7 Ways to Help New Hires Onboard in 2024

While every employee considers their onboarding experience to be one of the most memorable aspects of their work-life, many businesses continue to overlook its impact.

Did you know that only 12% of employees agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new employees?

Clearly, making your new hire settle is not just a significant part of hiring but also retention. A great onboarding gives you a chance to win your new hires' loyalty. It can also play a role in subtly affecting a new joiner's feelings of engagement or disengagement.

However, the different work model jumble has left companies with no clear onboarding plan in place. It has become tougher to get it all right.

However, the one thing that most onboarding processes get wrong is making the process tedious with a slew of paperwork and a data dump. Instead, the focus should be more on building the connection to make the newbies comfortable first.

On top of that, we are currently in a time where hiring gigs and remote employees are on the rise, but the 'human element' is missing. In such a dynamic work environment, traditional processes have become obsolete, and it's time we reinvent the way we work.

Let's begin with onboarding and uncover the best practices to make your new hire comfortable from day one.

7 Efficient Ways To Help New Hires Settle In 2024 And Beyond.

Before the joining day

1. Welcome Note

A brief welcome message to new employees from HR, providing a sneak peek into the new employee's first day at work, would help reduce anxiety and better prepare them for their first day.

The welcome note can be about how happy the organization is to have the new joiners. Employees are enthused when they are aware of internal company details such as its values, mission, pillars of strength, and so on.

Besides, you can also share company videos, merchandise, and other goodies like lunch hours, parking space, and their expected time to report.

On Day 1

2. Social Introduction

The orientation process of new hires starts from here. When the new hire joins, notify everyone in the company. It also helps the existing and new employees get acquainted with each other. You can send across an email to introduce them, share their hobbies, department, and more.

In fact, you can promote them on your social media accounts, particularly LinkedIn. These activities help with company branding as well as the hiring process.

For example:

• What is your company's vision?
• Are there fixed breaks and work hours?
• When are the salaries and CSLs credited every month? What are the hybrid or remote work norms?

Such minute-to-big details go a long way in helping the new joiner understand the ideal code of conduct. The departmental manager can handle the onboarding process from here on.

3. Smooth Onboarding

The manager must get the workstation of the new joiner ready in case the company has adopted a hybrid work model. They must also be introduced to their respective teams and colleagues they would be working closely with. Who can show them the working style

Once that is done, managers can now grant new hires access to the internal tools. For instance, show them how to mark the shifts, clock their check-ins and check-outs, fill the timesheets, track computer usage, and so on, using the shift planning software and more. Irrespective of the work model your company has adopted, you can also organize a team lunch.

Later on, it's critical to share the list of key persons who can help the new hire. Help new hires schedule virtual meetings with their peers and suggest questions to kickstart the conversation.

4. Virtual Game Session

Avoid making the virtual interactions all about work. It formalizes and limits the interaction. You want your new joiner to gel up with the team better, and a fun game session is the perfect ice breaker.

You can find creative ways to play Pictionary or create games like "Guess the movie," "Guess the Gibberish," "Guess the song," and more. It can be done in conjunction with your weekly fun events, with the newbie receiving special attention.

Later, you can also blend learning and fun; creating trivia from the upskilling sessions all team members took can be a good start!

5. Assign Mentors

As a manager, you cannot be there with the new hire every step of the way. It's good to provide them with a mentor, preferably someone senior from the team.

The mentor would be the go-to person for arranging necessary knowledge transfer and initial training and assisting the new member whenever they get stuck.

To track progress and collect feedback, add a task in your team tracking tool called "Mentor New Hire." As per the CandE Research Reports doing so also improves your relationship with new hires by up to 91%.
After a week

6. Assign Projects

While the knowledge transfer has already begun, now is the right time to assign some KRAs and KPIs to the new joiner.

Try giving tasks initially, which will boost their confidence and build motivation. Introduce them to your entire team and clients so they can start shadowing the entire process. Let them be silent listeners to your team calls and meetings too.

Moreover, to check how much the new joiner can absorb from your process, product, and tool training, give them tests to attempt online.

7. Conduct Surveys

Surveys help identify the improvement areas in your onboarding procedure and understand the overall experience of the new hire.

Conduct these surveys frequently and ask them questions about their experience with the team, mentor, manager, facilities, hurdles, suggestions, etc. Keep most of the questions close-ended.

The survey can include recruitment, engagement, induction, onboarding, and decision-making questions. For example:

• What are the three things we could have done better or differently?
• Is your team cooperative enough?
• Did you receive feedback from your manager every week?
• Did you feel overburdened with work?
• Have we conveyed the company policies accurately?
• How would you describe the company to your friends?
• Can you use the tools you have been trained for well enough?

Summing Up

The steps mentioned above will help you create a great onboarding experience to help new hires settle. It will help them adapt to the speed of working with others in the company. That way, they can maximize their present talents, expand their knowledge, and share ideas to bring in new perspectives.

To make your plan a success, no matter which works model you follow, you need to optimize the 4C's— Connection, Culture, Clarification, and Compliance.

Connection involves working on interpersonal relations, while company culture should encapsulate the formal and informal work norms. Then the next step must be to clarify the new employee's doubts. You must also educate the new hire on basic legal issues and policies to stay compliant.

Last but not least — there are no second chances to leave a great first impression; make it count.

Saurabh Wani is a digital marketer at ZoomShift, an employee scheduling tool. He has worked as an HR Recruiter for over 3 years before moving to marketing, where he defined the recruitment life-cycle that helped employees find the right job. He loves traveling and can be seen binge-watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S when he is not working. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com.