New employees are a super-important asset to any organization. You spend a lot of time, money and resources to find, interview and hire the best possible talent for your organization. So once you have them, it’s important to keep them! One surefire way to ensure that new employees remain happy and part of your organization for a long time is effective onboarding.
The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation says that effective employee onboarding leads to lots of good things:
- Higher job satisfaction
- Organizational commitment
- Lower turnover
- Higher performance levels
- Career effectiveness
- Lower stress
The SHRM Foundation, along with Dr. Talya N. Bauer, Cameron Professor of Management at Portland State University in Oregon, compiled a handy guide for maximizing success through new employee onboarding. The guide can be found here. Below is a recap of three great ideas from the guide.
#1 – Have a formal plan
It’s important to have a formal employee onboarding plan. It should outline the timeline, goals, responsibilities and support that will be available to new hires to help them succeed. The best plans are written and communicated to the entire company, as well as consistently applied and assessed over time. Last but not least, make sure it’s clear who in your organization owns the employee onboarding responsibility.
#2 – Include peer mentors
Managers typically have the biggest role in employee onboarding, but peer mentors can also play an important role in the process. After a major revamp of their onboarding program, Microsoft added the use of peer mentors as one of their core onboarding philosophies. This gives their employees a safe place where they can chat with colleagues who are on their ‘level’, ask questions and get better connected to the company culture.
#3 – Check In
There’s no doubt about it – you need to regularly monitor how your new employee is progressing. Develop a 30-60-90 day checklist to help track and evaluate a new employee’s developing skills and his understanding of company policies. The planned checklist should also include opportunities for an employee to ask questions and seek constructive feedback on their performance.
Ready to bring some great new talent into your organization (and test drive your new employee onboarding knowledge?) Start here by submitting a Request an Employee form.