Onboarding can be a hectic and stressful experience if done incorrectly, but with these simple and easy tips, hiring managers can elevate their onboarding process. Working with Advanced Hires can also help manage this process as we offer high-level career integration services at no cost to the employee, ensuring a smooth transition and a greater chance of the employee staying with the company and succeeding there. Here are some ways you can improve your onboarding experience:
Discuss the importance of diversity, respect, and safety
Clearly define what diversity, respect, and safety means to your organization and incorporate that message into your onboarding process or materials. Everyone who joins your organization should be aware of your goals and commitment to building a productive and inclusive workplace. Starting off strong helps new hires feel comfortable speaking up if their experience down the road doesn’t align with those values and helps you to retain employees who find these values very important.
Coach new employees, or offer career guidance
An inclusive culture doesn’t force individuals to fit into the existing culture, it evolves to incorporate new hires and their unique perspectives. Teach managers how to accommodate different communication styles and ensure existing processes, but also offering career guidance, mentors, or integration services to new hires to help them acclimate and determine their career goals and values at your company.
Consider welcome packages
If your company can afford to offer a welcome package or branded item for new hires, such as pens, shirts, mousepads, hats, etc., that is a nice and easy way to make a new hire feel welcome. Just make sure it’s something everyone would like or use, and isn’t something that could alienate people. (For example: gifting alcohol is not appropriate since some may not drink for medical, religious or personal reasons.) Consider items that could be enjoyed by new hires of all cultures, genders or abilities.
Create a safe place or channel for feedback
Whether it’s a direct message, email, mailbox, or office hours, new hires should know where they can comfortably share feedback and ideas about the company, including things like culture, diversity, and management. Make sure that if you have HR they are aware of this and involved. Once this safe place is created, make sure employees are aware of it and you mention it right from the beginning so they know it exists as an option for them.