Make It Count: The Secrets to Effective Onboarding

An onboarding program is essential to assist new hires in learning the ropes and integrating into your company’s culture more quickly. Effective onboarding decreases employee turnover and boosts both engagement and productivity.

Here are the top secrets to building an effective onboarding program:

  1. Make it an event. Your employees should remember their onboarding as a positive, organized experience. To prepare them for this, create a detailed plan that covers each step of the training your new employee needs to thrive on the job.
  2. Appeal to different learning styles. Very few people can learn effectively by sitting alone with a stack of paperwork and employee manuals. To reach every new employee in a way that is useful to them, appeal to a range of different learning styles in your onboarding approach. Incorporate visual, auditory and kinesthetic (hands-on) learning modes in your onboarding process so every new employee has the chance to engage with the material in the way that is most meaningful for them.
  3. Work at a pace. Onboarding should be treated as a distance sport, not a sprint. Rushing tends to overload employees, making them feel more stressed out and thus less capable of learning. Instead, give new hires time to absorb information and practice it. For instance, instead of devoting an employee’s first week to non-stop onboarding, you might spread onboarding over two weeks. Hold onboarding sessions in the morning, and have the employee put their new knowledge to use by working with their team in the afternoons.
  4. Gather (and use) feedback. Be sure to collect feedback from your new hires after they’ve completed the onboarding process. Choosing specific points (e.g., immediately after onboarding; then three months later) will help you see how effective the process was as the employee genuinely learns the role. Track feedback and outcomes in order to determine what works and improve what does not. This will help you get the best possible results for your efforts.

At THE RIGHT STAFF, LLC, our experienced recruiters can help you create an onboarding program that brings your new people up to speed more effectively, allowing them to contribute to the growing productivity of your team. Contact us today to learn more about our staffing services in Roseville and the greater Twin Cities area.

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