Onboarding that’s impactful: how to make an employee’s first three months count

Kristie Medcalf - Source
Director

AUTHOR

KEY CONTACT

Executive Director – HR

AUTHOR

KEY CONTACT

Is onboarding a process to just follow – tick and flick style – or is it an opportunity to engage with your new employees and provide them with an experience to set them up for success within the business?

Our vote every time is to invest in developing an onboarding process that is unique to your business and, at its core, focuses on providing an impactful employee experience.

It doesn’t have to be complicated either if you break it up into these four key stages:

 

Pre-commencement stage

Think of this stage as the initial interactions you can create with your new employee, prior to their first day. How are you helping them prepare for starting with your business? What key information do they need to feel at ease when they commence?

Try these initiatives in these important early days:

  • Connect with your new employee the week prior to commencing and provide any ‘go-to’ information for their first day – for example, who will greet them at reception or virtually, parking details, or log in requirements for remote working.
  • Create an induction schedule that includes arranged meetings with key stakeholders and place them into their calendars. This can be emailed to the new employee prior to commencement so they feel at ease with what their first day and weeks will look like.
  • Send a ‘new starter notification’ to communicate with existing employees and build internal awareness. Nothing is nicer for a new employee than stepping into a new role where people already know your name.
  • Consider creating a ‘likes survey’ that can help gather new employee’s likes to personalise their onboarding experience. The survey can consist of a few standard questions that focus on their favourites such as a cuisine or coffee order, so on their first day you can include a little something to personalise their experience.

 

First day         

After setting the pre-commencement foundations, expectations should lie with creating a first day experience that runs seamlessly.

You only really have one opportunity to make a great first impression. For example, if things appear chaotic or disorganised on the first day, it may influence how the new employee judges company culture.

Initiatives you can consider to support a positive experience on the first day:

  • Ensure there is someone allocated to greet your new employee (in person or virtually).
  • Have all IT/equipment/access arranged and ready to go for your new employee.
  • Send out a ‘welcome email’ to build connection to the rest of the team.
  • Start the day with an office tour or virtual meeting to share key business logistics and allocate time to go through the induction schedule.
  • Add an experience that represents your unique culture – such as a ‘welcome box’, which could include company branded items, stationery, apparel, sweets, personalised notebook/diary. The sky’s the limit with what you can include (but is also dependent on budget!).

 

First month

By the end of the first month employees should have a base level understanding of how things work, who to go to when they have certain questions, and what is expected of them.

This first month you should focus on:

  • Setting clear goals and expectations that are aligned with the role.
  • Arranging regular one-to-one meetings to establish relationships that can handle regular feedback.
  • Ensuring key training on systems and key responsibilities have been completed.
  • Provide an avenue to seek feedback to ensure your new employee feels supported and confident to carry out their role.
  • Consider creating an ‘onboarding survey.’ This can help gather useful feedback to create changes and adapt your process to improve future employee experiences.

 

Three months in

At the three-month mark, new employees should be feeling well established in their roles and working together with their manager to continue building their working relationship. This is a key aspect of onboarding: building trust to discuss concerns and wins openly and efficiently identifying opportunities to continue learning and re-train if necessary.

Here are some things you could focus on:

  • Mid-probation checks to informally assess how your new employee is settling in, looking at culture fit, alignment with team, and tracking against set goals. You have this opportunity to redirect and continue assessing as the six-month probation review approaches.
  • To elevate your new employee’s experience, consider creating SMART goals to stretch their abilities and start to identify any learning and development opportunities to plan for future growth.

 

The key to establishing an onboarding experience that is memorable and impactful for your employees is identifying what works for your business and what seems authentic to the organisation’s culture. And remember, the onboarding process can and should change and adapt overtime – encourage feedback from employees to ensure relevancy and reflection of where your business is at during its lifecycle.

 

Need some extra advice around building a seamless onboarding experience? Talk to our Source HR experts

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