Bringing a new hire onboard? It’s an exciting time, although it can also create a lot of extra work for all involved. Communication is one of the keys to ensuring a smooth and consistent process, and that often includes some digital messaging. Check out our guide to welcome emails for new hires with helpful templates you can incorporate into your own process.
What is a New Hire Welcome Email?
A new hire welcome email is a digital communication that prepares a new employee for their first day at work and future responsibilities. It serves as a virtual handshake, ensuring that a new hire feels welcome and excited about their new role. This message can also reduce some of the first-day jitters that often come with starting a new job.
The Purpose of a Welcome Email for a New Employee
A new hire welcome email can serve multiple purposes. In most cases, it exists to provide important information to a newcomer to the team, such as logistics around the first day of work and what to expect. A welcome email for a new employee can also support the onboarding process, maintaining a consistent line of communication.
It will set the tone for the overall experience of the new hire and may include introductions to team members and others who will be involved with the employee. Additionally, your welcome email can let others in the company know that the new person will be starting, their role, and expectations.
What to Include in a Welcome Email
Make sure your email includes the following items:
Position title and department
Start date
Shift times or working hours (if applicable)
Schedule for first day or week
Contact details for manager, HR rep, other relevant team members
Information about physical location, like parking space, what to wear/bring, etc. (if applicable)
9 Employee Welcome Email Templates
Need some inspiration? Here are nine templates to use for different situations, including remote vs. in-person new hires, casual vs. buttoned-up cultures, etc.
Welcome to the team template (in-person)
Dear team,
I’m excited to announce that [new hire’s name] will be joining our department as [title]. [Name] will start with us in the office on [first day] and report to [supervisor name]. [His/her] workstation will be located [outline location], so please stop by and say hi during the first week.
In this role, [name] will handle [list responsibilities]. This individual joins us with [number of years] of experience in our industry, including several years with [name of last company]. Please extend a heartfelt welcome to [name] in this new role and help [him/her] feel like part of the team!
Thank you, [Your name]
Welcome to the team template (remote)
Dear team,
I’m excited to announce that [new hire’s name] will be joining our department as [title]. [Name] will start with us on [first day] and report to [supervisor name]. As a fully remote employee, [name] will be online during our normal business hours: [list hours and time zone].
In this role, [name] will handle [list responsibilities]. This individual joins us with [number of years] of experience in our industry, including several years with [name of last company]. Please send a quick note to extend a heartfelt welcome to [name] in this new role and help [him/her] feel like part of the team!
Thank you, [Your name]
Introducing new hire to organization (in-person)
Hi everyone,
We’re pleased to announce the recent hiring of [new hire’s name], who will be joining our [department name] department as a [job title]. [Name]’s first day will be [date], and [he/she] will be working in the office alongside many members of the team.
Please take a few moments to stop by [his/her] workstation, located [outline location] to introduce yourself and welcome [him/her] to our organization. We look forward to continuing our success as a team.
Sincerely, [Your name]
Introducing new hire to organization (remote)
Hi everyone,
We’re pleased to announce the recent hiring of [new hire’s name], who will be joining our [department name] department as a [job title]. [Name]’s first day will be [date], and [he/she] will be working remotely in the [time zone] time zone.
Please take a few moments to send a quick message to introduce yourself and welcome [him/her] to our organization. We look forward to continuing our success as a team.
Sincerely, [Your name]
Background spotlight template
Hi team,
Let’s welcome our newest member: [new hire name]
[photo of new hire]
[Name] has worked in [industry] for [number of years] years and brings extensive knowledge to [his/her] role. [He/she] will be responsible for [list responsibilities] as part of our [dept. name] department.
[Name] also enjoys [input hobbies/interests]. We look forward to welcoming [him/her] to [company name] and hope you’ll join us in sending a quick message or stopping by [his/her] workstation to say hello.
Thank you, [Your name]
First day logistics email template (in person)
Hello [new hire name],
We’re looking forward to your first day with [company name] and hope you are too! We’re confident you’ll be an excellent asset to the team and want to help you feel settled and ready to get started.
As discussed, your first day of work will be [date]. Please arrive to the office by [time], where [HR rep or manager name] will be available to greet you. Our office dress code is [outline dress code].
Upon arrival, check in with the receptionist and let her know you’re here to see [HR rep or manager name]. You’ll meet with [fill in first contact here] and get your [badge/key/card/etc.] [First contact name] will also show you around the office and introduce you to some of your team members.
We’ll have lunch together as a team, so plan to take some time on your first day to enjoy that. Feel free to contact me at [email address/phone number] with any questions. We look forward to seeing you on [date of first day].
Sincerely, [Your name]
First day logistics email template (remote)
Hello [new hire name],
We’re looking forward to your first day with [company name] and hope you are too! We’re confident you’ll be an excellent asset to the team and want to help you feel settled and ready to get started.
As discussed, your first day of work will be [date]. Please arrive to the office by [time], where [HR rep or manager name] will be available to greet you. Our office dress code is [outline dress code].
Upon arrival, check in with the receptionist and let her know you’re here to see [HR rep or manager name]. You’ll meet with [fill in first contact here] and get your [badge/key/card/etc.] [First contact name] will also show you around the office and introduce you to some of your team members.
We’ll have lunch together as a team, so plan to take some time on your first day to enjoy that. Feel free to contact me at [email address/phone number] with any questions. We look forward to seeing you on [date of first day].
Sincerely, [Your name]
First day agenda template (in person)
Dear [new hire name],
On behalf of [company name], I’d like to welcome you to the team! We look forward to the knowledge and expertise you will bring to the role.
As we discussed, your first day will be [date]. Please review the following agenda so you know what to expect on your first day of work.
On [date], please report to [office location] and check in with the receptionist. You’ll meet with [fill in first contact here] and get your [badge/key/card/etc.]
[First contact name] will also show you around the office and introduce you to some of your team members. Following this introduction, you can plan on the following schedule:
[Event 1: Date, time, location, description]
[Event 2: Date, time, location, description]
[Event 3: Date, time, location, description]
[Event 4: Date, time, location, description]
We understand that starting a new job can feel overwhelming, so we’re doing everything we can to help alleviate your stress and prepare you for what to expect. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you on [date].
Sincerely,
[Your name]
First day agenda template (remote)
Dear [new hire name],
On behalf of [company name], I’d like to welcome you to the team! We look forward to the knowledge and expertise you will bring to the role.
As we discussed, your first day will be [date]. Please review the following agenda so you know what to expect on your first day of work.
On [date], please sign into [communication tool]. You’ll virtually meet with [first contact name] to get settled and up to speed on the plan for the day. You can also sign into your email account using the credentials provided to view your schedule.
[First contact name] will introduce you to some of your team members. Following this introduction, you can plan on the following schedule:
[Event 1: Date, time, location, description]
[Event 2: Date, time, location, description]
[Event 3: Date, time, location, description]
[Event 4: Date, time, location, description]
We understand that starting a new job can feel overwhelming, so we’re doing everything we can to help alleviate your stress and prepare you for what to expect. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We look forward to interacting with you online on [date].
Sincerely, [Your name]
Feel free to use these templates as you draft initial emails for new hires. Maintaining consistent and helpful communication is one of the best tools in the onboarding process.
You can also take advantage of the onboarding features built into ApplicantStack, an all-in-one recruiting platform that’s built for small businesses. With helpful templates, tools to text and email candidates, and other powerful features, this solution is perfect for any organization that needs to fill open roles.
Working in the healthcare field comes with many fulfilling aspects, including the ability to help others recover from physical challenges and conditions. But when you’re responsible for recruiting in healthcare, you know just how many challenges can come with this role. Explore our comprehensive guide to healthcare hiring, including tips to ramp up your efforts.
An Overview of the Healthcare Industry
The healthcare industry encompasses various organizations, services and professionals who focus on improving and maintaining the health of people. Examples of physical locations that offer healthcare services include hospitals, medical and dental clinics, outpatient and inpatient care facilities, and assisted living facilities. Health insurance providers, biotechnology firms, pharmaceutical companies, and research facilities also fall under the industry umbrella.
Healthcare Hiring Challenges
Since this sector plays such a vital role in society, addressing the needs of individuals who have suffered injuries or are dealing with ongoing conditions, staffing all roles is important. But oftentimes, positions go unfilled. Some healthcare organizations have high turnover, while others are growing faster than recruiting efforts can support.
Another factor that makes healthcare hiring more difficult is the fact that most roles must be filled by skilled and trained professionals. Many positions require specialized education, and those working in the field must comply with strict licensing requirements and regulatory standards. Some areas are also facing a shortage of skilled and qualified workers, making it more challenging to fill roles.
Small facilities may have trouble with staffing, as they likely don’t have the resources to compete in the healthcare hiring market. Additionally, an aging population requires more care, which increases the demand for healthcare services. Some professionals feel burned out, causing them to leave the industry altogether.
Five Tips for Faster Healthcare Recruiting
With the challenges outlined above (and then some), healthcare recruiting can become difficult. But these tips can help you boost your efforts and get the right talent in the door.
Use social recruiting
Social media sites are an untapped resource for recruiting, particularly in the healthcare field. Taking advantage of this often-free resource can help your organization attract top talent and build its branding.
Shorten the time to fill
We covered the importance of tracking and improving the time to fill in recruiting on our blog, and it certainly applies in the healthcare field. Since people may be applying to multiple roles at the same time, speeding up the process could secure your top choice. By contrast, a slower process could push top talent to accept roles elsewhere.
Create opportunities for newcomers to the field
As mentioned, many healthcare roles require specialized skills and training. But limiting open positions to qualified applicants could make them harder to fill. Look for opportunities to provide in-house training and mentorship programs to support newcomers or those who are just starting to build their skills.
Build a talent pool
Creating a pool of talented individuals can help your company hire faster. Even if you’re not actively recruiting, provide a way for skilled individuals to submit their resumes to have on hand should a role open up that aligns with their experience.
Improve employer branding and culture
Your employer branding plays a role in whether jobseekers want to work for the company. Take time to establish a consistent and supportive culture and communicate the values through all recruiting channels.
The Best Hiring Tools for Healthcare Hiring
Finding the right tools for your healthcare organization is vital in the success of your hiring efforts. ApplicantStack is a powerful recruiting solution designed with the needs of healthcare providers in mind. It’s built for small-business budgets yet includes the features needed to find, recruit, and onboard top talent.
CHAS Health, a nonprofit system of 12 community clinics, relies on ApplicantStack to fill its open position.
ApplicantStack has also been a lifesaver for Heartwarming Care, an independently owned in-home care provider located in the Tacoma area.
It’s no secret that employee onboarding is key to successful recruiting efforts and strong employee retention rates. But one question that often comes up among those responsible for building and maintaining the process of bringing on new hires is, how long should onboarding last? We answer that question, as well as cover the benefits of more intensive onboarding, below.
Average Onboarding Time
According to research published by CareerBuilder, more than half of HR professionals reported an onboarding process that lasts less than a week. A quarter responded that the process lasts for a day or less, while only 28 percent spent over a month with new hires. Some industries may vary, as enterprise and tech companies onboard new hires for an average of three months.
It’s vital to understand that onboarding is more than just a day-one thing. No new hire is going to feel comfortable in their role after a single day of information. In fact, the opposite may be true – trying to cram all the information about a company and professional role into an eight-hour shift could leave someone feeling overwhelmed and confused.
Bringing someone new on board should be a longer process that involves various people throughout the organization. Explore the reasoning behind extended onboarding, along with the benefits of investing in this type of program.
Investing in a More Comprehensive Onboarding Process
Ultimately, the right length of time spent onboarding a new hire depends on your company, industry, and the individual role. But experts recommend creating a more comprehensive process that allows someone to ease into their job, rather than feeling like they’re drinking from a fire hose. Extending the onboarding experience allows those involved to transition the overall process into a chance for continuous learning and development.
Benefits of Better Onboarding
By taking time to adjust your company’s onboarding practices and extending the process, you can create a more positive experience for every new hire. The benefits of these efforts are extensive.
Improves knowledge retention
Can you think back to your first day at your current job? You probably experienced a feeling of being overwhelmed, along with some confusion – especially when learning more about your expected duties and responsibilities, company policies and procedures, and even the lay of the land (if you work in-office).
Starting a new job tends to be an experience of knowledge overload. But according to research performed by Goins & Fisher, a new hire retains approximately 10 percent of what they learn during the onboarding process, 30 days into their role. By contrast, nearly three-quarters of new employees have knowledge gained by performing essential duties of their jobs. Hands-on training is a much better teacher than a person talking at you for hours on end. Consider how your onboarding process can introduce ideas, then put them into practice ASAP.
Establishes a supportive, learning-based culture
A longer onboarding period can also play a role in your organizational culture, establishing the importance of continuous learning. When employees can learn more things over time, they tend to have stronger skills and improved retention of their knowledge. As a result, your organization can drive growth and innovation by providing opportunities to learn and develop.
Drives business success
The bottom line is that you want your business to succeed, and employees play a significant role in making that happen. Return on investment is generally one of the most important metrics to consider, including when recruiting and bringing on new hires.
Employees who feel comfortable in their roles and understand what is expected of them tend to get up and running faster, which translates to improved productivity and engagement. These characteristics can influence overall business success, making it worthwhile to invest in supportive onboarding processes.
So how long should onboarding take? We recommend spreading it out over at least three months for lower-level roles and up to a year for higher-level positions. Provide opportunities to meet with others in the company to get a sense of how an employee fits into the strategy and future goals. By taking these steps and extending the process, you can reap the benefits of employees who feel positive about their futures and ready to step up in their roles.
Employee onboarding is critical to the quality of your company’s services. However, many companies underestimate the power of a well-thought-out employee integration strategy and suffer the consequences as a result.
According to a CareerBuilder survey, one in three employers don’t have a structured onboarding process, and a substantial number reported to have experienced costly repercussions. The absence of onboarding frameworks has also negatively impacted company performance, including:
Decreased productivity (16%)
Greater inefficiencies (14%)
Bad employee retention (12%)
Lower team morale (11%)
Weak employee engagement (10%)
Declining confidence from workers (10%)
Lack of trust within the organization (7%)
Missed revenue targets (6%)
That’s why it’s essential to harness your onboarding to ensure your incoming employees feel supported, confident and engaged from the moment they begin their roles. Implementing a strong new hire orientation plan is the first step to achieving more from your business.
Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about planning and executing a successful orientation. Let’s get started!
The Importance of New Hire Orientation
It’s key to understand that new employee orientation slightly differs from onboarding. Onboarding is an ongoing operation that’s put in place to support hires from the recruiting stage until they have settled into their positions. This period may last around 30 days to three months. However, orientation acts as a component of the larger onboarding process.
Orientations are typically one-time events that take place on employees’ first days of work. They aim to provide new employees with a high-level overview of your organization, its managerial structure and the relevant teams. These occasions give businesses the opportunity to make a great first impression that lasts throughout their employee journey.
A successful orientation should achieve the following:
Make Employees Feel Welcome
Being the new starter isn’t always easy, and for many, integrating within a foreign working environment alongside a team of strangers can bring nerves and tension. As the initial experience for new staff members, orientations should make participants feel comfortable and reassured in their new positions.
Boost Engagement
Employee orientation programs assist recent hires in their work environments by providing key information and introducing them to their new colleagues. Giving them the resources they need early on in their journey can increase engagement by keeping them informed, making for a happy, confident and established member of the team.
Outline Expectations
Regardless of your new employee’s current experience, it’s essential to set them up for success within your institution. Aim to specifically customize your new hire orientation to fit the role you’ve hired for. Tailoring your approach will help ensure they’re aware of their responsibilities and obtain the appropriate information and resources to perform well in their job.
Reduce Employee Turnover
When all is said and done, a key focus of your orientation should be to retain the employees you’ve hired. Employees who feel the onboarding process has prepared them for their new jobs, instilled confidence and made them feel like valued assets are more likely to stay within their roles.
What To Include in New Hire Orientation
The style and approach of your staff orientation program will likely depend on varying factors, such as your organization, industry and the vacancies you’ve filled. However, there are a few elements that should be covered in all cases. Here are some key areas that need to be included as part of your orientation.
Company Culture, Mission and Values
Joining employees should know the core values of your organization to understand business goals, working according to that mantra. For example, if you’re a recruitment agency that prioritizes acquiring experienced tech-focused candidates and a new hire’s previous company had high volumes of applicants, this difference would have a direct impact on your quality of customer service. That’s why it’s essential to share the specific mission of your business.
Management Introduction
Providing a walkthrough of your organization’s management chart is imperative to successful onboarding. Introduce incoming employees to the structure of executive leaders and managers within your company. It may also be beneficial to incorporate prominent executives into your new hire orientation schedule. This will allow leaders to introduce themselves in person and share valuable information about the company. If schedules are too tight, creating a welcome video or squeezing in a 10-minute video call are other routes to take.
Department-Specific Information
To ensure new hires have what they need to start off on the right foot, they’ll need to receive the necessary departmental information relevant to their role. This can include contact information, building layouts and file storage.
Company Policies and Procedures
Several policies and procedures must be explained early on in staff training. A few policies to cover in your orientation may include:
Safety and security procedures
Paid time off (PTO)
Equal employment opportunity (EEO) policies
Other relevant company policies
These areas should be covered in your employee handbook, so ensure you offer each new hire a paper or digital copy of this guide. Once the orientation is complete, get all joining team members to sign an acknowledgment stating that they received and reviewed the handbook as part of their new hire welcome package.
It’s also good to inform employees of their compensation and outline any benefits packages that they’re entitled to, such as healthcare, retirement plans, supplied equipment or wellness support.
Best Practices for New Hire Orientation
After creating an excellent candidate experience, it’s important to maintain your new hire’s satisfaction by following these best practices. To ensure you develop a successful new hire orientation, we’ve listed some best practices to keep in mind.
Pick the right time
Strategize the time and day of your new hire orientation based on your company’s day-to-day functionality. For example, if Wednesdays and Fridays are busier than other days, aim to onboard hires and host orientation sessions earlier in the week. Making informed scheduling decisions will enable you to focus on your new recruits and minimize the likelihood of distraction.
Share your onboarding agenda
Clearly formatted agendas will keep employees informed and prepare them for their first week in the new job. Before orientation, email incoming staff with a timetable that breaks down what the beginning of their professional journey will entail. Creating a structured plan helps to ensure the initial onboarding stage goes smoothly and eliminates the unnerving uncertainty of beginning a new role. Including a thoughtful welcome message in your email will also set you up for a strong start.
Encourage interaction
Presentations won’t work well if you’re aiming to engage new employees. Your goal should be to make the orientation process fun and exciting, and engagement goes hand-in-hand with interaction. Aim to incorporate a mix of presentation approaches that require participation, such as
Quizzes
Games
Q&A sessions
Group discussions
Make room for 1:1 time
While orientations may occur in group settings, having one-to-one time with your new hires is crucial. Try to book a slot in the day to meet with new employees individually. This way you can welcome your new hires face-to-face, get to know them on a more personal level and give them the opportunity to share any questions and potential concerns with you.
Leverage Software Solutions
Onboarding software offers businesses an all-encompassing solution that makes a significant impact; simplifying, streamlining and enhancing the entire process. Using this revolutionary tool helps keep all teams in the loop, offers a digital space to keep records organized and eliminates the hassle of paperwork. You can take this a step further by ensuring your hiring software includes onboarding features. Combining the two processes will allow the data to flow, starting from the initial application to the end of the onboarding process, without the need for manual interference.
The Key To Successful Onboarding
Good onboarding tools are invaluable to your business. ApplicantStack is a high-level recruiting and hiring software with onboarding tools built in, allowing you to import new hires into your HR system seamlessly. This comprehensive solution enables you to build bespoke onboarding checklists for each job position and work location, relying on templates and other useful tools to simplify the process.
Take your onboarding to new heights. Sign up for your ApplicantStack free trial today.
Bringing a new employee onboard is an exciting time for an organization, whether to fill a newly created position or to replace someone who has moved on. But it also comes with some important steps to ensure a positive experience for the new hire. Explore our detailed guide to onboarding that outlines the what, why, and how behind this crucial process.
What is Employee Onboarding?
Let’s start with the what: employee onboarding refers to the process of familiarizing a new hire with the company culture, policies and other details. The purpose behind onboarding is to help an employee feel more comfortable with their role within the company and encourage them to become an effective member of their team.
Boarding a plane can provide a framework for the process. Upon arrival, you typically receive a greeting from a flight attendant or even the pilot, who welcomes you aboard and provides a positive first experience. The flight attendant can direct you to your seat and answer any questions you might have about the upcoming flight.
A new hire should have a similar experience, with someone greeting them upon arrival and serving as their point of contact for questions and concerns. Starting a new job is overwhelming, but proper support goes a long way in alleviating feelings of stress.
Your organization’s onboarding process should seek to achieve the following aims:
Provide guidance about the new hire’s role and responsibilities
Allow the new employee to get comfortable in their work setting, whether in-person or remote
Create opportunities to get to know teammates and each person’s role within the team
Offer insights into the company protocols and policies
Why is Employee Onboarding Vital for Your Business?
The main purpose of onboarding is to create familiarity in new roles while helping newly hired individuals to feel supported, valued and welcomed. Investing in your onboarding process brings many benefits, including reducing the time to productivity, or the amount of time it takes for someone to become familiar enough with their duties to perform them efficiently.
A positive first experience also sets the tone with your company, which can play a role in employee retention and loyalty rates. Employee engagement is another factor impacted by onboarding practices. Failing to onboard someone properly can cause them to feel confused or uncertain about how to perform in their role, resulting in a decline in engagement and productivity.
When your company delivers a smooth and consistent onboarding experience, each new hire gets helpful information they need to do their job. By contrast, a poor experience can encourage an individual to look elsewhere for employment or struggle to become an effective contributor to the company’s goals.
The Benefits of a Great Onboarding Process
As mentioned, a great onboarding process brings many benefits. Review some of the most common ones below.
Increase employee satisfaction and retention
Here’s a statistic that might surprise you: Great onboarding can boost employee retention by 82 percent. According to research performed by the Brandon Hall Group, companies with strong onboarding processes have significantly higher retention and productivity rates. Since turnover is expensive and time-consuming, it’s worth figuring out how to keep your team members.
Employees who are happy in their roles tend to stick around, so this simple process can lead to an increase in both employee satisfaction and retention.
Enhance and instill your organizational culture
The culture of your business influences the atmosphere in the workplace and how team members interact with one another. But if you don’t take the time to educate on the culture when bringing on new hires, they won’t know what to expect. Make sure to include discussions around the organizational culture in your onboarding process. By doing so, you can make sure new employees understand what’s expected and how to collaborate with their teams.
Improve training time and productivity
A strong onboarding process should include plenty of opportunities for training to help each new hire understand their role. According to Glassdoor, newly hired employees need close to 12 months to achieve their full productivity levels. But improving onboarding can decrease the time from hire to full productivity by up to 70 percent.
It makes sense to get your new team members up to speed faster, and doing so can help your bottom line.
Gather feedback for improved processes
The best source of feedback for the success of your onboarding process is the people who are going through it. But without a consistent process in place, you won’t be able to glean much from your new hires. When every employee goes through the same onboarding practices, you can ask what worked and what didn’t, using the information to improve the way you bring on new hires.
The Consequences of Poor Employee Onboarding
Failing to onboard new hires in a consistent and positive way comes with real consequences for your organization. Explore some of the most common drawbacks associated with poor onboarding practices.
Higher employee turnover
High employee turnover is a serious problem that impacts businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Poor retention is expensive and time-consuming, and it can cause employee morale to decline across all teams. When certain employees are constantly left picking up the pieces of high turnover rates, they may look for employment elsewhere. It’s not worth the risk – invest in onboarding and watch retention rates go up.
Confusion and lack of collaboration
When starting a new job, it’s easy for an individual to feel overwhelmed and confused. The goal of onboarding is to mitigate those feelings as much as possible, providing a firm grasp on the person’s role within their department and the company overall. By improving your onboarding process, you can reduce confusion while providing opportunities for collaboration from the start.
Costly mistakes and potential legal issues
Another purpose of onboarding is to demonstrate and outline the company’s commitment to a respectful and positive culture. But failing to do so can cause a drop in the overall culture, potentially leading to employees who don’t understand what’s appropriate. This can create legal issues for your organization, particularly in situations where discrimination or harassment are permitted to go unchecked.
Depending on the industry you operate in, a poor onboarding process can also lead to costly mistakes that impact the company’s standing. For example, financial organizations are subject to strict legal requirements. But if an employee doesn’t understand those requirements and how they pertain to their role, they could make errors that cost your company a lot of money in penalties and fees.
Longer training and lower productivity
A longer and less consistent training process comes with a cost. New employees will take longer to reach peak productivity, which has a direct negative impact on your company’s bottom line.
What Should Your Employee Onboarding Process Look Like?
We have a full onboarding guide with steps and a checklist on our blog, but here’s a look at what a great process should include.
Employee Onboarding Begins Before the Hire
Your process should begin before you bring on the new hire. Identify what steps you want to take when onboarding and create a detailed list for your hiring managers and supervisors to follow.
Pay and benefits
Make sure to assess the pay scale for each position you’re filling and offer transparency about how an employee can move up. You should also consider which benefits a new hire will be eligible for and when they can sign up, covering this information when they come onboard.
Consider interviewing and hiring practices
Before you hire a new employee, you should conduct interviews to determine which applicant is the best fit for the role. Decide whether you’ll host interviews in person or virtually. If the position is remote, a virtual interview probably makes more sense (and saves a lot of money).
Another aspect to think about is how you’ll make the chosen candidate an offer of employment. Do you have an offer letter template that’s ready to go? What about an acceptance letter or form?
Preparing for a New Employee’s First Day
After you have an accepted offer in hand, it’s time to start planning for the new hire’s first day at work. Create a detailed schedule for at least the first week. You can build in short periods of downtime during which the employee can review what was covered in the previous training sessions. Make sure they are meeting with someone throughout most of each day, so they know who to go to for each session.
Figure out what supplies and equipment the new hire needs to do their job and prepare each item. If they need access to shared drives or logins established, take care of these steps before they start. Scrambling to get someone access to a drive or file can make your onboarding process more stressful and impact the person’s feeling about the company overall.
New Hire Orientation
Make sure you orient your new employee to their team and other employees with whom they’ll interact. Complete all necessary documents, ideally online before they start, and go through the policies and procedures outlined in the employee handbook. Take some time to provide equipment training and show your employee how to get into their accounts.
Things to consider:
It’s valuable to put yourself in the new hire’s shoes and consider how they might feel during the first few days of a new job. It’s always overwhelming to begin in a new role, but proper onboarding can lessen those feelings and provide a more positive experience overall.
Assign a buddy to each employee, preferably someone on their team. This person can be the go-to for questions that come up and serve as a source of support during the first few weeks or months.
Ongoing Onboarding
While your formal onboarding process may only last for a few weeks, a new hire should have regular check-ins to make sure they feel confident in their role throughout the first year. Offer ongoing training opportunities and check in on how collaboration is going with their team. Ask for feedback so you can improve the onboarding process for future new hires.
How the Right Software Can Improve Your Onboarding Process
Managing all aspects of the onboarding process manually is a waste of time and resources, especially in today’s digital age. It’s worthwhile to invest in software that makes it easier to find and bring on new hires.
What is Employee Onboarding Software?
Employee onboarding software is designed to improve efficiencies throughout the process of bringing on a new employee. It often has tools that allow applicants to complete their employment paperwork online, as well as a centralized source for finding resources and information.
The Benefits of Employee Onboarding Software
ApplicantStack is a powerful applicant-tracking system that includes robust onboarding tools. These include:
Automated checklists: Assign tasks to users and new hires to create checklists and track progress
Electronic documentation: Allow for the completion of Form I-9, I-4, and other crucial documents electronically
Document storage: Keep all your company’s critical documents, including employee handbooks and signed forms, in a centralized location
Templates: Use existing templates or create your own to keep everyone on the same page
Reporting: Standard and custom reports make it easy to keep tabs on the onboarding metrics
Hire import: Applicant data flows throughout the system, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry on those you choose to hire
Reminders: Automatic reminders keep managers and new hires in sync, reducing the risk of tasks falling through the cracks
When you’re ready to amp up your onboarding process, try ApplicantStack to make sure it goes as smoothly and consistently as possible. You can try it for free, with no strings attached.
What was it like the first time you boarded an airplane? Was it a memorable experience? Is the memory good or bad?
Even if you’ve never flown before, it’s highly likely that you have an idea of how you’d like the process to go. That’s because whatever people do, they seek positive experiences, which explains why onboarding is an essential part of the employment process.
What is Onboarding?
Onboarding is the process of integrating and orienting new hires into an organization. The standard process to onboard a new employee often begins when a candidate accepts a job offer and continues over the first few weeks or months of work.
We can categorize onboarding into four phases:
Preboarding: In this phase, new employees have already accepted a job offer and completed the necessary paperwork, and are looking forward to starting their first day of work. Here, they would only have basic knowledge of their role in the company and details around company policy, structure, employee benefits, etc.
Welcome: This typically happens on the first day and throughout the first week where the new hire is introduced to current employees and starts to become familiar with the company’s culture, goals and policies.
Training: This stage comes after the first week of work, when the employee may be in meetings, workshops or shadowing sessions, learning new skills and procedures to succeed in their role.
Transition: After four to eight weeks, the new employee should progress from having just a few responsibilities to becoming a full-blown employee.
One of the key things to consider about the onboarding process is that since the pandemic, 71% of organizations have adopted remote hiring. Therefore, it is crucial to know how to onboard a new remote employee. The process and phases of onboarding a remote employee are generally the same as in-person onboarding; however, there are specific things to zoom in on. Here are a few tips:
Set clear expectations.
Offer continuous support.
Create a detailed schedule.
Schedule routine check-ins.
Provide the relevant resources.
Make substantial socialization opportunities available.
The Importance of Onboarding
Employee onboarding is part of talent management, which helps to maintain business competitiveness while increasing employee retention. These are two key metrics for the success of a business. That said, onboarding does play a vital role in the growth and development of an organization as well as its employees.
Let’s look at the key advantages of onboarding:
Fully immerse new employees in the company’s culture: Through employee onboarding, your organization will introduce the culture of the company, and give new hires a chance to learn, adapt to and even decide from the get go if this is the company culture they want to be a part of. People apply for and stay in jobs that align with their personal and professional values and goals.
Offer skills training and development so employees can become effective contributors: By understanding early enough the key things about a company, such as its goals and policies, new employees will discover how to perform their duties effectively and quickly develop the skills needed to succeed in their role.
While these seem to be all in favor of the new employee, keep in mind that the success of an employee is a sign that the company is also succeeding. That’s why it’s crucial to have a well-thought out and comprehensive onboarding process that includes goals for new employees as well as a strategy that will benefit the business.
What Goals Do You Want to Set for New Employees?
A new hire normally has their short- and long-term goals in mind before starting a new job. However, since starting a new role can be stressful, the HR manager or hiring manager of a company should provide onboarding tasks to assist the new hire streamline their goal achieving process. This way, the new staff know what to look out for and can take steps toward seamlessly being a great contributor to the business.
Some simple goals to set for new employees include:
Network and collaborate with staff members.
Meet key performance indicators (KPIs).
Understand the company.
Know their roles.
Master their jobs.
Communicate well.
Meet deadlines.
What to Include in an Employee Onboarding Process?
While new employee onboarding is important, the process is useless if it’s lacking in certain areas or inconsistent across departments and roles. Therefore, it’s best to create and follow a detailed onboarding checklist to meet the expectations of the new hire and the company as a whole.
Benefits of Onboarding
Understanding the benefits of onboarding, both for the employee and employer, can help you realize why it’s so important.
Benefits to the Employee
Promotes a faster transition: An effective onboarding process assists employees in understanding their assigned duties as well as the company’s expectations, allowing them to become engaged and productive quickly.
Increases productivity: Onboarding provides new hires with the information, skills and resources they need to accomplish their job obligations effectively, thus increasing their productivity.
Better motivation: If employees feel welcomed and valued during onboarding, this may boost their motivation, leading to higher job satisfaction.
Builds better relationships: Greater connections and a more supportive work environment can result from onboarding programs that stimulate relationship-building among new and existing employees and managers.
Benefits to the Business
Increases competitive edge: Onboarding helps firms differentiate themselves in the job market by providing a happy and supportive work environment that attracts top talent.
Better employee engagement: Employees who feel engaged and connected to their work, colleagues and the company’s goals and values perform better and are more satisfied with their jobs.
Increases retention rate: Onboarding programs boost employee satisfaction and help reduce attrition rates.
Cost savings: By increasing retention and decreasing turnover, onboarding programs lower the expenses of recruiting, employing and training new employees.
Streamlining an Ideal Onboarding Process
To consider an onboarding process effective, it must display qualities often referred to as the five Cs of onboarding. These include: compliance, clarification, confidence, connection and culture.
Along with these qualities, it’s important to consider the goals of your organization and what new hires may want as they start the next stage of their careers within your company. Generally, they want a mentor or onboarding buddy, a company tour, equipment setup and procedures, a review of company policies and most of all, on-the-job training. By addressing each of these needs, you can truly reap the benefits of onboarding a new employee successfully.
To transition new employees into your organization seamlessly and effectively, AppliantStack has developed game-changing onboarding software that will save you and your HR team time, while improving efficiency. Start your free trial today!
