The Onboarding is basically a welcome process for new employees and its main goal is to integrate them into the organization and make them feel at home in their new teams and jobs.
This process is crucial, and its success will determine the future relationship with newly arrived talent.
A Wynhurst Group study found that the chances of staying with the organization increase by 58% if a good Onboarding process has been implemented; in the same way, another study by Brandon Hall indicates that if the process of Onboarding is strong and well-structured, talent retention increases by 82% and also improves productivity by 70% .
Therefore, understanding if the organization’s Onboarding process works and is successful or, on the contrary, needs to improve, is a relevant aspect to take into consideration.
Team Insights has one battery of specific questions for new arrivals, which evaluates the Onboarding process from different perspectives which we consider important for it to be success and beneficial for both the employee and the company.
How should an Onboarding process be?
The Onboarding is an active, dynamic and an ongoing process (some experts say that it should last about one year) which is made by companies to welcome new employees.
Apart from providing the necessary resources and information to carry out their tasks properly, this process also helps align the employee with the organization’s goals, mission and vision and works as a scenario to convey their values.
Historically, companies prepared a single event rather than a process, in which the organization welcomed the newcomer, the employee signed the relevant documentation and was informed about how his or her job, including other relevant information. It was too static and too bureaucratic.
Now the Onboarding process is much more dynamic and can be initiated even during the recruitment process: appreciate your candidates and make them feel comfortable during the initial part of the process is as important as it once they have become part of the company.
For an Onboarding process to be successful, the following factors must be taken into consideration:
- Adaptation: each person is unique, and each job is different, therefore, the process must be adaptable to the candidate and their specific functions.
- Progression: as we say, Onboarding is a process and, as such, it requires time until the person is fully integrated into the organization.
- Feedback: the new employee should be accompanied to know how he or she is adapting and have the possibility to clear up any doubts that may arise.
Ideally, the strategic thing to do would be to involve all colleagues and even senior managers, to promote the foundations of the new relationships.
And when does the process end? When all the objectives of the Onboarding have been met:
- The employee perfectly knows the organization, its philosophy and its values.
- He or she has adapted and familiarized with his job position, performing the tasks efficiently.
How to know if my organization’s Onboarding works properly
As all the other dimensions that are worked on from HR, the success of Onboarding can be measured and quantified to understand if it is carried out correctly or if there are aspects that need improvement.
As previously mentioned, one of the key factors is feedback, as it will help us understand the different phases that a newly hired employee goes through.
Team Insights has a special set of questions for those workers who have just been onboarded and have been in the organization for less than two months. These have the objective to know how their recruitment process was, understand their insight on the Onboarding and measure their level of satisfaction.
The battery consists of 10 questions which focus on finding out whether the organization always transmitted their values, if the training and information received was adequate and pertinent, if tests were fair and relevant, and whether they felt treated nicely from beginning until the end of the process.
In short, it is like the eNPS but more specific and therefore more valid and reliable for this specific process.
Similar to the rest of the dimensions in our app, this question pack can be activated or deactivated depending on the specific needs and requirements of each organization.
Once all the information has been collected, Team Insights graphically shows the satisfaction levels regarding the Onboarding process, allowing the appropriate decisions to be made in case there ares any aspect that needs to be improved.
Why it is important to have a good Onboarding process?
Having a well-structured onboarding process not only helps to retain talent. It also presents numerous advantages that are mentioned below:
- Accelerates the process of integration of employees to their new functions.
- With the right accompaniment, the learning curve decreases, and efficiency increases more quickly.
- Decreases the turnover rate by increasing satisfaction levels.
- Maintains stable psychological health state as the initial support reduces the levels of stress and anxiety which are usually present in new challenges.
Caring for the well-being of employees before and during Onboarding is essential to ensure the success of their total integration with the organization.
Taking care of this aspect means making a difference in promoting motivation, satisfaction and efficiency, which are specific dimensions that add value to the company and make it stand out in a market as competitive as the current one.
