The Do’s and Don’ts of Employee Onboarding

Why does a company or its HR department need to know the do’s and don’ts of employee onboarding?

Onboarding is an opportunity for companies to make a good first impression. An employee’s perception of the company depends largely on how the company welcomes and orients its new hires on their first day. This is a critical stage because it’s when employees come in with expectations and anxieties about a new job and work environment. SHRM reports that “69 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding.” When done right, onboarding can effectively motivate employees, make them feel like they’re part of the team, and foster company loyalty. When onboarding is done poorly, employees can carry that experience throughout their employment with the company or even after. It isn’t unheard of for an employee to leave shortly after being hired simply because the company didn’t meet expectations.

What is employee onboarding?

Onboarding is the process of welcoming new hires and integrating them into the team. But remember that onboarding is more than just an employee’s first-day orientation. A welcoming orientation handles general information, introductions, and administrative concerns. Onboarding involves not only preparing employees for their jobs, but also teaching them about company culture and helping them develop the right mindset for their work and interaction with colleagues.

Here are some processes that may be implemented in your onboarding program:

• Welcoming employees – a plan for introductions, meeting people, opportunities for social interaction (e.g., lunch, welcome meetings, etc.)
• Administrative orientation – knowing what to do and where to go when they arrive every day, company policies, office tour, equipment and accounts (e.g., computer, email, etc.)
• eLearning program – basic training with all the information needed for self-study
• Meetings with teams and colleagues – training and orientation on the job itself as well as sessions to support the eLearning program
• Immersion program – shadowing colleagues, seeing the work in action, mentoring, and receiving guidance and feedback

What are the do’s and don’ts of employee onboarding?

What would it take to design an effective and successful onboarding program?  Here are some do’s and don’ts:

• Do set goals. – It’s important for employers to have clear goals for new hires. More than just going through a standard program, goals should be set according to specific roles, needs, and the company culture, vision, and mission.
• Do have a clear schedule. – While onboarding is indeed more than just an employee’s first-day experience, it’s important that employees know what to expect early on. This also provides a structure that will enable HR and management teams to design an onboarding program that maximizes time and aligns with an employee’s specific tasks and responsibilities each day.
• Do involve the employee. – New hires come in with their own expectations and receiving feedback from them is a good way to optimize the onboarding experience. Keep communication lines open and ensure that employees feel comfortable enough to ask questions and ask for training or guidance for areas that they struggle with.
• Don’t consider onboarding a one-time event. – Design a program that will effectively ease employees into their new jobs. This means guiding them beyond their first day, having regular check-ins, and allowing them to not only learn about the new job, but also to adjust to the culture and work environment. 
• Don’t limit onboarding to an HR program. – HR is not solely responsible for an employee’s onboarding. HR does in fact facilitate this process, but an employee’s work every day involves collaboration with other team members and departments. Ensure that every one the employee is expected to interact with for their job is involved in the onboarding program. This could mean organizing social gatherings or immersion sessions.
• Don’t overload the agenda. – Starting a new job involves taking in a lot of new information and getting used to processes and guidelines. Onboarding takes time, so be sure to break down the agenda to make learning more manageable. Your goal is not just to go through a checklist of to-dos, but to ensure that all of the learning is retained and translated into good, productive work.

Why you need proper onboarding

Onboarding has a direct impact not just on individual roles and jobs that need to be filled; its effect can extend to a global scale, possibly damaging a company’s brand, overall engagement, and employee retention. HBR reports a case from a global company that had conducted a study on their onboarding process. In their process of onboarding their 20,000 new hires every year, they discovered a large variation in the onboarding process, following a fragmented and inconsistent approach across industries, job functions,  levels, and regions. Knowing that this could hurt their brand, they started the development of a standard process. 

Companies that would like to grow must follow suit. Onboarding is about building a solid company with a shared vision and strong culture among its employees.