Hiring and onboarding are critical parts of business growth. After all, you have to have the right talent and number of people to expand and progress. There is so much involved in successfully integrating a new employee that it can seem daunting.
Just remember that for each new hire, you are investing, not only in the new hire but also in your business. Investments can be short-term but when it comes to hiring, you should have a long-term investment mindset.
At Payday HCM, we have assisted in the hiring process hundreds of times over the years. As hiring processes have evolved and changed, we have adapted and implemented effective ways to ensure employees don’t slip through the cracks. We’ve seen a lot of mistakes and been able to prevent many more.
With this goal in mind of helping you avoid mistakes after you make a great hire, we have created this brief list of things you should do to build a strong bond between a new employee and the rest of the organization and some avoidable problems.
What to Do
Introduce
This one might seem obvious but introductions go beyond the formal first introductions and initial tour around the facility. We’ve found that it helps to spread out these introductions over the first few days.
It may not be as fast but it will be more impactful. Introducing your new employee to the elements and departments within the company in smaller digestible chunks will help them retain the information they’re receiving and, as you know, it will be a lot of information.
Consider breaking up computer-based training with activities that get your new hire moving and interacting. Orientations or other small projects can be a great way to break up the monotony that can come with online training. This will help prevent isolation and burnout, during important training.
Also, be sure that you are taking the time to familiarize them with the programs and software used daily in your office. There are so many similar programs out there but proficiency in one doesn’t necessarily guarantee it across all of them.
You can call on in-house experts you know are capable of teaching the programs. It’s a good idea to create a spreadsheet or other document to keep track of who your experts are in certain programs. There are also several business management programs and software tools that have training programs built in.
The key is moderation. There’s a limit to knowledge retention after a certain period. It’s the law of diminishing returns and you would be wise to heed it.
Involve
New employees can easily feel isolated. They are trying to adapt to a new environment and group of people, which can be difficult for many.
We’ve found that the best way to avoid employee isolation is to get them involved from day one. Incorporate them into your meetings and company activities as soon as possible and give them a voice at those events.
New employees often have a unique perspective and can bring fresh insight into your meetings and conversations. A committee or special project can also be a great way to get your new employee working alongside others and building relationships.
Just remember the goal is not merely to assign tasks to complete. It’s more about the involvement. It’s also about voiding that isolation and burnout that can affect any new employee.
Invite
This one goes hand-in-hand with our previous tip. You should not only involve your new employees but keep those invitations coming as well. It can be difficult for new employees to track insider language and events.
Consider creating an onboarding checklist for new hires. Within this checklist, you can include benchmarks for accomplishment, essential terms, and knowledge, as well as listings of essential activities for all new employees to participate in.
Thoughtful invitations can include a welcome lunch, shadowing of experienced employees, and meeting invitations. You may consider invitations to meetings the employee may not regularly attend in the future but will provide useful information and context in the beginning.
What Not to Do
Assume
This is one of the most common problems we encounter as HR consultants. We see organizations make assumptions about new hires’ abilities, knowledge, and comfort level.
This is where communication breakdowns often occur and that’s usually when we get called in. It’s completely avoidable though.
First, you should have clear onboarding paperwork that outlines items like expectations and job descriptions. Having new hires read and sign off on this paperwork protects your and their best interests over time and creates a strong foundation moving forward, with clear guidelines and expectations.
Beyond the basic knowledge and agreements, this is where assumptions can hurt your business and impact your employees negatively.
When in doubt, talk it out! If you feel frustration or sense frustration coming from a new hire, that is often when a conversation is most crucial. For guidance on good communication and conflict resolution, there are several great books available, including Crucial Conversations and Simply Said.
Overextend
OVerextending a new hire is another easy trap to fall into. Remember employee burnout is real. A staggering two-thirds of US employees say they have experienced burnout and new employees are susceptible to this as well as seasoned employees.
We like to think of it like a fisherman easing his boat into the water. It should be a gradual and steady process. The fisherman would never shove his vessel over a cliff into the water. That would likely spell disaster. The same principle is true with your new hires.
Develop a strong onboarding timeline and plan to be able to introduce your new hire to each aspect of the business in a deliberate way.
Worry
Again, we see this all the time, the worrying and second-guessing about your newest hires. You may wonder which of them will make it and what you can do to build each of them up into the employee you would like them to be.
Sitting back and worrying about it is no plan of action and as a business owner you probably already know this. Instead, invest some time and energy into your onboarding process. This includes developing a plan that with benchmarks and goals for your new hires during their first 30 days, compiling a list of teaching experts within your organization, and creating meaningful invitations that are repeatable with each new hire.
Let the planning you do ease your anxiety. Investing in your onboarding and First 30 Days plans will give you a clear course that you can follow, as you're easing your new hires into their new environment.
Your First 30 Days plan can be a document, checklist, or spreadsheet outlining daily activities (subject to change, of course). It doesn’t have to be long. Most of your effort will go into developing it in the beginning and then it is a matter of refinement and upkeep as you learn from the process for each hire.
Conclusion
Getting comfortable with the new hire and onboarding process can seem daunting. But it is just a matter of implementing guidelines and steps (especially for the first 30 days) that will help guide your new hires on a successful path to healthy integration within your organization.
You may have had difficulties integrating new employees in the past, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can start improving today by creating your First 30 Days plan, making a list of experts within your company on various topics, listing crucial invitations to extend, or compiling your list of experts.
At PaydayHCM, we’ve been providing this kind of expert guidance for more than 30 years. We can help with consulting if you're struggling to get your plan off the ground. We also offer turnkey solutions for your onboarding needs.
Want more knowledge on the matter? Try learning about the benefits of modern HCM solutions. This ties in directly with what you just read and can further your understanding of successful employee management.
If you would like to find out how PaydayHCM can help with your management and onboarding needs connect with a consultant now.
