Starting a new job can raise a lot of expectations and anxieties concerning what may be coming your way: “Will my boss be nice?”, “How will my coworkers be like?”, “When will my lunch break be?” - These are some of the many questions that go through the mind of a new team member, as soon as they receive the longed-for “YES”, for being hired.
Hence the importance of Onboarding this new employee - and better yet - you can do it cost-free!
Onboarding a new employee, can help to clarify many of these questions and facilitate their process of inclusion and adaptation. So much so, that when this new person starts at the company, they’ll already know a little more about the dynamics of the organization.
When done well, the onboarding can create a much better alignment between the members of the team with the culture of the organization, make their engagement stronger and reduce employee turnover. And the best part is, besides all that, onboarding someone can create a great first impression about the company. Any questions about how these onboarding processes are super strategically important for the organization?! ;)
So now, I’m going to share with you some of the practices that have been working for us, here at BDR, to make a super welcoming onboarding experience! <3
A WELCOMING AND COST-FREE ONBOARDING
#1 - It all starts with the “YES”!
For many organizations, the process of onboarding a new employee starts at their first day at the company. However, in order to make it really welcoming, our advice is to start this process at their first “YES” for the job! <3
Meaning, you know that moment when you have tons of documents to request of the new employee before they start their jobs? How about requesting all this information in a super well designed and welcoming, personalized email instead?!
We know that the new employee is certainly very anxious to meet their work team. So, to ease their integration, you can create a brief presentation about the team to send to this new person, so that they may get to know the crew before starting the new job! You can also do it the other way around, a brief presentation about the new employee to send to their team, introducing them to the crew beforehand.
See how easy it is?! These practices are very easy to do and totally cost-free, and they really demonstrate how much the organization cares, in addition to promoting engagement. <3
#2 - Get ready to receive the new member of the team!
We’ve made a survey with our followers on Instagram about their onboarding experiences in the companies they work, and the results were SHOCKING: 50% of the people didn’t get anything special to welcome them in their company, nor did they have anyone expecting them when they first got there. How sad is that?! :/
We’ve already established how crucial are these first experiences for engaging the new employee in the organization. Besides, we all like to feel welcomed wherever we go, right?!
Therefore, here goes some other suggestions so that you can prepare to receive this new coworker in the team:
Create all new accesses beforehand, like email or other tools and website's credentials that’ll be needed for the job.
Create a handout document with all needed information about these new accesses and credentials and all other important info, like their leaders contact and the HR’s number for example, so that the new employee may have some autonomy to start.
Prepare a Welcome Kit with work supplies, like a notebook for example. The manner in which you present this kit makes all the difference, so make sure you take the time to make it special.
Organize the work station of your new employee. Make sure they’ll have everything they need for their activities. If your company is working from home, make sure all necessary supplies are delivered to their house.
Work with the leader of the new employee to create a schedule of activities for their first week on the new job, appointing who’s going to help them in each and every one of these activities. So that they’ll have a schedule to follow as soon as they start!
#3 - An amazing first day!
YAY! The big day has come! Now that you already have - according to the previous tips - organized everything that the new member of your team will need to do their job, and prepared the schedule for his first week, it’s time for action! \o/
Be expecting the new employee! Make some good coffee, prepare a nice ambiance for you to talk. Then, in these first moments, you can begin by introducing the organization, talking about its values and culture so that this new member of the team may get to know a little bit more about it. Then, take them to a tour in the building and introduce them to their team.
“But Gabi, what about the pandemic? How can I do this?” Well, allow me to help you! ;)
Hear me out! Just because it’s not going to be face to face, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be special, right?! Here is exactly where that schedule of activities is going to have an even bigger importance to the experience!
Create the links for the videoconferences of each individual activity of the day and share it on the schedule with the new employee. So they’ll know what to do and who they’ll be talking to in each meeting.
Prepare your environment, choose a silent room so that you can focus on the conversation. As for the online environment, visual aid is always very helpful! You can make some slides to help you guide the conversation and make it more dynamic.
Schedule a videoconference with the team to introduce them to their new coworker. These introductions may also happen in smaller meetings scheduled throughout the day.
#4 - Aligning expectations!
Can you imagine, starting a new job and having absolutely no idea of how to do things? What a nightmare it’d be, right?! So, to avoid this, while you’re onboarding someone it’s also important that they receive training on all the activities that they’ll be exercising in the organization, as well as to make sure they understand what is expected of them on their new job.
To aid in the training process, you may appoint “mentors”, ie, people who’ve worked in the organization long enough to know things, who’ll teach newcomers on one or many specified activities and how to get around. They’ll be there to help. Doing this, you’ll be both making sure that knowledge is shared and helping to create bonds between the people of your team!
These training sessions can both provide more autonomy for the new employee to work, and give them motivation from the get go, because they’ll be prepared for the challenges that may come, avoiding a “mini panic attack” in these situations! hahaha! :)
And here goes an advice for remote working too!
These training sessions, for those who work from home, will take place online by videoconferences. In order to make them less tiring, how about using the resources we’ve already got available on the internet?! There are many online courses/tutorials and articles on the “hows to” several different subjects, tools and platforms. It really is worth the research to check and see what you can use in your training sessions!
#5 - Feedback is very important!
Did you know that Feedback is a great friend to the motivation of an organizational place?! It is very important to a new employee to have the opportunity to be heard and to receive some feedback on how they’ve been doing on their activities. During the learning process, receiving feedback helps them to understand what they still need to further develop and in what they’re already doing well!
The same goes for the HR on receiving feedback from employees. The only way to know if your onboarding process was, in fact, welcoming and successful, is asking from those who’ve gone through it, right?! This is why it’s so critical to keep the communication channel always open!
Ask your new employee how their day is going, how they’re liking the training sessions. LISTEN attentively to their feedback and ask what they think you could improve. So that onboarding a newcomer may be even better and more welcoming each time.
An open communication like this makes people feel like they’re an important part of the organization, knowing that the company values their opinion! :)
So, did you like our tips? Now it’s your turn, to make the work experience in your company even more unforgettable! Let 's do this! \o/
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