The transition to hybrid work has been challenging for everybody. Existing employees need to adapt to a new way of work with the same people like before. On the other hand, new hires have more on their plates than just the regular onboarding process. And on top of these challenges, companies have to figure out what’s best and most efficient for their people.
Successfully onboarding new employees may save your organization time, money, and reputation. A well-planned process offers the opportunity for your new hire to start strong. Ultimately, it may even give you a competitive edge and boost organizational success.
Onboarding is the process through which a new employee is introduced to the organization, to the team, and to their role within. Proper, effective onboarding sets the employees up for success and enables them to integrate seamlessly. A successful process also helps the company improve its retention rates, overall morale, and employee engagement on the long run.
In 2021, the hype dubbed as The Great Resignation spread across the media and social networks. Everybody had an opinion on the reasons why the mass quitting of employees left their old work environments. Some are still debating and making predictions on how this will continue well into 2022. But what happens after? From my point of view, it’s quite obvious. After The Great Resignation comes The Great Onboarding. Question is—are you ready to embrace it?
This year threw the workforce for a major loop, as millions of people exchanged office cubicles for their own sofas and kitchen tables. And while this shift in daily scenery is one thing for existing employees, for new team members there’s a different story altogether. In a matter of months, remote onboarding has become an even hotter topic.
Suddenly a good portion of the workforce finds itself working remote. If you’re an HR professional or manager who had new hires lined up pre-pandemic, you might be wondering how to onboard remotely. When you’re already dealing with an experimental distributed workplace, bringing on a new team member might seem at best, daunting, and, at worst, a nightmare.
Onboarding new employees is often a difficult and somewhat frustrating process for everybody involved. New hires are struggling to navigate a completely new and unknown environment, while supervisors are eager to turn them into productive members of the team.
In every aspect of life, long-term relationships are more rewarding for all parts involved than short-term alliances. Of course, the latter can make useful strategies at key moments and for achieving immediate goals. However, if you are running a marathon and not just trying to win a race, you definitely want reliable partners you can actually count on along the way. Therefore, if you are looking to building your company up in the future, you should see long-term collaboration as a priority.
Onboarding done right. Surprise, it’s a challenge! In fact, a quick peek at employer review websites can tell you a lot about the value of onboarding. Dating is similar. First impressions matter. But that’s the interview. The love affair starts with onboarding.
Onboarding done right leaks when measuring quality of hire. If you’re not HR, quality of hire is a trendy metric to track. While tough to calculate, it does provide valuable insight. It is also a gateway into building a system of metrics on which to plan improvement goals. Quality of hire factors in various items. Indicators such as job performance, ramp-up time, enthusiasm, cultural fit and more. Fear not, we won’t attempt to do a math model of quality of hire.
Have you ever wondered what’s the story behind the Terracotta Army? It so happens that, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I discovered an amazing documentary about the Chinese emperor who ordered the creation of the terracotta statues of his soldiers. While learning more about ancient China, I realized that this 2,500 years old civilization had an incredible onboarding process (better than some modern-day companies) and we can learn a lot from it.
The Terracotta Army (Image Source: Colin Capelle)