With a survey from The Wynhurst Group reporting that 22% of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment, and that about 4% of employees quit on their first day work, it’s no wonder the onboarding process is more critical than ever. With a shift in today’s workforce culture, and as the millennial generation grows in influence, finding a way to hire and retain top talent is the bloodline of future business.
Just as much as the workforce is changing, so are the opportunities and technological advancements in human resources and hiring practices.
Here are 4 Ways to Improve Your Onboarding Process to Make More Money
Go Paperless
If a company uses paper for onboarding, then the typical first day of a new employee consists of filling out mountains of paperwork. From I9s to W4s, to health benefit coverage, to security protocols and more, the new hire ends up filling out the paper work with the same information repeatedly. How many times does one have to fill out her name, birthdate, address, and phone number?
With paperless onboarding processes, a company can use electronic forms to not only streamline the onboard, but also make any adjustments necessary with more ease in the future. With more efficient steps like the new employee only having to enter her name and address one time, she can jet through the rest of the online documents with little to zero redundancy.
Going paperless with an onboarding compliance platform creates better efficiency, provides long-term sustainability in the onboarding process, and helps to save your company money in the long-term. Additionally, your digital prowess is a great impression to your new hire. Why is that important? A survey by MIT & Deloitte found that the vast majority of respondents, ages 22 to 60, want to work for digitally enabled organizations.
Set Clear Expectations
There are 2 types of expectations to consider:
1. Job expectations: Clear job descriptions and expectations for an employee are critical to the future functionality of your new hire. Making sure that your new employee understands your expectations will hopefully give her a “safe” boundary in which she feels confident she can excel and innovate. An employee who doesn’t have a clear job description or expectations will be disengaged from the beginning.
2. Process expectations: Specific to the onboarding process, new hires benefit greatly when they know timing and pace of the onboarding process. Having a schedule that details the process of a new hire being acclimated to the company culture can quell some of the nervousness that she already has towards “fitting in”. If your new employee knows what’s coming, he or she can be patient, without being concerned that she might miss something.
Utilize the Team
WorkForce Software’s 2014-2015 Trend Survey showed that the use of mentorships is a leading trend in new hire best practices. Assigning a mentor is a great way to help assimilate a new hire into a company’s culture. A personable mentor who likes to help people can make a huge difference in a new employees perception of the company. Additionally, a mentor can be a great sounding board for questions and concerns the new hire may have. A mentor can add a personal touch to the new employee’s onboarding process, preventing her from feeling like she is being left to sink or swim.
Best-in-class organizations are nearly 2.5 times more likely than laggard organizations to assign a mentor or coach during the onboarding process.
Don’t Stop!
A 2014 Aberdeen Group survey shows that only 37% of companies extend onboarding programs beyond the 1st month. 90% of companies believe their employees make the decision to stay with the company within the first 6 months. There is obviously a disconnect in the majority of company’s onboarding process, as employees are trying to figure out if they want to stay long after the onboarding process is over.
A good onboarding process initiates communication, and stimulates engagement. A Dale Carnegie Training survey shows that 71% of employees are not fully engaged. This is directly related to a company’s ability to communicate regularly with their employees. An onboarding process that continues for 6 months, or even throughout the duration of an employee’s tenure tremendously impacts communication, engagement, and performance. Using intelligent automation through online onboarding platforms are the key to maintaining this type of ongoing process.
These 4 Steps to Improve Your Onboarding Process can: strengthen a company’s culture, increase an employee’s engagement and performance, and ultimately, enable the company to make more money.
