September 2021 Newsletter Articles

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Virtual Onboarding
How to Get Your New Hire on Board – Online
by Mindtools

Their résumé sings. They cruise through your application process. And nail the final interview. But within a year, or less, your best candidate moves on.

Onboarding helps you to hold on to talented people – and get the best from them. But in the COVID-19 era, with the rise of remote working and global teams, you may have to do this online. In this article, we'll explain how to virtually onboard new employees successfully.

What Is Onboarding?
Onboarding is the process of helping a new employee to fit in with your organization. That includes welcoming them to the team and making them feel part of the company culture. It also involves getting them up to speed with tools they'll need to do their job.

It's tough to do all this in their first few weeks. So much so, staffing experts SHRM recommend onboarding new hires for at least one year.

Why Is Onboarding Important?
If you think 12 months sounds too long, just look at the stats. In their book, "Onboarding," authors Christian Harpelund, Morten Højberg and Kasper Ulf Nielsen reveal that 25 percent of new hires leave in their first year, 22 percent go in the first 45 days, and four percent don't come back after day one!

Good onboarding helps to plug this "brain drain." Further studies show that a strong onboarding program improves new hire retention by 82 percent. And they're not just hanging around, either. These new staff demonstrate better productivity and engagement levels.

The Challenges of Virtual Onboarding
In a survey of early job leavers, 17 percent said that "a friendly smile or helpful co-worker would have made all the difference," and may have persuaded them to stay.

This highlights one of the main challenges with virtual onboarding: it's harder to read body language over a video call. A thumbs-up emoji isn't quite the same as a smile. And you miss the "office vibe" and impromptu conversations that allow co-workers to bond.

Engaging new hires may be harder online; but it's not impossible. Follow these five steps to increase the effectiveness of your virtual onboarding program:

Step One: Start Your Virtual Onboarding of New Hires Early
Also known as "pre-boarding," this is the time between your new hire accepting a job offer and their first day. It gives you a chance to reach out and ease any anxieties they may feel. Your pre-boarding activities could include:

-Saying hello with an email that shows you're excited about their arrival. What's more, it's a handy way to inform a new hire when to log in for their first day, and to ask if they need anything before they join.
-Setting them up with the video chat and messaging software that your team uses. You can also add them to the most relevant groups, so that they and their new colleagues can say "hey" before day one.
-Emailing out a welcome pack. This could include a link to online resources such as training videos, useful webinars, product information or demos, and procedure documents.

Step Two: Virtual Onboarding Prep to Do Before Day One
You should liaise with your IT team to send out any hardware in advance of your new hire's first day, add any necessary subscriptions to the software they'll use, and create log-in details for them.

You should also check in with your HR department or People Team. As part of your organization's induction plan , HR reps should have your new hire's job description and any policies they'll need for day one.

Note:
What's the difference between inductions and onboarding? According to HR Zone, inductions involve first-day tasks such as signing paperwork and learning about employee benefits. Onboarding is longer-term and focuses on helping new hires to become a part of the team, and to understand their role and the value they bring.

But the two may overlap. As part of an induction, for example, you may point people to your organization's mission statement  online. During their onboarding, you can discuss with the new start how their work aligns with the company's values.

Step Three: Virtual Onboarding Tips for Week One
During your new hire's first week, you'll want them to feel welcomed, informed and connected. Here are some tips for doing that:

1. Manage Their Meetings

To avoid overwhelming them , keep their first virtual meetings to key people. Limit them to:

You (their line manager): to begin with, schedule meetings with your new employee every day or two. Try to keep these first catch-ups informal, and use them as an opportunity to check in and build rapport.
Their teammates: catch-ups with team members will help your new start to get to know everyone, learn about the tasks and objectives that each is responsible for, and begin to see how they fit into the big picture. An end-of-week group video call will also allow your new hire to socialize and start to feel part of the team.
The CEO or head of department: they can discuss the health of the business, its mission, values, and strategy. Got more than one new start? A group online session with the CEO may make everyone feel more comfortable asking questions. .

2. Keep it Fun

Remember, a big part of onboarding is turning any anxiety into excitement about the role. You can inject some fun into proceedings with Virtual Ice Breakers .

Social activities such as online charity events and quizzes will also build trust, reduce loneliness, and improve communication between team members. These social connections are especially important right now, as more of us work from home and are isolated from office life.

3. Set Up Some Quick Wins

Impostor Syndrome  is most likely to strike during a new hire's first few weeks. They may second guess their skills, feel threatened by confident colleagues, and worry that they're not the "right fit."

To overcome this, Ron Carucci, author of "Rising to Power," recommends assigning them tasks to complete at three, six, and nine-month intervals. Start with easy-to-hit targets, then gradually increase their responsibility levels. That way, you'll get them contributing straightaway, and build their trust and confidence.

Step Four: Virtual Onboarding Tips for the First Month – and Beyond
It's vital that you don't let a good start go to waste. So stay in regular contact with your new team member, as they expand their contacts and develop their capabilities. These three tips will help you to achieve that:

1. Schedule One-on-Ones

If you spot any skills gaps from the tasks you assigned your new employee, weekly one-on-ones are the place to discuss them. And you can highlight any Online Training  or learning opportunities to plug them. These catch-ups will also help you to build rapport and engagement. At each meeting:

     Ask how they're feeling, and don't just focus on work.
     Give praise and show how they're contributing to the "big picture" of your organization.
     Offer constructive feedback – highlighting areas to improve.
     Set goals and objectives to hit for the following week.
 
In a LinkedIn survey, 72 percent of respondents said that one-to-one time with their direct manager is the most important aspect of onboarding. Remember, these discussions are two-way. Encourage your employee to raise any challenges they face, and to be honest about how their expectations of the role match the reality.

Addressing these issues will allow you to better manage their probationary period.

2. Help Them to Build Their Network

Beyond the first week, think about who your new hire should meet from across the business. And help them to get to know the stakeholders involved in their day-to-day activities.

If you work in a large organization, chances are you already lean on tech to connect with colleagues around the world. If you're part of a small to medium-sized enterprise, one way to keep a "door is always open" culture is to use direct messaging apps such as Teams or Slack. This allows new hires and internal customers to collaborate "in the moment" – and avoid the "Zoom fatigue" of constant video calls.

What's more, your new employee doesn't have to meet everyone at once. An online "org chart" will let them find and reach out to colleagues when they're ready.

Tip:
Some messaging apps connect people at random for virtual coffee breaks. These allow people to share experiences and "click" in ways that they can't do on a group call. This "social capital" is key to building team camaraderie.

3. Assign a Virtual Buddy or Mentor

A virtual buddy from their team can be your new hire's go-to for help with any issues that crop up on the job. The buddy should live and breathe your organization's culture, be willing to help, and share the way they approach their work.

Crucially, they should also be curious about their colleague and invite their fresh thinking, perspectives, and experiences. That way, your new hires will add to your culture  and not just conform with it. Co-workers can agree how to have these discussions virtually, from video calls to WhatsApp chats – whatever works for them.

Step Five: Keep Checking in With Your New Hire
You shouldn't wait a year to know if your virtual onboarding is effective. At regular intervals, check in with your employee to gauge their experience of the onboarding process.

With the right application, your virtual onboarding approach can be a highly effective tool for retaining, engaging and developing productive new team members.

Key Points
The time before a new hire starts with you is a great opportunity to reach out and assure them that they've made the right choice picking your company. So, give time and thought to the pre-boarding process.

Organize their first week with a mix of fun and informative activities, supporting them to settle into their team and manage their workloads.

Making regular online one-on-ones part of the onboarding process will let you track how well it's working. These meetings also allow you and your employee to change tack if necessary, helping them to stay engaged, happy and productive.Workload apps such as Asana, Basecamp and Trello help people to organize tasks – and give the satisfaction of ticking off To-Do lists. You can also leave praise and helpful feedback for them in the flow of work.

New Employee Onboarding Guide
Proper onboarding is key to retaining, engaging talent
By Roy Maurer

 New employee onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee with a company and its culture, as well as getting a new hire the tools and information needed to become a productive member of the team.

Onboarding new hires at an organization should be a strategic process that lasts at least one year, staffing and HR experts say, because how employers handle the first few days and months of a new employee's experience is crucial to ensuring high retention.

Getting Started with the Onboarding Process

Finding the best candidates for positions in your organization is only part of building an effective team. The process of onboarding new employees can be one of the most critical factors in ensuring recently hired talent will be productive, contented workers. 

However, in some organizations, onboarding is often confused with orientation. While orientation might be necessary—paperwork and other routine tasks must be completed—onboarding is a comprehensive process involving management and other employees that can last up to 12 months.

Before implementing a formal onboarding program, employers should answer some key questions to attain team and upper management buy-in, including:

When will onboarding start?
How long will it last?
What impression do you want new hires to walk away with at the end of the first day?
What do new employees need to know about the culture and work environment?
What role will HR play in the process? What about direct managers? Co-workers?
What kind of goals do you want to set for new employees?
How will you gather feedback on the program and measure its success?

Once these questions have been answered, HR professionals and upper management can devise a plan of action to help new employees quickly assimilate company policies and workflow while getting fully acquainted with the organization's culture.

Creating an Onboarding Program
"If we don't worry about onboarding before the employee starts, then we're way behind," said Ben Peterson, CEO of BambooHR, an HR technology company. "Rather than having a stack of papers waiting for their signature, send them out to the employee beforehand, for electronic signature. Give them their benefits selection. Find the technology to help you automate the paper-pushing process."

As soon as new employees receive a job offer, they can also receive access to the company's online onboarding portal, said Amber Hyatt, director of product marketing at SilkRoad, a talent management solutions firm. 

"Here they discover content that's designed to engage them, like a friendly note from their manager, first-day information, welcome messages and photos from new teammates, a glossary of company acronyms, a virtual copy of your employee handbook as well as other details about the new hire's department and job responsibilities," she said.

New-hire portals also benefit HR through dashboards that can organize and track tasks that need to be completed and managed electronically, such as W-4 or I-9, benefits and payroll forms, Hyatt said.

In addition to having new employees fill out new-hire paperwork online, consider providing the answers to questions they may have, such as where to go on day one, who to ask for upon arrival and what to wear, she said.

Set up new hires' desk, phone, computer and password logins before they arrive, said Peterson. 

"The worst thing for a new employee is being wooed through the recruiting process and then arriving on the job and the receptionist isn't even expecting you or your office isn't set up," he said.

The First Day
The two main goals on the first day should be setting expectations and introducing objectives. Employees need to have crystal clear ideas about what their job duties and responsibilities are on Day 1, Peterson said. 

"New employees need to get to know the job and get to know their new co-workers. Social interaction is critical. You want them back on Day 2, right?" he asked. 

New employees at BambooHR are taken out to lunch on the first day. "We cared enough to hire them, we want them to know we care enough to build rapport," Peterson said.

Aligning expectations is critical. 

"Organizations that don't focus on acclimating new employees to their corporate culture are at a significant disadvantage," said Hyatt. "Employees who know what to expect from their company's culture and work environment make better decisions that are more aligned with the accepted practices of the company."

To keep existing team members from resenting a new employee, make sure roles and responsibilities are outlined for the entire team, Peterson advised. 

"Sometimes existing team members could feel threatened that someone new could take over their responsibilities. So it's a good idea to clarify the position of the new hire as well as [the positions of] other team members whose work is closely related, how they'll interact with each other, and how projects will run," he said.

The First Few Months
It's important for HR to have a one-month check-in to make sure that that the new employee is comfortable, happy and engaged, said Peterson. "Reviewing and giving thoughtful feedback on your new hire's early contributions are also important during onboarding," he said.

According to a BambooHR survey, three-fourths of new hires said training during the first week on the job is most important to them. Meanwhile, 41 percent of HR professionals felt they needed to update training in onboarding. 

"If you aren't communicating what new hires are supposed to be doing and arming them with the tools to do it properly, you're setting them up to fail," Peterson said. 

You also don't want to inundate your new hires with too much information. 

"While it's important to get your new hire ramped up and productive quickly, you also need to make sure you provide on-the-job training in a manageable flow," he said.

Hopefully, new hires have picked a mentor by the end of the first month, Peterson added. Fifty-six percent of respondents in the BambooHR study said that having a buddy or mentor at work was very important when getting started.

The Aberdeen Group report found that high-performing organizations are nearly two-and-a-half times more likely than lower-performing employers to assign a mentor or coach during the onboarding process. 

"Mentoring programs can be as simple as assigning a new employee a go-to person or having an elaborate team of mentors for any questions that might arise," Hyatt said.

The First Three to Six Months

Peterson advised HR to conduct another check-in between three and six months, depending on the employee and the role. 

"Unfortunately, only 15 percent of companies continue onboarding after six months," he said. Remember, nearly 90 percent of employees decide whether to stay or go within that first six months. "You have a huge impact on that choice. Sometimes you just have to show that you sincerely care," he said.

The First Year
"An employee's performance at the end of the first year will prove if they're fully productive," said Peterson. "Now you can plan for future development. Show them what their career looks like at the company. Sadly, sometimes they don't belong there," he said.

The end of the first year is when traditional onboarding transitions into retention and employee satisfaction. 

"Shift from on-the-job training to continuous development. It's also a great time to have the compensation conversation," Peterson said.

"Your new hires will thank you for setting them up on the path to success and your company will be well on its way to turning those new hires into seasoned employees.