Your company’s investment into a new hire can be measured by man hours, money, and time spent away from other tasks. But your commitment can’t stop at the job offer. The way you integrate new hires can be just as important as the recruiting process. A retention consultant suggests that replacing a newly hired employee can cost a business between 100 and 300 percent of their annual salary. The emotional costs may not be as easily calculable, but they are equally as impactful on flow and productivity.
According to a recent Gallup poll, almost half of workers are open to leaving their organization. The most common reasons cited fell under the categories of Engagement and Culture and Wellbeing and Work/Life Balance. Drilling down further into the list of reasons we can find some that might apply to new hires:
Unrealistic job expectations
The job was different than expected
Not treated with respect
Workplace culture
Coworkers
Insufficient training
Relocation
Physical working conditions
Here are some strategies to help get out ahead of some of the struggles new hires may face. A focus on employee retention is mutually beneficial to the company and the new members of your team.
Start Onboarding Immediately
During the hiring process, quick response times and open communication are vital to attract quality talent. It remains vital to maintain that level of attention to a new hire during the period before they start work and into their first days or weeks. Consider employing a variety of methods to introduce someone to your company and help them integrate, such as:
Pre-recorded video content or printed materials about company values and culture
Delivery of a welcome email and/or a package of company-branded items, office supplies, or a personal note
Quick turnaround on technology and office equipment requisition, especially if the employee is remote
Introductory meetings or video calls with immediate supervisors and HR
Assignment of a work buddy or mentor who can answer questions and help the new employee feel welcome
A plan or schedule of clearly defined benchmarks that will be part of their initial training period
Set Realistic Expectations as You Integrate New Hires
The hiring process is a time to sell the company to the candidate who’s selling themselves. Once someone is hired, the best way to welcome that new employee is through an organized onboarding process. This gives the employee, HR, and supervisors a chance to provide important details about job responsibilities and employee benefits.
After the blur of interviews and first-day jitters, it can be especially helpful to provide written documentation of everyday tasks, typical required work hours,\expected response times to emails, or how the company handles deadlines. Explaining the finer points of the employee’s new job can help clear up confusion before it leads to mistakes or frustration, helping to support your goal to integrate new hires more efficiently.
It’s just as important to shine a light on included benefits like vacation time, sick leave, holidays, retirement contributions, and health insurance. Show employees perks like coffee, snacks, or wellness initiatives. Giving equal time to available perks creates a culture of trust and acknowledges that a new employee’s health and contentment is valuable. These benefits are just as much a part of employment as work, and people want to feel like they are welcome to access any those perks.
Encourage Feedback
New hires take in information from a firehose in the first days and weeks of employment. They probably have more questions than answers at first, but seeking feedback about their onboarding experience can foster an environment of trust right away. Make sure new employees know the best people and methods for feedback. Should they go straight to HR? Will someone set up a meeting at a pre-planned time in the future? Is their immediate supervisor most open to an email or an in-person discussion? Does your company provide a survey or specific questions they’d like to have answered?
Showing you’re open to feedback right away indicates that this can be an open dialogue into the future. It says no matter how long a person has been with the company, speaking up is valuable. Wherever possible, responding to suggestions or ideas goes a long way in helping someone feel like a part of the team. Think of it this way: Bringing new talent can inject new ideas into daily tasks. There’s a learning curve for all new employees but it’s worth your time to encourage fresh insights.
Set New Hires Up for Success
If projects are languishing in a to-do pile, it might seem logical that the new person should take on the backlog of work. The new employee might feel eager to prove themselves and accept any work offered to them, even if they don’t understand what’s really involved. But evidence suggests otherwise.
“The manager’s job is to instead keep new hires focused on the essential work they should prioritize and by pointing them to ways they’ll make rapid progress on these goals.”
To integrate a new hire effectively, consider the following ideas as you consider the new employee’s first tasks:
Assign work that aligns with their skillset
Find tasks that have a clear start and end point
Pair them up with a mentor or smaller team so they don’t feel like they’re the odd man out in an established project group
Be intentional about offering praise, gratitude, and feedback
Create opportunities for frequent check-ins that aren’t specifically about deadlines
Be patient with early mistakes and offer gentle correction
Bringing new hires to an overburdened company can be a tremendous relief, but your investment into their success goes beyond the job offer. The onboarding tools in ApplicantStack let you turn candidates into new hires without all the extra manual data entry. Plus, you have a central location for the tax and company forms required and a detailed, consistent plan for onboarding. Take advantage of the onboarding solution and integrate your new hires to become crucial members of the team.
One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is referred to as “the great resignation.” During this time, which began in 2021, employees resigned from their positions en masse. According to some estimates, more than 50 million employees voluntarily left their roles, resulting in a mad scramble for talent.
Some of the factors driving the mass resignation event included a desire for enhanced flexibility, particularly in scheduling, remote or hybrid work, and higher pay. But a percentage of these individuals regretted their decision, resulting in an attempt to return to the company they left behind.
Embracing returning team members was a 2023 hiring trend we discussed on our blog. Now we’re diving into why these employees want to come back, what to consider and the benefits of welcoming them into the fold.
What is a ‘Boomerang’ Employee?
The term “boomerang employee” refers to someone who left their role and came back to the organization. Considering that the average employee tenure with a company is about five years, it makes sense that they might return to a company they worked for previously during their approximate 40-year professional run.
Why Employees Might Return to Previous Employers
A significant portion of those who quit their jobs believe that the previous role was better than their current one. People in this situation might be more excited about a return to their previous employer, which can boost morale and strengthen the company culture.
Other factors influencing decisions to return to previous employers include life situation changes, such as having children or caring for an ill family member or exploring another industry. An employee might choose to pursue a passion, taking time away from work during that period. Some people work seasonally, while others relocate temporarily based on climate conditions. These situations can all lead to boomerang employees.
The Benefits of Embracing Returning Employees
There are certainly benefits that come along with embracing former team members who want to rejoin the company. Some of these advantages include:
Familiarity with the expectations, responsibilities and job overall
A well-established relationship with the employer, which can boost retention and loyalty
An increased likelihood of understanding and aligning with the company culture
A less time-consuming onboarding process
Depending on their reasoning for leaving and what they did during the period away, returning employees may bring additional viewpoints and skills that can benefit your company.
Considerations of Rehiring Boomerang Employees
Of course, not every employee who resigned from their role will be a good fit to return. It’s worth considering what they will bring to the team and whether their presence will benefit the organization.
If a former employee left on a negative note, a return could create bad feelings in the workplace. Even remote workers may have trouble with tasks that involve collaboration or delegation from an individual who spoke negatively about the company or participated in other toxic behaviors.
Make sure to consider other applicants before determining whether the previous team member is the best fit. It’s easy to overlook well-qualified candidates when someone who is already trained and familiar with the processes requests to come back.
Understand why the employee chose to leave to get a sense of whether they will be happy working for the company once again. If they felt dissatisfied with aspects of business leadership or team workflows, they might become a higher flight risk if their concerns haven’t been resolved.
Maximize Your Hiring Efforts with ApplicantStack
Whether you choose to bring back boomerang employees or widen the search to include a range of candidates, ApplicantStack can make the hiring process go more smoothly. It includes tools to make communication with candidates easier, keeping everyone on the same page. Plus, you can share your open positions on multiple job posting sites with a single click to cast a wider net.
In this blog, we’re discussing some of the top challenges a new remote employee might face with virtual onboarding and how organizations can help set them up for success—starting as early in the process as the job posting.
What Is Remote Onboarding?
Onboarding remote employees requires a few key elements, such as introducing, integrating and orienting a worker with a company’s culture, policies and procedures. This happens either entirely or partially through virtual means, rather than in person.
Remote workers have become much more typical over the last handful of years, with approximately 22 million employed adults working from home 100 percent of the time. With the rise of remote work and distributed teams, many companies have had to adapt their traditional onboarding processes. The process usually involves using various digital tools and platforms to facilitate orientation sessions, training modules, meetings, access to company resources and documentation and more.
Even remote onboarding, which you’d expect to be a fairly uniform process across the board given the inherent limitations, can look different from one organization to the next. However, there are a few main components and onboarding best practices that are to be expected, such as:
Virtual orientation sessions: Introduction to company culture, values, mission and policies through online presentations or videos.
Digital training materials: Access to online courses, tutorials and documentation to learn about job responsibilities, software tools and processes.
Virtual meetings: Scheduled video calls with managers, remote team members and HR representatives to discuss job expectations, goals and performance evaluation criteria.
Digital communication channels: Utilizing email, instant messaging platforms and project management tools for ongoing communication, collaboration and feedback.
Remote access to resources: Provision of necessary equipment, software and access to company databases.
Regular check-ins: Scheduled virtual meetings to assess progress, address concerns and provide additional support as needed.
These could be considered the bare minimum requirements of an onboarding plan. However, to reap the benefits of a truly effective strategy, including better employee retention and a more meaningful employee experience, it’s important to understand common challenges first.
Top Challenges With Remote Onboarding
Surprisingly, only about 12 percent of employees in the U.S. say that their organizations have a good onboarding process — so getting virtual onboarding right can really set you apart from your competition. With an ever-expanding remote workforce, being able to adapt to this new normal will only strengthen company culture over time.
Remote onboarding isn’t without its challenges, just like its face-to-face counterpart. To facilitate the most meaningful remote onboarding experience for new employees, being aware of common challenges is key to developing strategies to overcome them and can help both you and remote hires succeed.
For context, here are a few typical challenges with remote onboarding processes:
Technological barriers
Some candidates, especially older generations, may not be as comfortable with certain technologies as others. Remote onboarding sessions should provide training to help get tech-averse employees up to speed.
Limited personal interaction
Remote onboarding lacks the face-to-face interaction indicative of more traditional working arrangements, where it’s easier to build relationships between new hires and colleagues. In a virtual environment, it can be more challenging for new employees to feel connected to the company culture and other team members.
Lack of supervision
Without direct supervision and timely feedback on their initial performance, new employees may struggle to effectively learn and adapt to their roles.
Disengagement
Remote work can be isolating, especially for new hires who may feel disconnected from their peers and the organization itself. Without the informal interactions and socialization opportunities provided by an office environment, new employees may struggle to integrate and engage with their teams.
Difficulty building trust and rapport
Establishing trust and rapport between new hires and their managers and colleagues can be more challenging in a remote environment. Building strong relationships in these virtual settings requires an intentional effort to foster open communication, collaboration and camaraderie.
Remote Onboarding Checklist: Building An Effective Plan
As an employer interested in hiring remote employees, you should be committed to facilitating success for each new hire in your remote environment.
That means providing the appropriate tools, software, and support that remote workers need to thrive in their new roles. At a high level, that effort also includes committing to and/or developing:
Clear communication: Provide clear instructions and expectations for the remote onboarding process, including timelines, objectives and resources. Regularly communicate with new hires through various digital channels to ensure they feel informed and supported.
A structured onboarding plan: Develop a comprehensive onboarding plan that outlines the training modules, orientation sessions and milestones new hires will complete during their first weeks and months on the job. Break down tasks into manageable steps and provide access to relevant resources and materials.
Feedback and evaluation: Solicit feedback from new hires about their remote onboarding experience to identify areas for improvement and ensure ongoing optimization of the process. Evaluate the effectiveness of the onboarding program based on new hires’ performance, engagement and satisfaction levels.
A Remote Onboarding Checklist For New Remote Hires
Now that you know what your organization should have in place for the best chance at successful virtual onboarding, here’s a checklist that you can provide to employees ahead of the remote onboarding process to ensure they’re fully prepared:
Test your internet connection to ensure it’s stable and reliable.
Ensure you have all the necessary hardware (computer, headset, etc.) and software (messaging apps, project management platforms, etc.) If provided by the company, be sure to reach out to get an idea of when you can expect the equipment to arrive if it hasn’t been made clear.
Confirm contact information with HR and that you have access to all necessary apps and programs.
Designate a quiet workspace in your home without distractions.
Familiarize yourself with the organization’s culture, values and professional standards so you know what to expect as you start the transition.
Prepare to introduce yourself to each new team member you meet.
Remote Onboarding Made Simpler with Applicantstack
Applicantstack streamlines onboarding tasks to get new remote hires integrated into your organization quickly and effectively.
Our software has everything you (and your remote employees) need to succeed, all in one place. Import hires, upload forms, create tasks, set reminders and so much more in a centralized platform that’s easy to use.
Starting any new job is like drinking from a firehose for at least the first few days. Onboarding a new employee means a huge data dump of company values and culture, job responsibilities, department procedures, and all the administrative tasks of setting up payroll and benefits. Remote employees face an extra hurdle in that all of their onboarding has to be done through virtual or text communication. Still, there are plenty of ways to make the virtual onboarding process run smoothly for both employer and employee. Here are some of our best tips for remote onboarding.
Why Include Remote Employees in the Onboarding Process?
Research suggests that around 86 percent of employees decide whether to stay with the company within the first few months. That means the first introduction and subsequent few weeks of a new employee’s time is crucial to retention. Small businesses in particular may find that the onboarding process ends up taking a backseat to the crush of daily operations.
“You’ll figure it out” may cut it for some self-starters, but other remote workers might need a more deliberate and informative onboarding experience. With onboarding tools built into ApplicantStack, you can set up the process once and go through it with every new hire. Plus, all the paperwork and tasks can be done from anywhere, ensuring that remote employees have access.
Onboarding remote employees takes some extra finesse and attention. Having a new employee follow someone around the office can accomplish in a few hours what a day of virtual meetings can’t quite match. But that’s no reason to give up on giving a remote employee the best possible introduction to the company. It may require some creativity and organization, but the goal of retention and employee satisfaction is worth the effort. ApplicantStack allows you to upload forms, create tasks, generate e-sign documents, and access lots of other helpful tools.
The Basics of Remote Onboarding
Remote and in-person workers want the same things from their job: clearly laid-out responsibilities, pride in their work, recognition for achievement, and a good work-life balance. To make sure that a remote worker feels a part of the company’s mission from day one, they need to be warmly welcomed and provided all the tools that can help them accomplish their work.
A well-structured onboarding program for virtual workers includes:
A clear outline and schedule of activities, like required video conferences with estimated duration and participants, expectation of camera on or off, viewing of pre-recorded content, time set aside to study company documents, participation in chats, introductions to other employees, or a virtual tour of the office
Computers and other required technology in good working order, along with detailed instructions, pre-recorded videos, or live training to set up the equipment properly
Clear policies on required availability via devices: times of day, in periods of time-intensive projects, or weekends and holidays
Links to e-sign necessary administration documents with clear communication on deadlines and functional upload capability for IDs, etc.
Access to supervisors and human resources for questions
Tips for Improving the Virtual Onboarding Process
Since the pandemic changed the work landscape, companies of all sizes have learned to embrace the idea of remote work. Here are some tried and true ways small and large businesses can implement to help your new virtual employee immediately feel like part of the team:
Include supervisors and department heads in the process of developing your company’s onboarding process.
Determine how your existing employees’ time is best used. Does 1-2 full days of onboarding meetings make sense? Or do you set up a week’s worth of half-days to allow supervisors to attend to other work? An onboarding expert at LinkedIn said, “We felt we could best do [onboarding] with shorter bursts spread over a week to allow flexibility with working from home, and then we could adapt as needed.”
Allow for breaks. Employees can feel free to turn off their cameras and stretch, take a short walk, or attend to a personal task. Some companies send a gift card for a virtual lunch break.
Don’t make assumptions about proficiency levels in tech. Offer plentiful training about the software your company uses for an employee who may be coming from a fully in-person job.
Designate an onboarding mentor whom a new employee can ask questions privately, if needed. Introduce the new employee to the mentor early in the process and allow check-in time to clear up any confusion as it happens.
Ship a welcome basket along with a laptop and any other required tech items. Include some useful and some fun items, such as:
A printed copy of the employee handbook that includes information like company values and culture, clear explanations of perks and benefits, bonus or incentive policies, company leave and holidays, and mandatory work hours or meetings.
Logo swag like coffee or water cups, notebooks, pens and pencils, or a framed graphic of the company mission statement
Desk items like ring lights, mouse pads, faux plants, organizing supplies, decorative file folders, or cleaning supplies
Required and bonus tech equipment like a working laptop with one or two chargers, bluetooth headphones, microphones, an external monitor, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, or tablet
Virtual Onboarding Follow-Up
The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a consultancy group, looked at research from Queens University in Canada regarding long-distance relationships. They suggest that some of the data can help managers with the onboarding process and first few weeks for remote workers. After a set amount of time, supervisors should check in with remote workers and assess mutually-agreed upon benchmarks.
Does your remote worker feel like a valuable part of the team?
Do they feel like boundaries of availability via tech are respected?
Were they supplied with all the relevant information from the beginning or have they been blindsided with new data?
Do they feel comfortable bringing up concerns and asking for clarification?
Are supervisors available and responsive?
Many businesses operate now with a combination of in-person and remote workers. Productivity and retention can often be determined by the quality of your onboarding process. A tool like ApplicantStack can help you organize your onboarding process for best success with remote workers.
Employee recruiting is a powerful part of your hiring toolbox. Asking employees to flesh out an applicant pool capitalizes on a natural human response to invite others to positive experiences. A referral program incentivizes and rewards employees for their contributions to the company.
A Jobvite survey in 2020 found that, after internal hires, employee referrals were the second-most effective hiring source and the second-most useful resume consideration factor. Here are some tips to build an internal referral program that really works.
Your Employees are Your Best Brand Ambassadors
From posts on social media to relaxed after-work happy hours, we all tend to share stories and experiences about work with friends and acquaintances. Ideally, that content is positive and encouraging. Employees who are engaged in and excited about their work – and share it – become the best ambassadors for the company’s brand or culture. If your company sells an end-user product, that’s free advertising. If your company needs to fill positions, that’s expanding your potential applicant pool.
You can reward this behavior by creating opportunities for internal referrals for hiring. Rewards can vary; no one referral program fits all companies. The first steps involve examining company culture so your employees feel inclined to bring qualified candidates to the table.
Employee Recruiting Requires a Strong Foundation
It may seem overly simple, but the most important foundation for collecting hiring referrals from your employees is their job satisfaction. You can’t control each employee’s feelings about every aspect of their job, but you can provide a company culture that values each member of the team. Some tangible ways to achieve this include:
Maintaining Good Company Culture. Conduct surveys that help identify where company culture is thriving and lacking. Then, take that information to improve where possible. Good company culture includes well-known and accepted values like trust, diversity, mentorship, and autonomy. It has clear policies on work and dress code flexibility, automation, and tangible and intangible benefits.
Paying Employees What They’re Worth. Ideally, employees will have been hired at a salary they’re happy with. Implementing a program of consistent salary reviews and an open-door policy for negotiations goes a long way in helping employees feel valued.
Communicating Perks and Benefits Consistently. While keeping some benefits confidential might seem important, it can lead to gossip and jealousy among employees. When people feel cheated or left out of perks, even if the company feels it has valid reasons, it can negatively affect employee morale. A well-communicated and consistent benefits policy encourages transparency and unity.
Communicating Clearly Open Jobs and Responsibilities. Clarity and detail in job postings is important, allowing potential candidates to see all the requirements, benefits, and salary from the first interaction. For internal recruiting, you should provide all the same detailed information, along with any additional tidbits a current employee might need to know, especially if the job opening isn’t in their department. Facts like which team a person might work on, sample projects, details around the office layout, and access to perks are conversational and can help an employee sell the position to a friend.
Rewarding Referrals and Employee Recruiting Efforts. Consider the cost of hiring an employee from a wide open pool. The Society of Human Resource Management puts the median number at around $1,200. If an employee helps you circumvent that cost, a gift card for lunch may not be quite enough. Recruiter Rikka Brandon suggests, “Offering your team an incentive that actually makes a difference to them may just give them the motivation to be intentional and active about recruiting.”
5 Ways to Involve Employees in Recruiting
Now that we’ve identified how to make sure your company is a rewarding workplace for employees to recommend, here are some ideas of how to build an internal referral program:
Start at Onboarding. Every time you bring a new employee on, explain the referral process. Help them feel like an important part of the recruiting team from their first day. Even if you don’t currently have openings, this effort ensures that future opportunities aren’t lost to “I never heard about it.”
Allow Talent Acquisition Team to Present at Company Meetings. Periodic presentations ensure employees can hear about new developments in the program and creates a forum for questions.
Remind Employees How to Find Open Listings. What seems obvious to those involved in the hiring process may not be so clear to busy employees. Ensure there is a centralized location for open positions that’s easy to access. Provide periodic reminders along with highlighting incentives.
Identify a Streamlined Process for Submissions. Every company will have a different preferred way to receive employee referrals. Make sure your organization’s process is simple and direct. You could create a web form or an email address that remains the same, even when people leave their roles. Periodically remind the staff how it works.
Encourage Feedback on the Program. If employee participation is low, you may need to take a hard look at the communication, process, or incentives. Ask for honest feedback without fear of retribution.
Manage Your Candidates with ApplicantStack
Once you’ve examined company culture, created an easy-to-use program for submissions, told everyone about it, and the referrals start coming in, you need a system to make sure none of the stellar candidates fall through the cracks. Even if you don’t end up hiring a referral, it’s vital to respect the efforts of your employees with follow-through.
ApplicantStack is the perfect tool to easily and efficiently sort, rank, and track the candidates in every step of the process. Internal notes can help you track where the referral came from. Your employee can receive their reward and your gratitude for a new valued member of the team.
With Thanksgiving coming up, you may be thinking about what you’re thankful for and how those things impact your life. But as a small business owner, it’s worth considering your recruiting process and how it impacts the organization’s ability to grow and succeed. In this article, we’re outlining the benefits of improving how you bring on new hires and why those are worth giving thanks for this holiday season.
Understanding the Onboarding Process
Onboarding is a term that includes all the tasks associated with bringing a new onboard into your organization. It begins when someone accepts an offer, and you start planning for their arrival on the team. Examples of onboarding activities include new-hire orientation, training, support from a mentor, and even a tour of the office or workspace.
Orientation is an important aspect of a new hire’s first day, but it differs from onboarding. When you think about orienting someone to a new role, your mind might imagine stacks of paperwork and an introduction to the company mission and values.
But onboarding goes a step further than orientation, as its purpose is to help a new employee feel comfortable and confident in their new role. This comprehensive process can take up to a year to fully complete, and it should involve many people throughout the company.
Every new hire goes through some type of onboarding process but a more robust experience can have a significant positive impact on retention and satisfaction. Gallup data shows that only 12 percent of employees felt good about their onboarding experience.
Additionally, those in that group were three times more likely to report that they have the best possible job. Less than a third of new hires surveyed felt supported and prepared to excel in a new role. These statistics indicate plenty of room for improvement.
5 Reasons to Give Thanks for Better Onboarding
Now, let’s dive into some of the reasons to give thanks for improved onboarding.
Positive employee experience
In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever to provide a positive experience for your employees. People have more options when it comes to finding work, especially in positions and industries that require fewer skills. Make sure your new hires feel supported and excited about their future with your organization by investing in a positive onboarding process.
Improved engagement
Engagement is one of the most essential aspects of managing a workforce. Engaged employees work harder, are more productive, and contribute significantly to the success of a business. But unfortunately, only 33 percent of American employees report being engaged, and 16 percent report being actively disengaged.
A new hire’s first experience with how your organization engages with them occurs during the recruiting and hiring process. But onboarding also plays a role in the overall experience, which has a direct correlation to engagement.
Enhanced retention
Retaining top talent can be a real challenge but onboarding may be the secret sauce your company is currently not using. Nearly 70 percent of employees are more likely to stick around with an organization if they had a great onboarding experience. When you compare that stat with the overall cost of bringing on a new hire, you can see just how important onboarding is in retention efforts.
Increased productivity
A successful onboarding process can reduce the learning curve for new hires, helping them to feel more confident in their roles. As a result, they can get up and running faster, which means they’re more productive. Great onboarding can also minimize how long it takes to become proficient with different tasks and responsibilities.
Supportive company culture
Regardless of the size of your business, you should recognize the value of building a supportive and positive culture. And employees need to understand the culture and what to expect from the moment they consider working for your organization.
Providing a positive and consistent onboarding process for every new hire goes hand-in-hand with the culture you want to build and cultivate. By contrast, high turnover rates contribute to a toxic culture, making it difficult to get good people to stick around.
ApplicantStack Can Take Your Efforts to the Next Level
Are you already giving thanks for these benefits of better onboarding? Or, could your company’s process still use some work? With ApplicantStack, a powerful hiring and onboarding solution built for small business, you can maximize your efforts without overspending.
This budget-friendly platform is ideal for creating consistency and providing support to new hires being brought on board. Learn more by taking a brief video-based tour.
