Effective Onboarding Best Practices

First impressions matter. It is common to give and receive this advice when prepping for an interview. But as a company, did you ever stop to think that your  first impression matters too?

We are no longer in the age where workers are desperate for any kind of work. If anything, finding and retaining top talented workers is becoming increasingly competitive. This is why excelling the onboarding is so crucial.

Did you know that 28% of your employees will quit the job before 90 days are over? In the first week only, you are likely to lose 16 percent of your new hires. By the first year, you will have lost at least one in every three employees.

Within three years, you might as well have a completely new support staff. If this is not alarming enough, the cost of replacing an employee can be as much as 80 to 200 % more than the salary you would pay the employee annually.

It is becoming vital to work on employee engagement. This starts with creating a successful employee onboarding process. According to Gallup, only 12% of hires feel that their company is doing an excellent job onboarding.

So, how do you ensure that you have an effective onboarding program? Preparations begin before the new hire arrives.

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Preparations leading up to the employee’s first day

Start as soon as you know the person(s) joining your team.

Depending on the type of hire, ensure that all the hire paperwork is ready. Do not forget critical internal documents you might need your new hire to sign, like non-disclosure agreements.

Then, start to introduce your new hire to the company. Sure, employee handbooks are an essential asset when it comes to providing company information. But have you thought about videos? Remember, the aim is to maintain employee engagement from the beginning.

Cincopa Online Video Course  can be impactful in that regard. They can be leveraged to create fun and exciting videos for your new hire. You can also integrate your Slack or Zoom account with the platform and enjoy added benefits.

An application like Asana will also help you keep track of your employees work. Also, Asana premium offers increased benefits that ensure work organization and management. These include receiving instant messages and video conferencing. Meetings with your remote employee should be more convenient when you use Zoom. Remember to welcome them to the company before you start bombarding them with your expectations.

Also, offer information regarding what the new hire should expect once he or she join your company. This includes the dress code, company parking spots, and arrival time. You can enroll the help of other team members in your workplace.

Ask the latter to share their working experience through RecTrace. They can record the tips they’ve collected over time. Additionally, ask the new hire’s manager to create a Cincopa Video Channel and make have him or her ready for the first day.

Alternatively, prepare and send this information to the new hire before they come to work. Once the new hires watch your video, you can keep track of the watch time through the Cincopa Video Analytics tool.

If any vital channel is skipped, you can ask the new hires to watch them on their first day of work. Oh, every new hire needs a mentor. A mentor will provide answers to the unexpected questions the new hire might have, and using mentor matching tools can ensure a more personalized and effective mentorship program.

The mentor will also make the assimilation process easy for your employees. Therefore, assign mentors within your onboarding program before the first day.

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The first day

It doesn’t kill to be generous. Prepare gifts for your new hires and place them on their desks. A coffee mug with your company logo and a welcome message will make your hires feel they are a part of the company.

Make the first day an orientation period. Do not rush your new employees into contributing to the business. Instead, set the stage for them to be productive members of your team.

How do you do this?

Make your team aware that they have new people joining them at work. It becomes easy for the team to prepare their meet and greet. Once the new hires arrive, give him or her a tour of the office. Show him or her the support desk, kitchen, and bathrooms.

Then, set up a face-to-face meeting between new hires and their manager. The manager will provide information about the employer’s expectations and the structure of the department. They will also answer any pending questions the hires might have.

Then, set a lunch date between the new hires and their assigned mentors. This will give the hires a chance to interact with them. It also allows them to feel more comfortable with the working environment and culture.

Later, present the new hires with a 30-day plan. You should focus these days on learning. Lean on video for maximum effect. You can create videos with plans for each week, or even every day. The beauty of bite-sized videos is that they are far more conducive towards actually retaining the information relayed within. You can add closed captions to the videos you add to  your Cincopa Online Video Courses. When the new hire comes across terms he or she aren’t  familiar with, he or she can use the In-video Search feature. Punching-in a keyword will have the video jump toward the instances it was mentioned throughout the video. Then, if seeing it in context still has the new hire unsure as to its true meaning, he or she can always research it.

The most important thing to remember is to ensure the new hire is not awkwardly sitting at their desk with nothing to do. A thoroughly planned and productive day will keep him or her busy and engaged until the following day.

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The weeks that follow

Remember the Video Channel you presented your new hire with on the first day? Does it provide a learning curve? While creating the bite-sized videos with RecTrace, ensure the minutes’ long videos offer progressive information.

It will help you develop a 30 to 90-day plan for your new hire. You can customize each video channel to act as learning milestones for your new employee. You also want to know how the employee feels about their new working environment.

Hence, set meetings with the assigned mentors on designated times within a week. Include team members, brainstorming, and presentation meetings within the plan. They will help new hires understand how other employees work.

They will also bring the new hires up to speed with the company products and services faster. But most importantly, use the videos to visually demonstrate the company’s objectives and the role of the new hire in meeting  said objectives.

Ensuring job satisfaction among your new hires works in tandem with providing clear and concise communication regarding their job description. Effective onboarding makes this possible because it provides a seamless internal communication network. Implementing creative strategies for better productivity can further enhance employee engagement and overall satisfaction..

Before the 30-day learning curve is over, schedule any necessary training of company processes. Then, start to offer the new hires’ work. Create a feedback loop that will keep you informed of their progress.

By the end of the 90-day onboarding program, your now fully-fledged employees should be ready to work independently and collaboratively.

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Why video is more effective for your onboarding process

Company handbooks are an essential and necessary addition to the onboarding process. So why stress the importance of videos?

Well, for one, 90% of information transmitted by the brain is visual. Besides implementing an amazing employee communication tool, you want your new hires, most of whom are newly graduated college students, to retain the information you provide.

Considering the brain will process bite-sized videos 60,000 times faster than a text message, your audience retention report should be excellent.

Utilize Cincopa Online Video Course to help reduce the disorientation and nerves of your new hires.  RecTrace videos will help them make the transition to your company secure. Besides, RecTrace is free, very straightforward, and intuitive.

Video for HR

Originally published on April 16th, 2023, updated on February 21st, 2024
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Effective Onboarding Best Practices

by Elton time to read: 5 min
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