New Employee Onboarding Process

Recently, a lot has changed for small businesses, including how the onboarding process will unfold given remote and hybrid work, but also all the workplace safety procedures, dictated by the pandemic.

Remote Work During the Pandemic

Remote work has become a reality that will continue to be an important part of the way we work, in the future too. That’s why remote onboarding of a new employee has to come with a clear interview procedure. All human interaction can be replaced with a digital program, given that your business has the resources to do that.

Also, if your company has an employee handbook (and it is recommended) make sure it is updated to the new reality. An onboarding process done correctly can reinforce your company’s image as being a well-managed employer with clear expectations that empowers employees and provides them with the support they need, when they need it.

The Onboarding Process

As the near year begins, companies often reassess their hiring needs. Recruitment seems to slow down at the end of the year, but January begins to pick up again.

When companies recruit, they often think about the process of recruiting and selecting a candidate but forget about the employee onboarding process. How to welcome a new employee is just as important in the process of retaining the employee as the hiring process was.

How to Welcome a New Employee?

One reason new employees lose focus and enthusiasm for their new job is that they come into a company that seems to be disorganized with the onboarding process. If your employees come to work and they don’t have a desk set up or an email address, it seems like they are an after-thought.

Your employee onboarding process should have clear responsibilities for both the manager and HR to complete before the new employee starts.

For example, it is a nice touch for the hiring manager to reach out to the new employee before they start their first day of work to let them know what to expect. Some examples include what the new employee should wear, whether they need to bring lunch, and what time they should arrive at. Every company and even different teams within the company may have different requirements.

For example, some companies have employees start just a little bit later than their normal start time, while others have new employees work a half-day on the first day. Some departments will bring all new employees out for lunch, while some employers will bring only certain types of employees out (e.g. exempt employees or managers).

New Hire Onboarding Process

The process for onboarding a new employee should include information about the company, its culture, and the job that the new employee will be performing.

The new hire onboarding process will be a little different for each new employee because the job and department will have their own unique needs that the manager should inform them of as part of the onboarding process.

HR should have a basic framework for the new employee orientation process, such as the mission and goals of the company, employee benefits, and a checklist of forms that need to be completed on or before the first day of employment.

The employee onboarding process might also include a program where new employees partner with more established employees to “learn the ropes”, such as a mentor. This is a great way for employees to learn about the company and have a dedicated person that is not their manager that they can ask questions of.

Employee Onboarding Checklist

An employee onboarding checklist is a good way to make sure you accomplish everything you need to before and after the employee starts. This could be a simple piece of paper or document that is housed on a shared drive, or it could be a formal process that makes up part of your human resource management system.

The employee onboarding checklist should include all of the relevant new employee forms that you send to employees as well as those that you need returned. Some examples of items to include on the checklist:

• I9
• W4
• State W4
• Information about company benefits
• Any other relevant information that needs to be sent to employees. For example, California requires employers to provide new employees with certain state-mandated documents.

It is also recommended that you have a checklist of all of the IT hardware and services that are provided to an employee. This may include the computer serial number as well as the serial number of other hardware provided to the employee to complete their job.

A list of IT services and software (e.g. email, Slack, Adobe, etc.) should also be tracked to ensure that the company knows which programs an employee has access to and what will need to be cut off in the event that the employee leaves the company. For larger companies, this may be completed by the IT team, but smaller companies should also track this information.

New Employee Benefits Forms

New employees often have questions about their benefits before they start working for a new company. The employee benefits information is often sent by the benefits administrator when the employee becomes eligible to enroll in benefits, but it is useful to provide an overview of the benefits information to new employees. Often, this is done by someone on the HR team, sometimes in a group setting for all new employees.

If new employees are entitled to benefits from the day they start at your company, HR should schedule a meeting to discuss benefits shortly after the employee starts. The first day is not recommended because the first day at a new workplace can be overwhelming.

However, the deadline for benefits selection, if applicable, should be taken into account. If employees are eligible for benefits after 90 days, it is recommended to wait 6-8 weeks to meet with them about benefits.

By this time, the new employee will be settling into a routine and will review the information right before they have access to benefits.

Onboarding Common Mistakes

The biggest mistake a company can make when they hire a new employee is to bring them into the work environment without offering any type of new employee orientation.

Some companies think new employees will sink or swim depending on how closely they align with the company culture. The truth is every employee needs support when they start a new job. If you set the new employee up for success, you will have happier employees who stay longer.

Also, make sure the new employee has someone to eat lunch with on the first day. The goal is to make the new hire feel welcome.

The biggest mistake a company can make when they hire a new employee is to bring them into the work environment without offering any type of new employee orientation. Some companies think new employees will sink or swim depending on how closely they align with the company culture.

The truth is every employee needs support when they start a new job. If you set the new employee up for success, you will have happier employees who stay longer.

Also, make sure the new employee has someone to eat lunch with on the first day. The goal is to make the new hire feel welcome.

The onboarding of a new employee has to be viewed as an ongoing process that has to be improved over time, with feedback from new hires and creative ideas. This will contribute to the employee retention process, and to the overall productivity.

The recruitment and selection process doesn’t end when you choose a candidate for the job. It is important to make employees feel welcomed and appreciated from day one by ensuring they have the information and tools needed to complete their job. This can be accomplished through a robust onboarding process that introduces the new hire to the company and the job.

If you struggle with finding the right employees’ benefits packages for your new hires or are in need of HR help, you can talk to one of Vantage Point’s consultants who will give you updated information and useful advice.

Call us. We are here to help.

Monday – Friday: 8:30 am – 5:30 pm (516) 599-2120 or Info@VantagePointBenefit.com

Photo credits: Unsplash, Pexels