I typically run into a pretty common theme with onboarding process of the companies that I am recruiting for.  That is that they don’t have one or the one they do have is not concrete, usually only loosely followed, and not very thorough.

 As a business owner, organizational leadership student and someone who is always equally as invested in the success of the candidates I get hired. (For obvious $ reasons) They are just a few reasons why I believe on boarding sets the tone for someones experience with an organization and often times may not determine there overall success but definitely plays a key roll. 

 Here are a few things Ive found can easily make an unmeasurable difference. 

 1. Make sure that someone is being a liaison in between accepting a job and their first day.  Countless times as a recruiter we are explaining very basic things to new hires that should really be the responsibilities of the Human Resources team. 

Sure, this is a benefit to using a good recruiter (that can be explained in a different article).  However most hires are not brought in by recruiters.  So that confusion is often left to be manifested through stress, anxiety, and doubt. 

  Things like:  

  Confirming a start date, time, location.  Who will the person be meeting that day, what will the day look like… equally what will the first few weeks or months look like.  How long is training?  At what point will the employee be expected to be independent. Give them the plan as early as possible. 

  Completing on boarding paperwork.  How many jobs have you spent the entire first day or two just filling out paperwork?  This takes time, not just of the new employee but at least one other employee as well. This can often be bypassed by sending the paperwork week or two in advance.  This accomplishes two things. It saves time of two employees and it allows time to trouble shoot any issues or ask any questions without needing immediate answers. 

   Have the psychical work area and IT responsibilities setup as much as possible prior to start date. Have important websites, apps, logins prepared and on a paper with explanations for setup in down time. 

2. Make the first week or at very least the first few days about meeting people not a job.  Almost every organization I see just bombards there new employees with extreme amount of information regarding the company and the job. 

      This will accomplish two things it will make the new employee feel more connected to the organization more quickly but it will last help get some more investment from your employees that will be doing the training.  

   Company’s function better when the employees are invested in each others success and are willing to help each other.  This is made more likely the more connected they feel to each other personally. 

 3. Have a full training plan that includes time fillers for open gaps of time.  A few things I have watched with frustration over the years. 

• Employees being placed in front of a computer and set to watch hours or days of videos.  Sure, there are things that can’t be avoided with this but there are a lot that can.  Avoid it at all costs if you can.  Things to replace with are shadowing, ride alongs, or scripted conversations with tenured employees.  
  

• Don’t be scared of repetition with training.  I often see managers setup employees with that one hour long meeting with a short script.  What I believe works better is divide that hour into 3 or 4 meetings of 15-20min where possible Including different conversations about what that employee is doing that day or what’s different between each day. 
  

• Have employees debrief with leadership. Everyday if possible for as long as possible during training.  This can be a quick stop in to overview, answer questions or give clarity, and discuss the next days training.  I have seen this work wonders over the years with not only creating continuity but building personal bonds to leadership members. 
  

• Lastly, I have found that extending training over an extended period of time while incorporating increasingly more tasks in between allows for an employee to more comfortably adapt to expectations and learn responsibilities more in depth.  This also allows for the development of more fundamental understandings of the organization.
  

 Of coarse the variations of these suggestions can depend heavily on the type of employee, customer service/ sales, manager, or executive etc.  The fundamental principal of putting more of a focused emphasis on the boarding and training of new employees being the key takeaway of my experience. 

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