A Guide to Build A Successful Employee Onboarding Program

An onboarding program is a blueprint for the success of your employees and your company. Effective onboarding not only helps your employees to learn the skills necessary to undertake their responsibilities, but also learn to become productive team members. Onboarding can also help increase retention rate and productivity in new hires. 

A recent study found that 17 % of employees quit within the first six months due to insufficient onboarding or no onboarding at all. The same study showed that an effective onboarding program increases employee performance by up to 11%. Here are key steps to help you implement an effective onboarding process for your new employees. 

1. Plan Ahead

Begin your onboarding process before the first day of work for your new hires. Studies show that 83 % of the most successful organisations begin onboarding before their new employees report for work. 

An excellent technique is to have the HR department email new employees a "first-day guide". The guide could consist of a welcome message, a friendly note from the manager, photos of new teammates, a glossary of the organisation acronyms and a copy of your employee handbook among others. Additionally, have everything in order before they arrive – including setting up their workstation. 

2. Provide Consistent and Clear Communication

Be sure to explain everything clearly, including the small details. You should aim to provide information in an easy-to-digest way so that the new employee understands the most demanding aspect of his or her job. This will not only give the new hire a peace of mind but also improve the health of your business. 

Additionally, make your organisation’s vision and culture clear to every new hire on their first day. 

3. Implement Collaborative Learning 

Many employees learn best through on-the-job-training compared to reading handbooks. For this reason, assign a mentor who’ll work directly with the new staff member throughout the onboarding process. This will enable the new hire to assimilate into the organisation more easily. Additionally, they will retain more of what they learn and be more engaged in their tasks. 

4. Keep It Up Over Time

When creating an onboarding program, have in mind that the process is ongoing. New employees need an average of eight months to feel confident and become fully productive at their job. Extending your program to at least 12 months can boost retention by up to 25 %. 

An effective onboarding is the key to creating and maintaining momentum on your staff and for your business. Implement these four strategies in your program and watch your team members have a higher job satisfaction.