A Guide to HR for Employee Onboarding Process

According to a survey, roughly 33% of employees make the decision of staying onboard or quitting within the first 30 days of joining a company. A different survey summarised that nearly 28% of employees are willing to quit a new job within the first 90 days due to poor onboarding practices and/or if it doesn’t meet their requirements.

For HR professionals, statistics like this can be intimidating. Hiring a new employee isn’t easy and it impacts an organization financially and operationally. When you hire an employee, you want him/ her to stick around for a long time and add to the company’s profits.  For this, you need to ensure that the first few interactions of your new hires with the organization are smooth and motivating. HR needs to up their onboarding game for helping new hires adjust to the new organizational setup and work culture.

What is Onboarding Process in Recruitment?

The employee Onboarding Process is the practice of integrating and familiarising a new employee with the nitty-gritty of an organization. It is an important aspect of the employee life cycle and impacts the way they form an impression of their new workplace. Consequently, it is important for you to employ the best onboarding practices to convert new employees into productive assets.

6 Best Employee Onboarding Process For HR Team

• Communicate with new hires before their first day
• Make their first-day count
• Value the feedback given by the new hires
• Save time on paperwork by going digital
• Cross department introduction helps in social acceptance
• Set clear expectations from the beginning

1. Communicate with New Hires Before Their First Day

You should take the initiative to communicate with new hires, prior to their first day. Simple communication such as informing them about the general rules, things to know for their first day or even having their new manager reach out, goes a long way in easing any apprehension the new employee could have.

A simple way to communicate with new hires is by sharing resources about the organization culture, prior to joining. Sharing videos, social media posts, and blogs related to work culture will reduce your work going forward and also provide a brief idea to the new hires about the way your organization functions.

With the help of HR management software like Xite, you can ease this communication process with new hires. Xite comes loaded with tools such as dedicated pages that feature onboarding videos and induction modules which can be shared with new hires prior to their first day. It’s an HRMS that also comes with the ability to make and share customized e-offer letters, acceptance tracking, document uploading modules, and modules containing policies and benefits.

Many companies are adopting the process of online onboarding using the best HRMS to make the first day of new joiners less stressful. IDFC Bank, for example, has a great pre-joining technique wherein they provide the new hire with a pre-loaded gift card so they can have coffee with friends. This simple activity is not only a great little bonus for the employee to join but a great way to market the brand to others.

2. Make Their First Day Count

The onboarding day gives you a chance to make a positive impression on the new joiners. Take your new employee on a tour around the office, have their desk set up for them, introduce the employee on the floor and over email, and treat them to lunch on the house. It is also important to hold an orientation for your employees wherein you run them through the basics like parking information, canteen facility (if any), break time, and other general office rules and nuances.

A company can take pointers from Flipkart which, for select employees, provides pick-up by chauffeur-driven cars on the first day and sends them on a treasure hunt to familiarise themselves with the office. Even Oyo Rooms has an interesting first-day ritual where new employees are assigned nicknames such as ‘warrior’ or ‘spartan’ to add excitement to their job on the first day.

It is important to note that keeping too much on the new recruit’s plate on the very first date could be an overwhelming experience. So, plan and spread out your first-day activities so that they can have a fun and fulfilling day which sets the tone for their tenure.

3. Value the Feedback Given by New Hires

Your new hires are a fresh pair of eyes that can offer a different perspective on things around your office. Keeping that in mind, encourage recruits to be more forthcoming and open about things around the workplace that could be improved. They might not be critical about your company or its processes at first. But by creating a supportive environment, you can convince them to share inputs regarding different business processes.

You can also use your HRMS to record feedback and conduct anonymous surveys. HRMS software like Xite contains feedback systems under their performance management module which records and reports feedback through surveys, questionnaires, etc.

4. Save Time on Paperwork by Going Digital

A new hire has a lot to do and learn during the onboarding process. There are people to be met, processes to be learned, dynamics to be understood and finally, an awful lot of paperwork to fill out. HR people can ease some of that stress by instructing new hires to fill out their paperwork and upload required documents, prior to their day of joining.

Important documents such as photograph, aadhar details, employment and academic certificates, financial documents, PAN card details, etc. can be provided by an employee beforehand which reduces the hassle of carrying physical copies on the first day. By getting the majority of paperwork done before joining, not only can new employees ease the paperwork process, but they can also save crucial time during onboarding.

Xite HRMS is one such HRMS software that can help with the paperwork requirement through its induction modules where an employee can upload their documents digitally and complete their paperwork.  The HR team can provide the new employees with access and the employee, in turn, can upload documents and fill out forms on the HRMS in their own sweet time.

5. Cross-Department Introduction Helps in Social Acceptance

A new job brings with it a new environment and new people to get accustomed to. It can be intimidating for employees to reach out to others by themselves, which is why a floor introduction helps them in know everyone and experience social validation. Another advantage of holding a floor introduction is that it helps new employees break the ice and communicate with other employees.

If they don’t know relevant people and aren’t introduced to their peers, it can have an adverse effect on their work going forward. If the new employee has a great idea but doesn’t know the relevant people/team to reach out to, your company could potentially lose out on a brilliant idea. It is important to introduce new employees to everyone and improve interdepartmental collaboration.

6. Set Clear Expectations from the Beginning

A good way to weed out bad hires from good ones is by setting clear expectations from the get-go. By informing employees about their responsibilities and work expectations, you empower them to plan their work strategy and prepare for what’s to come. Set up long-term and short-term goals for employees to fulfill and track their progress for assessment at a later date.

A sound HRMS can help you keep a track of employee performance and you can use this data to conduct performance reviews after a period of time, to assess whether an employee’s performance is up to the mark or if they need help with something. For the employees whose performance has been phenomenal, you should take the opportunity to praise their work to build morale and a sense of appreciation.

These are just a few onboarding practices that could enhance your employee’s first days. Did we miss out on an interesting point that you would like to share? Well, let us know below. We are always happy to hear what our readers think.