Successful on-boarding

Half of all management-level hires fail within the first 18 months, and half of all hourly workers leave their new job within the first 120 days. Those are some pretty startling and costly statistics!

Now that you have hired a new employee, you need to make a great first impression, increase your odds of retaining that new hire, and more importantly, position that new hire for success in their new role. The goal of a successful proactive on-boarding process is to welcome the new employee into the company culture and prepare the new employee for success in a short period of time. It is an element of the human resources process that is often overlooked, but can be implemented in these six steps.

Step One: Prepare for your new employee's arrival well before their first day. Provide the new employee with a list of information or documents that they will need to bring in on their first day. Make sure that you let the receptionist or front-line person know that a new employee will be arriving and who they will need to report to. Ensure that your new employee will have everything they need to work successfully when they arrive. This includes any equipment, technology, tools, personal safety equipment, office or desk supplies and a proper working space. Don't forget to add them to the company email and phone lists.

Step Two: Create an agenda for the employee's first week designed specifically for the position that the employee fills within your organization. Include a schedule of meetings with key staff members to discuss the various roles of each individual and how they will work together in the future. Assign a buddy or mentor who can help your new hire better navigate their first week and first 90 days.

Step Three: Provide the employee with all the required company and new-hire paperwork on their first day. Include the agenda you developed defining their on-boarding plan, organizational chart, phone or extension numbers, their job description and other materials that help outline the operations, mission and culture of the organization. Set aside time on the employee's agenda for them to complete all the necessary paperwork. Most importantly, don't make their first day an entire day of sitting at a desk and filling out form after form! That doesn't make for an inspiring first day. Make sure you introduce them to the staff in their department on their first day. Show them around the facility including key areas, for example, rest rooms, break room, employee bulletin board, and where they can park. A nice touch is to have some company swag available for them at their desk on their first day. A company T-shirt or coffee mug really makes a new employee feel welcome and part of the team. Include some fun in that first week, too, so that the new employee feels excited about their new position and the company they have joined. An example might be to have a group lunch. Focus on making them feel welcomed. If they don't have a great first day they may be looking for a new job on the second day.

Step Four: Proper training and coaching is a key component to a successful on-boarding process and your employee's success in their new position. Coaching should be conducted continually during the on-boarding process. Whether your training is person to person or through a technology interface, it will take constant follow-up with your new hire as they go through the process to ensure that the information and training is being assimilated. Everyone has a different way of learning and you wouldn't want to potentially lose a great employee just because their learning style differed from your current training structure. Create a variety of training materials include written, verbal, and hands-on experience. It's worth the time to try and accommodate the learning needs of the new employee whenever possible.

Step 5: The general rule of thumb is to conduct a review of your new employee's performance at the end of their first 90 days. This review can be either formal or informal and should include their immediate supervisor and other key members of the employee's management team. The review should not only be accurate reflection of their work, but done in a timely fashion. It should acknowledge the things that are going well and clearly outline those areas that need improvement and potentially offer areas for additional training. Other items may require more training for example the use of a particular piece of machinery, or proper adherence to a particular process.

Step 6: Finally, create an opportunity for feedback from the employee to improve the on-boarding process. Encourage the new hire to provide feedback on their overall orientation and training experience. Give them an opportunity to comment on the company, culture, mission, sales or production process and overall business strategy. You have a great opportunity to gather information from a fresh perspective. Though some of the feedback may be hard to swallow at times, being open minded to it and even further, truly considering it, can prove to be invaluable to the company.

A successful on-boarding process will lead to lower turnover, higher employee engagement, higher job satisfaction, and a more productive corporate culture.

Diana Albiniano is a partner with Solutions At Work, a Reno-based human resources consulting firm. Contact her at Diana@mysolutionsatwork.com or 827-9675.