25 Aug Effectively Onboarding New Hires at Every Level

Many businesses succeed in onboarding new employees. However, businesses can still miss out an important part of the onboarding process — the support and follow-through that these new hires need the most. Companies should assist new employees in establishing role quality, job satisfaction, and their commitment to the organisation. 

One of the biggest challenges new employees face is quickly adapting to their new teams while performing well in their roles. Providing them with ample support can help ensure their success, performance, and retention. 

Many extended onboarding processes are done for senior or management level employees. But in developing a standardised onboarding procedure, organisations can provide equal opportunities to lower-level employees to further understand their roles and responsibilities in the organisation. This can be done by developing a company-wide onboarding system aimed to deliver consistent, high-quality support and guidance to all new employees, while taking into account the differences across involved units and seniority levels.

Here are the five key elements organisations may consider when designing a new framework for an effective onboarding system that is applicable for every level:

• Have everyone take an onboarding journey. All new hires must have a great onboarding experience — from orientation, integration, to full familiarisation The length and depth may differ depending on the level but this is truly beneficial for the holistic effectiveness of new hires.
• Create distinct personas. Customise company’s resources for each new hire persona. For starters, the company can categorize its workforce into four classes namely: wage earners, individual contributors, people leaders, and executives. The company’s allocated time and effort must adhere to the needs and complexities of each role and level of accountability.
• Disrupt the process through technology. Make use of technology to amplify the effectiveness of the onboarding system. For continuous learning, the company can create a knowledge database through a Google Drive or SharePoint where new hires can easily get the various orientation and development resources which they can always use as references.
• Establish a standard transition language and framework. Collect and organise all the information about integration steps, learning, creating transition plans, and engaging in critical conversations all in one place. Make this available to everyone, especially the new hires.
• Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the new hires and the people around them. Build a support system for the new hires by clarifying their roles and responsibilities as well as the expectations. Identify key stakeholders who will greatly help them come up to speed in their roles and familiarise themselves with the company culture.

In addition, an effective onboarding must not discriminate — whether it is an entry-level or an executive role. Every employee should be given the opportunity to grow and develop within the organisation.

Further, the company’s long-term support and engagement throughout the onboarding process hugely impacts the commitment of new employees to the organisation. Your onboarding process is extremely important to all your new hires and should cater to the complexities of each role while not undermining their position level.