A successful onboarding plan involves pre-start and post-start initiatives. What is the goal of hiring a new employee? Sure, you need them to fill a positional need, whether it’s client-facing, administrative, creative or production. But you want them to do all of these things well and for a long period of time so you don’t have to spend the time and resources recruiting another person to fill the same job 90 days later. It all starts with a successful onboarding process. If an employee doesn’t feel welcomed or is thrown into the fire too soon, they’ll jump ship.

Let’s take a look at a few factors that make up a good onboarding program.

It Starts Before Their First Day Successful onboarding starts before your new employee steps foot in your building. In general, your HR and IT teams should get all of the paperwork and technology set up and ready. Nothing is worse for a new hire on their first day then than waiting around for paperwork to arrive or a computer to be set up. You should also:

• Send out a staff email so everyone knows about your addition

• Encourage employees to leave welcome messages on your new hire’s desk

• If you have one ready, send a welcome kit to your new hire welcoming them to your company and explaining what they can expect on their first day

On Their First Day Understand that a first day for a new hire isn’t just exciting for them; it is exciting for everyone in your company as well. This is why it is crucial that you make their first day as personal as possible. In addition to going through the normal policy and technology items, you should also:

• Take them around your building and introduce them to everyone else on your team (depending on company size)

• Familiarize them with what each team does and how they will be interacting with them

• Familiarize them with the office hierarchy, who reports to who, etc.

• Encourage them to ask lots of questions (it’s always better to ask than to not know!)

Ongoing Onboarding The onboarding process doesn’t end after the first day or a couple of days. Consistently checking in with your new hire is essential to ensuring any questions they have are answered. Within a few weeks of their start date, be sure to:

• Make sure they understand your work culture

• Discuss short- and long-term goals at the company

• Ask about what skills they hope to develop and set up a development plan with them

• Make sure they understand how your business creates value (the why behind the job)

You spent time, money and effort recruiting your new hire. Now, make sure you have a great onboarding process in place to make sure it was all worth it. If you need assistance with onboarding or any other HR or recruiting process, Skywalk Group is here to help. Contact us today to learn how our customized HR and recruiting services can help your company.