of importance.

Again, our weekly plan for the new team member may change each week but the idea is to have a plan to keep onboarding on track as much as possible. 

Also, by meeting with new team members every day, they get a chance to get to know different people they will be working with. 

This is the start of our team camaraderie. This also allows the new team member to know “who does what” in the organization. 

From the start, we set expectations with our new hires. Here’s just a few things we do with our new team members…

• Before their first day, they have been set up a company email address, and given access to the software they will need
• In a written document, they can visually see what is expected of them in the role they were hired for (they have this right after they accept the position) 
• Orientation is set for Day 1 and is taken care of in one day (company policies, payroll, standing meetings, etc.)
• SOPs are shared with the new team member so they always have a reference point and feel confident they know how to do something with 100% accuracy
• We schedule 30, 60, and 90-day performance reviews with new team members and let them know this is their opportunity to let us know how WE can help support them better
• Every team member attends our Monday morning culture meetings and our Thursday company wide meetings
• Every new team member knows exactly who they report to, and they know exactly who to go to for support when they need it (a great communication tool we use is Teamwork chat–all team members can be reached in a simple way, and conversations can stay organized and referenced if need be)
• All new team members get a custom email signature and Business Nitrogen zoom background–it’s a great way to show unity and inclusion

Last but not least, we continually refine and improve our onboarding process. We are always looking for new and unique ways to cultivate and embrace our team. 

A few common mistakes I see business owners make with new hires include: 

• Ignoring onboarding activities altogether
  Don’t drop the ball right after the candidate accepts the position. Remember, onboarding begins as soon as that agreement is signed.
• Information overload
  Let’s be realistic. New hires cannot learn ALL about your company in a day, or even a couple weeks. When it’s done in a rush, this new team member will feel overwhelmed with information and could even feel like they are being set up to fail.
• Confusing orientation with onboarding
  Orientation is AN EVENT while onboarding is A PROCESS. Orientation is where you let new team members know what they signed up for; payroll, benefits and basic company information.

Onboarding conveys the company’s culture, values, people, performance, and expectations. This can take weeks, as it’s meant to be done gradually.

Companies that put a focus on proper onboarding and make continual efforts to refine and improve their process retain more new team members than those that don’t. 

If you don’t want to keep expanding resources on hiring constantly (and continue your revolving door of talent), there is a need to focus on proper onboarding to retain team members and increase growth.

Remember that shocking statistic I shared in the last blog article? 

88% of new hires feel their employers did a poor job onboarding them in their new position?

What that tells me is WE ALL have at least some room for improvement. 

To your success, 

David