Here are the main reasons why onboarding should be a priority for your new hires and some key things to include in the onboarding process.
Onboarding is a human resources term, referring to the process of integrating a newly hired employee into a organisation.
Onboarding can take place at various levels, including the organisation, role, and team. It should focus on acclimatising the new employee into a new workplace. This could start with introducing the organisation's mission, culture and values or introduction to their team. Mandatory training, attendance to a team meeting or shadowing a colleague could all be part of the onboarding process.
Having a named onboarding buddy can be beneficial because it provides the employee with a point of contact. This could be a supervisor or peer. Once settled into the role they will come to know who to contact regarding specific queries. However, starting with a buddy is a good idea. The new hire feels at ease as he or she settles in, knowing they always have that person to go to. Their buddy can also keep track of the onboarding process.
First impressions are always said to be important in life. You can tell a lot about a company by the way it welcomes new employees. Onboarding is the critical engagement opportunity that demonstrates, creates and promotes company culture. It is also the beginning of what should be a great employee experience within a company. It is part of what drives some of the world’s most successful companies.
If onboarded well, new starters feel good about the company they have joined. They feel welcomed, part of the team and valued, not forgotten about or like a burden that isn’t useful yet. They will feel engaged in the company’s mission, goals and the value they can create as part of it, eliciting more productivity. They will be more committed to the company's success, not just their own.
A good onboarding process is organised and efficient. This will set an expectation for the new employee to be that way too. They won’t be waiting around for colleagues to show them this or that. Or feel like they’re always interrupting. They will have a clear schedule that with time specific goals or tasks, this ensures expectations are set early on and nothing is missed. They are already working on tasks that will lead to independence and productivity faster.
Tracking the new employee’s progress is also part of a good onboarding process. Help can be provided if their progress is slow and it informs the wider team as to when the new hire will be ready to take on more responsibility. Gaining feedback from the onboarder and onboardee, is also very useful. It ensures the process is being continuously developed and improved.
It is worthy to note that everyone in the team must value onboarding and encourage compliance and engagement in the process.
All of the above is likely to promote loyalty within a company. We all know how it feels to not feel valued. We feel disposable and then start looking elsewhere, seeking that feeling of validation from another employer. Good onboarding can be part of an overall process of treating employees well and gaining their loyalty. They will stay longer. This is a win for everyone because we all know how costly the recruitment and onboarding process is through time, money and lack of progress towards company goals. Onboarding done right, will result in lower staff turnover.
Fallcha makes onboarding smarter and faster. No more bits of paper, ad hoc meetings or saying ‘see whether they’re free’. Fallcha enables an employer to create an onboarding plan for your new team member. It utilises templates that you can use and reuse for future employees and update anytime. Increase the automation of organising onboarding and save time for employer and employee. Broken down by days, structured with tasks. Assigned points of contact and completion status for each task; involving that all important onboarding buddy. There is also a real time feedback opportunity for each task. No need to send that survey afterwards that generates poor quality, retrospective critique. Feedback using Fallcha is now authentic and valuable.
Fallcha features integration of your Google calendar for each team member, which enables fast and easy arrangement of meetings. No more back and forth establishing who is available and when. Not only does it save time but it promotes a whole team culture of organisation.
When an onboarding plan is assigned to a new hire. Fallcha sends a Slack notification to the hiring team. They can then collaborate about the onboarding plan and the employee's progress.
Attaching company resources such as PDFs is straightforward. Fallcha also creates a clear schedule to set expectations and get the most productivity from your new employee.
Onboarding using Fallcha makes the process consistent for all new starters. It is scalable, taking up less valuable time of your established employees and creating a great first impression for your new ones.
As the working world becomes more remote, a productive and meaningful onboarding process has never been more important. That’s why you need Fallcha. Get those onboarding schedules set up right away with our pre-made templates. Sign up now and get your first 3 new hires onboarded for free.
