How will you make them productive?

If done well, onboarding your new team member welcomes them and prepares them to assume their role expeditiously within the organization, and helps them develop the confidence and resources to fulfill their potential for the benefit of the organization.

You lay the foundation for employee success and retention the moment they walk in the door on the first day of work. The tone that is set on that day and the weeks leading to full socialization makes all the difference and alleviates some typical early buyer’s remorse. Have a structured plan for the first day, first week, and even the first month and beyond that you share ahead of time so they know what to expect. Leave room within that plan for less formal network building and bonding that needs to take place.

Who should do the orientation?

To build on relationships formed through the steps of the selection process, an initial welcome meeting with those closely involved with the sourcing and selection is important. Don’t have them go directly into the employment, payroll and benefits paperwork that needs to be completed as well, of course – that should be ancillary to the welcome. The supervisor of the employee should coordinate all meetings and make the introductions. Once the vision and mission objectives and priorities have been reaffirmed with the leadership, allow for a nuanced discussion with the supervisor with respect to the detailed JD and the onboarding and training plan. Request frequent status checks and updates to keep it all on track. Go to Orientation and Onboarding Resource – 7A

Is this the right time to discuss performance expectations?

Using the initial meeting to propose the topic, and then going carefully over the complete JD, covering the performance standards associated with the position allows the employee to position themselves for success right from the beginning. Clarity around expectations at, as an example, 90 day, 6 month, annual reviews and in the long-term also helps keep anxiety low and performance high. Go to Performance Management Resource – 7B

Initial Training

During the selection process, one of the possible assessments of the employee could be that although there is substantial capability to work with, there are areas that need to be bolstered. Include training for this along with the more typical training on custom software, time record keeping, email and communications clients, accounting, personnel policy and procedures, as well as job shadowing and department rotations. Go to Training Checklist Resource – 7C

The estimated cost of losing an employee in the first year could exceed 3 times their salary

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