Don’t Turn Your Onboarding Into a Middle School Dance

Many people are glad to leave the socially awkward days of middle school far in their past. But all those insecurities and feelings of being lost often come roaring back on the first day of a new job. While some companies have perfected the art of getting new employees up to speed, most leave them absently roaming the halls in search of office supplies and meeting their new co-workers. Are you are a bit lost on how to improve your onboarding process? Consider incorporating the following into your process so new hires can get productive as quickly as possible. Get the Formalities Out of the Way Ideally, new employees can get straight to work on their first day. But this means they’ll need to fill out paperwork and complete human resource requirements before they arrive on site. Send all forms to your new hire via email or have them login to a secure website to compete forms before arrival. You can also use digital onboarding techniques such as videos, webinars and tutorials. Send new hires links to these items, so they can complete them before they arrive that first day of work. Employers have work to do too. Have the IT department set up the new hire’s workstation, computer, phone and email address so that they have all the resources necessary to hit the ground running. Spell Out Deadlines Set aside time on day one to discuss upcoming deadlines, weekly meetings and other important dates that the employee needs to know about. Provide access to any company-wide calendars or intranet systems that provide critical information. Providing all of these little details is key to integrating the employee into the workspace and their projects as quickly as possible. Check in Regularly The most important part of a successful onboarding process is checking in with the new employee regularly. Managers may schedule formal, daily meetings, or they can simply stop by the employee’s workspace to chat. These meetings give employees time to ask questions and clarify issues. It’s not just the hiring managers that should check in. Human resources and operations staff should also check in to make sure that the employee has everything they need to get their new job off on the right foot.