Are you wondering, “what does onboarding mean?”. We’re here to help by telling you all about this business and HR-focused practice that can help you orient new employees and retain talented hires.
To learn more about the onboarding process and how it can help to improve your workplace, keep reading. This is a great practice for running a business smoothly and allowing new employees to feel at home in your company.
What Does Onboarding Mean?
Onboarding refers to the process of orienting new employees into a business and is usually performed by human resource professionals. This is a great way to allow for employee retention and goes beyond your basic employee orientation. The onboarding process focuses on assisting a new employee to get them acclimated to their new work environment.
This process allows employees to get acclimated in a timely fashion by going over aspects of a business like company culture to increase their overall comfort level. This process focuses on the big picture, the company as a whole, while also going over the individual’s job functions. This allows them to have a deep understanding of their job and role in the larger scheme of the company.
Some companies may use HR onboarding software and tools to help them complete this process successfully.
The Purpose of Onboarding
This process allows for orientation and training practices to be more comprehensive for the best results. This is better than a brief introduction to the company, as this is not a great way to achieve employee satisfaction and competence. Onboarding is a great way to cultivate a workplace in which all employees understand every aspect of their position.
This allows new employees to feel valued, which can help them better perform their jobs. It also allows employees to understand how the company works together to perform certain tasks, which can assist them along the way. An onboarding process does this by meeting a variety of a new staffer’s needs.
Not only does this process allow new employees to feel welcome right away, but it allows a new employee to become productive at a quicker rate. After a successful onboarding process, an employee will learn what they need to to do their jobs properly and independently.
The ultimate goal of onboarding is to achieve great retention rates to limit the cost and hassle of turnover through developmental activities and training sessions. This is a great tool that can work to create a team of employees who feel more connected to the company, and have a clear understanding of their job responsibilities and how their job works towards the goals of the company as a whole.
Components of a Successful Onboarding Process
A successful onboarding process needs to have a strategic plan in place. Each new employee may have an overall orientation process along with additional onboarding training and activities based on their position. These are the main components that should be included in an onboarding strategy for the best results.
New Hire Welcome and Company Introduction
The first thing you will want to do when onboarding a new employee is to make them feel welcome in your workplace. Some companies may put together a new hire binder or online portfolio for new employees to access before their first day. This can help them feel a bit more prepared and acclimated to your company before their first day, which can allow them to feel less overwhelmed.
On the hire’s first day, it’s best to start with an introduction of the company as well as an introduction to the department the new employee will be a part of. In this step, the employee should be briefed on the company’s overall mission and the goals of their specific department. This will allow the new employee to understand their job role in the big picture of the overall company.
Introduce the employee to key players that they will be working with directly and make sure they have a clear understanding of what these individuals do, and how their roles may intersect. It’s important for an employee to see themselves in the company from day one, so it’s best to make this process as personal as possible to connect to the new hire.
Company Policies and Culture
It’s important that a new employee is instructed on the comapy policies and procedures as a whole, as well as in terms of their own job. Creating a booklet that lays out all of your company policies and guidelines can be a great tool for reviewing key points with the employee. It can also be a helpful tool for them to refer back to if they need to in the future and allows you to avoid overwhelming new employees by overloading them with too much information.
Guiding your new employee on how things are done in the work place will allow them to feel more immersed and will show them that your company values it’s employees. This will allow a new hire to feel confident that the company has systems in place to allow for a safe and successful workplace. This allows for a smooth transition in which new employees can feel like they are a valued part of your company more quickly.
The Onboarding Process Explained
No longer wonder “What does onboarding mean?”, and instead, figure out if this process is one that could improve your company. Set new employees up for success and cut down on turn over by implementing this strategy into your company.
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