How to Welcome New Employees with Effective Onboarding

Finding the best talents for positions in your organization is a key part of building an efficient team. However, the decision whether an employee stays and builds a lasting relationship with an organization or bolts the moment a new offer comes knocking depends on how he is treated on his first day.

The onboarding process is one of the most critical factors in ensuring hired talent will be effective, efficient and productive. Therefore, welcoming and onboarding new hires to the organization requires more than just having them go through a long list of employee handbooks and brief orientation. For onboarding to be effective there is need to be creative and find ways to connect to the new hire as an individual and as a member of a larger team.

Onboarding new hires at an organization should be a strategic process that lasts at least a year, reason being that employee’s experience within the first few days and months based on how they are treated by their employers is crucial to ensuring high retention.

Prior to adopting an onboarding program, Human Resource Managers should consider some things that are operational, strategic and reputational which includes:

• When should onboarding start?
• How long will it last?
• What impression do you want the new employee to have of the organization at the close of his first day?
• What kind of goals will be set for the new employee?
• What do the new hire need to know about the work environment and culture, and what is the HR and team ?

Once these questions have been figured out, human resource professionals and the management can devise a plan of action to help new employees quickly integrate with company policies and workflow while getting acquainted with the organization's culture.