Whether you work in HR or not, you will be involved in onboarding at some point in time. It is no big secret that good onboarding leads to higher employee satisfaction. So why do people still struggle and underperform in this area? You may be lacking resources, information or just general tips and tricks on how to onboard effectively. We have de-bunked some of the biggest myths we see in this area to help you understand how easy it is to create an effective onboarding experience.
Myth One: Onboarding is just paper work, policies and compliance
WRONG. Yes – every company is legally required to be compliant, have employees complete official paperwork and have read all of the policies. No – this is not the only aspect required to onboard someone. If this is the main aspect of your onboarding checklist, you are falling short in a lot of areas. Ensuring your new employee has a training plan, meets their colleagues, is prepared for their first day, is set up with IT, has the right equipment. The checklist is definitely long, but the process and experience can still be automated and simple.
Myth Two: Training and onboarding are separate entities
WRONG. Training your employees is a big part of the onboarding experience. You can have them set up and ready to go, but if you don’t factor in some training sessions you are leaving your new staff member feeling anxious and confused. Even experts in their field need to understand how your business operates and the resources they are using.
Myth Three: Onboarding is finished after their first day
WRONG. You cannot and should not cram every bit of orientation and training into their first day. The way humans absorb knowledge and learn means that shoving every piece of information at them in one day and sending them on their way is not the way to go. Have a 3 month plan in place. The first week will be far more detailed, but allowing for check ins, further training and other milestones along the way will lead to your employee feeling supported and gives more opportunities to speak out if they are confused.
Myth Four: Onboarding is only for the HR manager to complete
WRONG. Failure to involve various departments in the onboarding process is a mistake we see all too much. If you are not working cohesively with IT, the direct manager of the new employee, their team and other areas they need to work with – you are simply making the process more difficult than need be. Communication, checklists and automation are your friend.
Myth Five: Onboarding is complicated and time consuming
WRONG. I know we have really stressed the importance of onboarding, but you can create simple and beautiful experiences with the help of digital onboarding and other HR software.
Find out today how you can use leading software to execute and improve this process.