In today’s job market, it’s no secret that everyone is hiring. Whether filling current openings or expanding their teams, employers are now getting creative when it comes to attracting candidates. While it is important to ensure your job listings stand out and your online brand is effective, it is just as imperative to perfect your onboarding process. With 20% of employee turnover occurring in the first 45 days of employment, it has never been more essential to engage new team members.
In an environment where businesses are vying to attract and retain quality employees, it's crucial for your business to put its best foot forward from day one with new hires. Check out four ways you can improve your new hire experience today!
1. Designate a Point of Contact
Too often, new hires sign their employment contracts with an established start date and then receive radio silence from employers until right before their first day. While it is usually too early for training at this stage, this is a great opportunity to get the new hire engaged with your company culture. Whether it’s a new hire questionnaire or a gift bag with company-branded merchandise, there are various ways to give your new team members a sense of belonging before they even walk through the door on their first day of work. This can be easily coordinated by either the new hire’s direct supervisor or someone within the respective department: the most important result of this is opening the line of communication with new hires so that they feel comfortable and familiar with their new company ahead of their first day.
2. Develop FAQs and Meet the Team
While it is easy to get swept up in job specifics and new responsibilities, there are plenty of small logistical questions that arise with new hires. Expectations like dress code, lunch breaks, and building access can all be conveyed through simple FAQs one-sheeter or a brief email template to be sent out to new team members regardless of their position within the company. This gives employees a quick reference point ahead of their start date to dispel any ambiguity so they can jump right into the job. Want to go the extra mile? Consider a physical welcome letter signed by leadership to include with your welcome packet!
3. Create Improvement Opportunities
Hiring can be taxing, but it can also be costly: it costs on average 50% of an employee’s salary to hire a replacement and this increases beyond entry-level roles. While not every role will have advancement opportunities, creating a path forward for employees to feel they are continuing to grow with their employer is a fail-proof way of improving retention. Whether it is through increased responsibilities within their department or giving them opportunities to expand their skill set in other facets of the company, learning is a priority for any top performer. In fact, 94% of employees said they would stay at a job if their employer invested in their learning. Some examples of continual improvement we utilize at fuze32 are weekly one on one time with designated coaches in leadership, department meetings, and regular internal training between departments.
4. Introduce Everyone (Eventually)
Introductions are important, but it can also be overwhelming to meet too many people at once. With the new job responsibilities at the forefront of any new hire’s mind on their first day, there are only so many names and faces someone can remember in one day. Instead of filling the first day with introductions, consider staggering these throughout the first week to create a warmer welcome and more ease in the new hire experience. The first day can be focused on meeting coworkers within the respective department, with additional meetings tentatively scheduled throughout the week so that new team members have some additional variety while training. This can be supplemented with a welcome lunch to ease new hires into the company culture in a less intimidating setting. Employers with various departments can also use introductions as a shadowing opportunity, giving new hires a quick grasp of the scope of the company outside of their respective departments.
