Onboarding is the process where new employees acquire the necessary tools, knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors to become contributing members who make a tangible difference to the organization. It is the action or process of integrating a new employee into an organization or familiarizing a new employee with the new work environment. An organization’s outlook to onboarding has a direct impact on productivity, employee engagement & retention. Onboarding is critical for both the employee and the organization. Study shows that 90 percent of employees decide whether or not to continue with an organization within the first six months. Consider further that the cost of losing an employee in the first year is often at least three times their salary.
An effective onboarding program has a wide range of benefits for both the organization and the new hire. We list out a few:
- Create & Build the Company brand and increase brand referrals as an employer of quality, trust and integrity. This starts by first defining your brand and being true and consistent with it throughout the onboarding process.
- Nurture Talent. Talent is a precious resource, and managing it is not an easy task. Limited number of organizations look at talent as a source of opportunity and a driver of business goals. Research has even proved that only 1 in 5 employers provide sufficient and necessary onboarding, training and development opportunities for the incoming talent pool.
- Ensure compliance with organisation’s vision, mission, goals, philosophy, and objectives.
- Develop trust between the new hire and the management and foster a more productive work atmosphere. Fasten the integration of the new hire into the organizational setup and increase productivity in his line of work.
- Construct a clear picture of the new hire’s roles and responsibilities within the organizational setup. Develop the needed skill sets and competencies to fulfill the role.
- Provide clear knowledge of the organizational hierarchy, knowledge of his team members, seniors, mentors and reporting structure of the company.
- Cater to the emotional and psychological needs of the employee, let them be comfortable with his surroundings and environment, eradicating any feelings of fear, intimidation or doubt. Let them feel welcome instead of making them feel awkward and left out at their workstation.
- Cultivate strong workplace relationships. Facilitate social bonding, inter-personal connect, relationship building and networking. Encourage and enhance team bonding, build individual and group productivity.
- Promote a better understanding of the company culture with its shared values, beliefs, habits, attitudes along with accepted norms of behavior.
- Build awareness about employee benefits and perks offered to employees by the company.
- Assist employees in understanding the rules and requirements of everyday work life specifically in relation to working hours, flexi-timings, company discipline, dress code, conduct, over-time policy, employee complaints and grievances handling, career and growth opportunities, leave policy and performance appraisal.
- Increase employee engagement, motivation and retention, also reduce attrition, turnover of employees. Accelerate pathway to growth and productivity of the new hire and the organization.
