Is Your Onboarding Process Effective?

Employer Insights

onboarding process effective

Have you ever considered how the quality of your onboarding program can affect your ability to retain employees and keep productivity at your organization high? There’s great value in investing in an onboarding process that effectively and efficiently prepares your employees for the demands of your organization. Here are some key ways in which you can make your onboarding process more effective:

Focus on employee experience.

Often employers make the mistake of focusing their onboarding process on their company, rather than on their new employees. In your orientation program, it’s important to educate employees on what they can expect from your culture. For example, do you offer “casual Fridays” or weekly lunch-and-learns? Are employees given flextime in their schedules? Is your team given an opportunity to do community service through the company? Shedding light on these types of practices and initiatives will help connect your employees to your culture before they’ve even begun their first day on the job.

Make your onboarding process engaging.

To ensure your onboarding program resonates with new hires, it’s important to make it both informative and engaging. Onboarding programs that involve long, seminar-style presentations are generally not very engaging. Instead, consider creating a program in which employees can move into different sessions or workshops, and can get to know one another in the process. Incorporating interactive elements into your program will allow your new hires to have some fun while learning the ropes.

Seek employee feedback.

The best feedback about your onboarding process will come from your employees who have gone through your program. Administering surveys to your new hires asking for their input will give your team the information they need to make necessary adjustments. For example, your employees may express that the onboarding program was too long and dragged out. Or, they may indicate they didn’t learn enough about your company’s policies. By using this feedback, you can improve your program’s effectiveness and provide a better orientation experience.