Success! Having spent time and money in the shape of ads, interviews, assessment feedback and various other things, you have finally found the ideal candidate for a job! Your new hire is the perfect match to the position and possesses the skills, experience, drives and learning ability to take on the role, and you can now move on with your other assignments. But wait! Your job as a leader is not over yet.
Your first priority is to ensure that the new hire gets a head start. There is not much time to demonstrate that you understand the new employee and that you have a genuine interest in them. According to the Aberdeen Group, companies with a structured onboarding programme have a better chance of retaining new employees – they are generally more engaged and they start delivering faster.
So – what to do?
First, you need to appreciate that perhaps not all managers have experience with onboarding. They need tips and sparring – preferably something that is easy and hands-on.
It is worthwhile to develop a checklist for the manager. Typically, HR has a list of things that need to be taken care of (e-mail address, comp. and ben., etc.) and likewise the manager needs a list which could include things like: Who should the new hire meet? What objectives should be reached first? Etc.
Moreover, the manager should be held accountable for the success of the onboarding (or lack thereof!). Successful onboarding should be one of his or her KPI’s.
How do you know what might be a good process for the individual? PI assessments can help you! When you know the assessment results, you get invaluable information about how much information they are likely to be able to process, how much instruction or support they need, and also how they prefer to learn. An extroverted person is likely to prefer to learn from others rather than having to read things on his or her own, while other might feel overwhelmed if they met too many people at the same time. If you understand the person and what drives him or her, there is a much better chance that they will feel engaged.
We all know that many apply for a job because they are attracted to the company, but they often leave because of the manager. So unless you ensure that the new hire feels energised during the onboarding process, there is a risk that you will soon have to fill the position again!
To learn more about creating a great onboarding process, feel free to contact us.
