As an employer, you know that there is nothing more frustrating than going though a drawn-out recruitment process, settling on a candidate you are excited about, bringing them into your fold, and then having them leave within a year. The consequences are costly, frustrating, and can affect the long-term success of your initiatives. That is why companies are increasingly making onboarding a priority. Follow these strategies to help welcome new employees into your mix and lower your levels of turnover.
Help People With Names and Faces
One of the most stressful things about starting a new job is being thrust into an environment where everyone knows each other, but you know no one. It takes time to learn names, faces, and titles, and until that level of familiarity is built up, embarrassing situations can arise. You can help new hires feel more comfortable in your office by making it easier for them to learn basic details about the people around them. Consider putting together a document that includes everyone’s picture, name, and job title that the new employee can study at their leisure. You could also use a bulletin board.
Simplify the Orientation Process
New hires have to learn the ropes of the new job while simultaneously going though a drawn-out and often complicated orientation process. It can be a stressful experience and create burnout when you want to encourage excitement. Strive to make your orientation process interesting, relevant, fun, and brief. One strategy is to make all of your orientation materials available to the new employees before their first day so they can study them at their own pace and as often as they need.
Don’t Withhold Information
Every office has its own culture which includes a number of formal and informal rules, some of which are spoken and others which are simply implied. Don’t make your new hires learn these rules the hard way. Make sure your new hire knows about casusal Friday, the company softball league, or the free football tickets that the CEO gives as a perk to top performers. Strive to bring new hires completely into the fold and they will feel like they are a full part of the team starting on day one.
Make it Personal
If your orientation process is all about filling out paperwork and slogging through PowerPoint presentations, you are missing an important opportunity. The hardest part of adapting to any new job is getting used to your new co-workers. Consider assigning a new employee a welcoming mentor that can answer questions, make introductions, and serve as a sounding board. If you make the orientation process something personal rather than something standardized, it will have a much deeper effect on the new hire.
Onboarding is just one of the techniques that today’s businesses are using to make the recruitment process more effective. Find out additional strategies by working with the engineering staffing specialists at Selectek.
