How to Onboard New Employees Better than Other Small Businesses - Part 1
“Even after accepting a position, 91% are willing to quit within the first month and 93% during the probation period if the job doesn’t match their expectations” - survey from Robert Half
Hiring is not easy in a small business. You spend time and money getting the right candidates for your organization. You make the job offer to your dream candidate, and they accept. The work is done, right? Wrong.
Now, the real challenge begins – Onboarding New Employees. It is time to make the best impression possible for their first 30 days.
The statistic above didn’t happen five years ago and we need to be paying attention to the onboarding process. Let’s talk about some things we can do to keep the talent that we just hired.
In this series, we will go through our thoughts and advice on the whole onboarding process in small business.
Today, we will talk about Pre-boarding.
This is what you do in between when the offer is accepted and prior to the start date. Here are some ways to ensure your new employee has a great feeling about your company even before their first day:
Day after the offer is accepted – Send something with your logo on it in the mail (a t-shirt, mug, frisbee – anything you have) with a handwritten note from the hiring manager about how excited you are to have this person coming.
3 days after the offer is accepted – Have each coworker (up to 7) email the person in the same morning – with a “we are so excited” email introducing themselves.
5 days after the offer is accepted – Share with them a schedule of their first week of employment including planned lunches with specific people, meetings with peers, time for them to acclimate at their desk, any training they need to go through.
6-8 days after the offer is accepted – The CEO (yes the CEO) calls to tell the person they are excited to meet them. If no one answers, just leave a message and your call back number.
If there will be weeks prior to their start date – keep emailing every Friday – to tell them some things that are going on in the department and giving them some additional information.
In addition to these things, you need to send your new hire paperwork during this time. The new hire paperwork needs to be:
Easy to complete and return (electronic signature only – no faxing required). If it can be done on a mobile device – even better.
Thorough and professional looking – not dripping 6 emails with different docs to handle – but in a one-stop-shop fashion.
If there is any document that is not absolutely required, drop it. Completing too many docs is onerous.
Whoever is sending the new hire docs needs to be pleasant and helpful in verbal and written communication. Use terms like, “thank you for completing so quickly”, “I know your hiring manager is excited to get you started”, and “I love my job here and I know you will too”.
Phone calls when needed should be gracious and helpful. This is not the job for a person who has been at the company for 25 years and is bitter and impatient.
As you look at this information – what are you doing well at your company in this process and what might need to change? Seeing that 91-93% of new hires feel it is fine to quit right away – it is important for you to strategize to get this right.
As always, our teams at Innovative Outsourcing and tHRiving: HR for Small Business can help you and your leadership with a plan to make this world class in your company.
If onboarding is just one area that needs assistance, consider our HR Audit. We will assess your current HR practices and give you a report of what is needed to be successful in the 12 different areas of HR. This service starts at $2,400 and goes up to $4,500 based on size and complexity.