Hiring a new employee takes time, money, and resources. But it is all worth it to find a person that fits the position and the company. Companies are more than happy to invest in hiring the right person. But once the hire is completed, there is often little to no plan to help the new hire adjust to their new role. Onboarding falls through the cracks even though “54% of organizations with a formal onboarding process experience greater new hire productivity.”
Onboarding Matters
Onboarding is often passed over due to resource limitations and assumptions that someone in the organization will take care of it. But it is critical to start off on the right foot, just like when you start any new relationship. You have put in all the work to hire someone, why stop once they start working for you? Having a robust and strong process will set your new hires up for success, with organizations using a formal onboarding process seeing a 50% new hire retention than companies without a formal process.
The Effects of Good and Bad Onboarding
Whether or not your company’s process is helping new hires will be apparent in the first month. Good onboarding results in the new hire having:
· Comprehensive understanding of the company and its values
· Clear expectations of their role and how they will be held accountable
· Knowledge of the right resources to ask for help and direction when needed
· The resources that allow him/her to perform to expectations (SOPs, training manuals, etc.)
If your onboarding process is thorough and successful, your new hires will be confident and ready to go quickly. They will be set up for success.
On the reverse side, if your onboarding is haphazard or, worse, non-existent, the new hire will have:
· Little to no understanding of the company and its values
· A lot of ambient downtime with no direction
· Confusion around expectations
· Uncertainty on who to ask for help and direction when needed
· A lot of guesswork on what and how to do things
If new hires are not onboarded properly, there may be bad effects in the short-term. They will take longer to adjust to their role and perform their jobs successfully. With employee turnover rates in the first 18 months being as high as 50%, according to SHRM, a successful onboarding process that engages and welcomes the employees may help reduce that percentage.
Invest in Your New Hires
Hiring is time and resource intensive but is absolutely crucial to growing your company the right way. Don’t stop investing in your new hires once they are hired. Set them up for success and continue to nurture the relationship through onboarding.
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