What Key Aspects Are Many Leaders Overlooking in the Onboarding Process?

Onboarding training is a critical stage, there’s no denying this fact. All new and transfer hires’ successful future performance relied on a proper start. What’s more, employees’ successes and failures are directly linked to the quality of the business’ onboarding process. That’s why it is crucial to brainstorm your training procedures, ensuring that learning is taking place.

But not just any learning! Efficient and targeted learning that takes personal preferences into account.

To be able to nail a perfect onboarding training program, you need to know what to include.

Onboarding Checklists

Onboarding checklists are numbered in typical challenges of Human Resources.

While it holds true that different companies have different requirements, some elements are still universal.

Maintaining an onboarding checklist is highly recommended. Consider the following elements to include:

• Detail job responsibilities, duties, schedules, and payment information to new hires to avoid negative experiences
• Submit a job requisition document to the managers in charge
• Gather all the forms new employees need to fill out
• Provide all devices and tools for new hires
• Set up all necessary accounts and logins for new hires
• Schedule orientation sessions early on

Establish SOPs

Onboarding training takes lots of time and hard work. Going through preparations every time you hire a new employee can be troublesome and inefficient. To get the basis right, establish standard operating procedures (SOP).

SOPs typically include printed training materials, instructional videos, and online courses (preferably, short ones). For some added professionalism, create a project management checklist (Asana is one suitable solution) and get the trainees to tick off the finished stages.

Provide Professional Materials With a Zest of Personalization

People are different. Their expectations and hopes differ, too. To accommodate different personalities and preferences, personalize your SOPs for each new hire.

Basically, this means that generalized organizational orientation should be complemented with a specific onboarding plan for each new employee. People have different expertise, expectations, career plans, and ideas about how to perform their tasks, so make sure to consider all of these factors when creating an onboarding training program.

 

Encourage Open Communication

Finally, introduce and encourage innovative ways to help new hires build meaningful connections. To begin with, set up proper communication tools and provide training, where needed, so that everyone knows how to use them with ease.

If you’re hiring remote workers, don’t forget that the only way for them to integrate is to be presented with superb communication tools and clear communication procedures. Otherwise, they’ll be an isolated island in the sea of your employees.

They can’t attend team-building activities or hang out with their colleagues, so make sure to come up with creative ideas to help them connect with other employees.

Fortunately, in this matter, literally anything goes! Use your imagination. Host yoga classes, virtual workouts, virtual company celebrations, cooking lessons, hobby workshops…

Make Expectations Transparent

Businesses that mean business know all too well that building trust and loyalty is the key to preventing troublesome retention rates that might occur at any time and be inspired by literally anything.

While there’s no saying what may trigger different personalities, stick to the good old known factors that cause disengagement. For starters, communicate expectations clearly.

Include anything that comes to mind that you think will be important to them: from facts, past experiences, tenure, future prospects, advancement plans, perks, etc.

Implement the Buddy System

New hires absolutely need to know where to go for answers at any given time. No matter the quality of your training program, some questions are bound to arise once the new hires start working. That’s why you should pick an efficient training program and allow sufficient time for it to sink.

Even then, some questions may still remain or emerge later. Implementing the buddy system is the best way to address this issue. Newcomers should know where to go for answers. It is recommended to choose an experienced employee who isn’t on the same team as the new hire. This strategy will help new hires integrate faster.

Schedule Meetings With Key Staff

It is absolutely necessary that all new employees integrate into the corporate culture ASAP. Scheduling meetings with key staff early on is one great way to go about things.

Also, keep in mind that introductions should go both ways and on all levels. Don’t leave the introductions to the new hires alone! Rather, encourage team members to introduce themselves to their new colleagues so that they will feel welcome. This will reduce stress and make training smoother, faster, and more pleasant.

And be sure to include any interim leadership. They always have excellent, unique ideas that your team may not have thought of before.

Cross-Cultural Training Is a Must

This step is not universal, but for businesses applying hybrid work models and hiring people from different countries, it is a good idea to schedule cross-cultural training.

The term sounds terrible, but the program isn’t anywhere near this impression. It would suffice to provide basic guidelines and introduce new hires to older colleagues from different countries. Then, create opportunities for future team members to communicate efficiently. Maybe pinpoint notable cultural differences for those who are unaware.

The rest will naturally follow! These are grown-ups, not kids, so don’t worry too much. Just give them the initial push in the right direction.

Set Clear Goals

Defining goals early on is necessary. The practice allows new hires to know what is expected of them and to decide whether it’s up their alley. Not just any goals will do, mind you. The goals need to be clear and communicated in a package with expectations and objectives.

Allow for personalization; different people may have different ideas (and methods) about all that.

Provide Plenty of Time for Training

Hectic work environments tend to scare new hires, so don’t throw them into the fire the moment they appear. Regardless of the fact that you probably need new hires to start working ASAP, you should still allow plenty of time for training.

You should make sure that onboarding training is not rushed, that goals are clearly set, and that new hires have plenty of time to adjust to whichever expectations you’re planning to set.

Don’t overlook the fact that some people may need additional training. The more complex the process, the more training new hires may need. Make sure to comply without grumbling. eLearning is a very viable option for teams who may not have the time for in-person training options.

If you’re still at a loss as to how to go about onboarding training and everything that goes with it, brainstorm ideas, test around, and use past experiences to help you get started… then improvise as you learn more about new hires’ personalities and preferences.