The Importance of Having a Structured Onboarding Process

Starting a new job can be a bit of an overwhelming experience for new employees; with a plethora of knowledge being given, finding where they fit in within the office culture and just getting the hang of how the office is run. After the sometimes long and tedious recruitment process is complete, it is important to make sure that the chosen candidate is supported in the new work environment by having all the tools necessary to ensure success.  By having a structured onboarding process, also known as organizational socialization, and incorporating some key tools in that process, your new employee will feel the support needed to succeed.  Typically, onboarding includes formal meetings, lectures, videos, software programs, printed materials and computer based orientations that introduce new employees to the company.  It is important to use as many tools as applicable, and to be creative with how you present information in order to attract and retain top talent.  Keeping presentations engaging,  reducing occupational stress, creating a positive and supportive work environment through the onboarding process will lead to many great benefits.

Research has shown that positive and successful onboarding techniques lead to higher job satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment and actually a reduction in occupational stress and intent to quit.  A major benefit of having a structured onboarding process is that you will attract top talent.  Recruiters know that people don’t stay at jobs just for a salary, people stay for many other reasons; proactive and relational management, and exciting company culture. With an engaging onboarding process, those top performing, new employees will see a strong foundation for their career for which to build upon; they’ll see inside the company culture and examine the elements that make your company great.

Another great benefit to having a structured onboarding process is that it promotes business growth.  Engaging with employees during this process promotes and encourages engagement throughout their career at your company.  Gallup reported that employees who were engaged with their company performed better and had 147% higher earnings per share over their competition.

Making sure that your employees are educated on the missions and practices of your organization, is essential to the onboarding process, and presenting it in a way that encourages connections among new and senior employees is a great way to create lasting relationships as well as build trust with new employees.  A great way to do this is to encourage new hires to meet with senior management and hear about organizational initiatives and goals.  This also encourages open communication among employees.  By assigning a mentor during the onboarding process, it adds another resource for your new employee to utilize in addition to all of the tools previously mentioned.

Finally, by practicing successful onboarding techniques, not only will it build your business and encourage open communication among your employees but it will ultimately decrease your turnover.   Having a high turnover negatively impacts your bottom line as well as your team morale.  By having open communication, your new employees will feel comfortable expressing concerns and feedback instead of just quitting. By using successful onboarding tactics,  you will ensure a better fit from the get go and encourage communication which will keep employees engaged and decrease turnover as a result.

However, how do you ensure a structured and successful onboarding process?  One of the key ways that you can ensure your organization’s and employee’s success is by utilizing tools that make the onboarding process simpler, easy to update and interactive.  A very helpful tool is an onboarding software, or a CRM software.  By using an online recruitment software with onboarding capabilities, you give your organization the tools it needs to retain top talent, promote business growth, educate your newcomers on the missions of our organization, encourage open and honest communication and ultimately lower your turnover.  With TrackerRMS you can control your entire onboarding process; from electronic document signatures to task tracking and management.

CEO of Tracker for over 12 years with an overall 25+ years in business process, IT strategy, and management

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