Ultimate Employee Onboarding Best Practices for Enhanced Retention

Time to read: 4 min

Employee Onboarding Best Practices Summary:

• Preparation is Key: Set up the new hire’s workspace, provide a detailed agenda, and ensure all necessary tools and software are ready before their start date.
• Three Pillars of Onboarding: Focus on integration, connection, and education to help new hires understand their role, build relationships, and learn company policies and processes.
• Continuous Development: Use a mix of training methods and assign mentors to support new hires through their first 60 to 90 days, ensuring they are well-integrated and productive.

 

The long-term success of your creative and marketing new hire begins with the first impression of the onboarding experience. Planning ahead and delivering a consistent experience is critical to protect your investment of time and resources. Forbes reported, “38% of employees quit within the first year of employment” and “40% who leave in the first year do so within the first 90 days.”

Taking these retention statistics into account, we have provided an effective onboarding plan that can positively impact your onboarding experience resulting in your new hires to stick. The below onboarding best practices apply to both contract and full time hires.

 

The Importance of Employee Onboarding

Employee onboarding is the critical bridge between the hiring process and a new hire’s long-term success within your company. A thoughtful onboarding process can reduce turnover by up to 82% and is essential for integrating new hires into the corporate culture and operational expectations.

Onboarding, when done correctly, is a process to prepare and welcome new hires effectively in a non-overwhelming fashion. Getting them acclimated to their new environment and giving them the resources to learn and grow in their new position. While retention rates can vary from industry to industry, the average turnover rate across all industries is 17.8 percent. Therefore, the goal is to aim for an 80-90 percent retention rate. With the average cost to replace a hire is $18,000, improving retention will protect your bottom line.

 

Onboarding Best Practices

Preparation is Key: Ensure a seamless transition by preparing in advance for your new hire’s arrival. This includes setting up their in-office workspace or shipping of a laptop to their remote office. Ensure their computer has network access, all software applications are setup, and a comprehensive first-week agenda is prepared prior to their start date.

Three Pillars of Effective Onboarding: Whether doing in-office or remote onboarding, focus on:

1. Integration: Help new hires understand their role in achieving your company’s mission.
2. Connection: Facilitate introductions to team members to foster a sense of belonging.
3. Education: Provide detailed training on tools, processes, and company policies.

 

Checklist for a Successful First Week

Many organizations with streamlined and automated onboarding process adopt a three step approach: Orientation (initial welcome meeting), Onboarding (operational setup, introductions, policies, processes, technology, and best practices), then Training (learning the rhythm and requirements of day to day objectives and goals).

• Office Tour: Introduce the new hire to the team and workspace.
  • Locate where all materials, collateral, and supplies are to create a more comfortable environment.
  • If remote and an office exists, a video tour is a nice touch.
• Workspace Setup: Ensure they have everything needed to start working immediately.
  • If remote, laptops should be setup and shipped to their home prior to start date with a required signature shipping label.
• Welcome Lunch: Organize a team lunch to build camaraderie.
  • About 70 percent of employees believe that having work friends is crucial to happy work life.
• Shadow Sessions: Arrange for the new hire to shadow peers in different roles.
• HR Orientation: Cover benefits, policies, and office norms.
  • Automate the paperwork and request completion prior to start date.

 

Training and Development

The onboarding process is an ongoing journey, with the first 60 to 90 days being critical for acclimation. Assigning mentors and providing comprehensive training during this period are essential steps for ensuring a new hire’s success.

Mix up your training sessions with informative and entertaining video trainings. This is an engaging way to share information with new employees, while face-to-face and interactive online training sessions are helpful for detailing processes. Video content for evergreen topics like dress code, video etiquette, ethics, and brand guidelines can serve a consistent experience while giving you time back in your day.

 

Remote Onboarding Adjustments

Adapting your onboarding process for remote hires is key to maintaining company culture and ensuring new team members feel supported from afar. Encourage one-on-one introductory meetings with all stakeholders the new hire will support and collaborate with. These introductory meetings should take place within the first 2 weeks and include an agenda of what should be accomplished within the meeting.

Last but not least, overcommunicate all contact information and resources needed for org charts, staff directory, vendors, and technical support.

You may be interested in this 4 minute read:  Why Company Culture is Vital in Remote Onboarding

 

How to Measure Your Onboarding Experience

If you are looking to measure the influence your onboarding experience has on the business then begin here:

• Retention Rate
• Employee Satisfaction Survey
• Productivity and Performance
• Awards

A streamlined onboarding experience creates upfront efficiencies for your staff to begin producing and meeting goals faster, “A solid onboarding process can lead to an 18% greater achievement in performance goals.”

 

How Profiles Can Help

With Profiles, we do more than procure top talent – we help you build your team, simplify the hiring process, and grow your company. To learn how our creative and marketing staffing services can connect you with our vetted community of diverse professionals and develop a smooth onboarding process.

Profiles managed services can improve and simplify your onboarding and back-office processes. From creative staffing to reporting and metrics tracking, let Profiles help your organization run more efficiently. Contact us online today or visit our staffing solutions page for more information.

Ready to elevate your onboarding process and retain top talent? Contact Profiles today and let’s build a thriving workplace together.