8 Steps to Keep New Hires Engaged: A Guide for Onboarding
- Employee Engagement
It’s no secret that employee engagement is a key factor in reducing turnover and improving performance. Employee onboarding is one of the best ways to ensure new hires are engaged from day 1.
This blog post will discuss 8 steps you can take to keep new employees engaged during their first few days on the job!
It’s no secret that employee engagement is a key factor in reducing turnover and improving performance. Employee onboarding is one of the best ways to ensure new hires are engaged from day 1.
The goal is to onboard new hires as quickly as possible and gain the trust of a company’s top performer. New hires can be a valuable asset or drain on a company’s resources, depending on the stage of the onboarding process.
This blog post will discuss 8 steps you can take to keep new employees engaged during their first few days on the job!
What is onboarding?
Onboarding is a way of gaining customer’s trust and loyalty through the process of guiding new customers through their first experience with your brand. Onboarding helps new employees to gain the necessary skills, knowledge and context to make them productive members of the corporate culture. There are many kinds of practices which fall under this category. Online training is only one of them.
Upon completion, newly hired employees should be able to manage their daily workflow and tasks more proficiently. Roles should be clearly defined which will help employees easily know what to do and how to do it.
What are the different types of new hires
Different types of new hires include the following:
-Experienced employees with a history in the field you’re hiring them for.
-Fresh graduates from college who are looking for their first job.
-Individuals who have been out of the workforce for a long time and are looking to reenter the workforce.
Why is it important to keep new hires engaged?
New employees are more likely to feel like they are making an impact if their managers take the time to introduce them to their team and find tasks that support what they care about. For instance, one way to gain employees’ interest is by giving them a variety of projects or tasks that match the company’s values, interests and skill set.
How not to onboard a new employee
First, the employee is not provided with a computer or any electronic device that can connect to the internet. Then, they’re given a list of rules and procedures that must be followed during their time of employment. In the event that they break a single rule, they are immediately terminated from their position and escorted out of the building.
This is what can happen when you don’t follow your company’s onboarding process, which can be a costly mistake.
So you’ve just hired your first employee and they start on Monday morning. You’re excited about the new hire who seems like they’re going to be “the next big thing.” You show them their desk, introduce them around the office and answer any questions that pertain to their role before letting them go.
But apparently, your expectation of a clean process wasn’t communicated very well. They have a problem and you want to help them fix it. All signs show that they’ve been a good person who trained well in an environment that didn’t understand what they needed to know. What do you do?
New employees typically need on-boarding training, which is the process of introducing them to their new company and its systems. This can be done in a variety of ways, but the most common is via a one-time meeting.
The on-boarding process can be done by either the new employee or their supervisor. For example, if the new employee is a recent college graduate, they might be able to do the on-boarding themselves. If their supervisor does it, then they should plan for two or three days of training during the
What happens after the first week of work?
To increase chances of retaining your new employee, you need to keep checking up on them at regular intervals that go way beyond the first week. These meetings may or may not be directly linked to performance reviews depending on your corporate culture and possible level of engagement. In any case, from the employee’s perspective, it is encouraging to see a trajectory of meetings planned ahead that will deal with their experience in the workplace. Such engagement milestones should include:
Step 1: Introductory meetings
These come at a prearranged time that the employer and the new hire negotiate. This allows them to do a pre-employment screening interview, to get an overview of everything that will happen, and see if it is something that they are interested in.
Step 2: Orientation
This part of the process involves meetings about the organization, its history, the roles and responsibilities of individual employees. It looks at confidentiality, at how they interact with co-workers and supervisors/managers, and introduces them to any other departments within the organization.
Step 3: New Employee Socialization
You can choose to do this on-the-job, during meals or orientation meetings. It is the same people who are talking during new employee socialization who talk during new employee training.
Step 4: New Employee Training
New employees learn the general policies of the organization and what they will or won’t do. They then attend on-the-job training, which varies based on the tasks they will be performing. For example, some jobs may require new employees to attend a three-day orientation. Some factories with just two shifts may only require one day of training.
The more information an organization shares with a new employee, the better chance they have of sending them into their first day feeling enthusiastic about coming to work. When an employee walks in to a new job, the feeling is one of uncertainty and a lack of information. That’s not an effective way to get a new team off to a good start.
Here are 8 steps on how to onboard new employees:
1 – Provide an Employee Handbook or Employee Guide
Every new hire should be provided with an internal tool, resource guide or more pronounced internal document that will help individuals progress through the relationship with your company. A resource guide/internal document is often referred to an “employee handbook.”
This tool goes beyond the poster in the bathroom because it will help you convey information about company policies and procedures. Have the employee read through it, sign off, and give them a copy for their desk if possible. This will save time later when they have questions!
2 – Provide an orientation tour of where they work
Tell them what’s expected of them in this position, and any tools they’ll need. If you have areas where they’ll need to work independently, set them up with a few projects.
This will give them an idea of what’s expected for the day and help provide some goals or milestones to achieve!
If interacting with others is part of their job description, during new hires orientation, this would be a good time to introduce themselves formally and answer any questions.
When you show them the basics of their job, it will help them understand what’s expected and provide some confidence that they’ll be able to handle any tasks assigned over time!
This also gives you an opportunity to teach or demonstrate anything new they need to know about your workplace.
3 – Introduce the employee to their co-workers, bosses, or managers!
This is a great way to welcome new hires and for them to learn about company culture from those who live it every day.
It also encourages them to connect with their co-workers.
This is a good opportunity for the employee and manager to set expectations together as well! If possible, try to schedule this meeting in advance so it’s not unexpected or rushed.
4 – Give them a mentor!
Provide one or more co-workers who have been in their position for at least six months and are willing to answer questions, show them around, share tips about company culture, etc.
This is a great opportunity for the mentor to share their experience and learn about what’s going on in this new hire’s life.
It also helps with camaraderie!
Providing mentors will help them feel more confident, welcome, and included at your company.
In addition, it can provide you an idea of how they’re doing and how much help they need.
If it turns out that the new hire needs more support or training, you can immediately start addressing this for them!
5 – Introduce Employee Benefit Packages
Summarize what they include (medical/vision/dental/life insurance) and how they work.
Give them a list of what is covered and how much it will cost, so they can decide which one is right for their needs.
If the Employee Handbook doesn’t cover this, let them know where to find more information.
6 – Include Employee Assistance Programs
Explain what these programs are (counseling, financial assistance for things like mortgage or rent payments), who to call if the employee needs help with anything covered by EAP, etc.
7 – Introduce Employee Social Events
Let employees know about Employee Social Events (golf tournaments, karaoke nights, etc.) and that it’s a great way for them to get involved with the company culture.
If it’s appropriate, let them know about Employee Social Events that might be of interest based on their hobbies or interests!
Encourage participation even if they’re not an expert at something – this is also a good place for introducers to get involved!
If you have Employee Social Events planned before they’re hired, mention these in the orientation and tell them how much fun it will be.
Don’t forget to ask if they want to share their contact information so that invitations can go out – they don’t need to say yes right away or commit for every event.
8 – Educate employees on their “To Do List” or Task Assignment
Include an overview of what they will be doing in this position at work each day, so employees won’t feel lost or overwhelmed.
If they have any questions, make sure to provide answers or point them to resources that can help.
The To Do List is a great way for new employees to feel productive and get started!
It also helps with their Employee Performance reviews later on if the employee knows what needs to be done each day at work.
In conclusion:
Onboarding is one of the best ways to ensure new hires are engaged from day one.
Employee engagement has many benefits, including reduced turnover and improved performance.
In this article, we’ve discussed 8 steps you can take to keep new employees engaged during their first few days on the job!
These tips will help your current workforce feel more invested in their work, while also educating them about company culture so they don’t get lost or overwhelmed when starting a new position with your organization.
How can Clarity Wave help you better onboard new hires?
Clarity Wave is an effective tool for onboarding new employees.
Our Community section lets new employees read about the company’s history, its mission, vision, values, procedures, and anything else that is important to know in the first few days.
The Community also includes a directory of the organization, to help the new hire learn who is who, what they look like, where they work and how to communicate with them.
The News section lets new hires and everyone else find out what is happening in the organization. Did they land a brand new account? Did someone get married or had a baby? Are they launching a new product? The News section keeps everyone informed at all times.
Set up a demo with us and find out how Clarity Wave can help your company have more engaged and motivated employees.