How To Make Sure Your New Hires Love You

Millenials, have earned a reputation for being loyalty-lite…..they may not be hard wired to quit, but they do not necessarily plan to stay with their jobs for the long term. This leaves companies and HR departments struggling to find solutions and ways to retain them as long as possible, so as to avoid the costly process of replacing them. In addition, millennials appear to have realized that that loyalty doesn’t necessarily bring rewards or even security in today’s fluctuating economy.

In fact, a recent study by PWC found that the number of employers millenials expect to have over their lifetimes has increased substantially over the past few years. One-in-four expect to work for six or more different companies in total and 54% expect to have between 2 and 5 employers during their working lives.

Although a high rate of millennial turnover may be inevitable, having a plan to offset it may help slow it and reduce its negative impact. Organizations can no longer afford to assume new hires should feel lucky to have been hired. Instead, they need to invest in their new hires to make sure they know how lucky you feel to have them. Employers can’t sit around and wait for new hires to "fall in love" with the organization. They need to monitor the onboarding process and check for signs that it’s supporting new employees. Recognizing and addressing problems when they occur will help create long-lasting and successful employment relationships.

1. Welcome employees before they even start.

What happens during a new hire’s first few weeks on the job impacts the degree to which they will settle in and reach full productivity. Out of 22 HR practices that the Boston Consulting Group analyzed in 2013, onboarding had the second highest impact on business. Get in touch with them before their first day, send electronic documents ahead of time so they can begin learning about their new role, company policies and more. Open the lines of communication so that when their first day of work comes, they feel connected. From Day 1, make sure they see what’s happening in the company and take the time to introduce them to all their coworkers.

Unfortunately paperwork is a big part of the onboarding process. Throwing too much at once can leave your new hires feeling overwhelmed, so make it easier by automating it as much as possible. For example, use pre-sets so they don't have to write their name and address multiple times. Let them do fill out the paperwork at their own pace and try to make it mobile friendly so they have the option to do it when it's most convenient for them.

2. Foster relationships quickly.

HR can initiate the first steps by taking the time to find out who the new hire is as a person. Then help this person get to know their co-workers, especially since they are the people your new employee will be spending most of their time with. Make sure that co-workers are making an effort, too. Suggest that a longer term employee take the new hire out for coffee one morning. Do this more than once though with different employees to form stronger connections and make them feel less isolated in the workplace.

3. Ask questions.

New hires know nothing about their new place of employment. We all behave differently in new situations and some tend to be uncomfortable asking questions. Managers need to keep an open door policy for the entire team, but especially new hires. They need to feel welcome and at ease going to their superiors with questions. If they start to feel uncomfortable that is going to negatively impact their onboarding process right from the start. If in doubt, take the time to ask your new hire if they have any questions. In this way you will show that you are interested in them and they will feel encouraged to ask for help in the future.

4. Don’t assume you know how it’s going.

As we mentioned above, employers can’t assume that their new hires are automatically going to "fall in love" with your organization. Your new hire’s journey is a critical time and the more you know about their experience, the greater advantages this provides for you. Soliciting feedback from new hires at several key points on this journey can be extremely valuable and  an automated onboarding survey that collects results and reveals key insights is the only way to know for certain.

An onboarding system provides a two way street of feedback so both employees and employers can better understand how well the onboarding process is going. This feedback allows for problems to be addressed right away and when employees see that their concerns matter they begin to feel valued which is one of the most important factors that influence job satisfaction and employee engagement scores.

An Onboarding or New Hire System should: 

• Be easy to set-up and administer,
• Allow you to survey at different points in the new hire experience,
• Be customizable,
• Give you the option of collecting information in multiple languages,
• Allow you to schedule the survey invitations when appropriate, and
• Provide online access for the site administrators to view participation rates, and real-time reporting.

The results of a well-built onboarding survey system can help organizations:

• Identify problems at both a corporate and an individual level,
• Reveal difficulties in the recruiting process,
• Flag high potential employees at an early stage in their tenure,
• Highlight management shortcomings in onboarding new employees, and
• Give overall direction to help improve hiring procedures and retention among new hires.

Never assume that your onboarding process clearly explains all the information new hires need to be successful. Be prepared to ask new hires to describe in their own words what their role and responsibilities are within the organization. Incorporate a two-way street of feedback, so both employees and employers can get onto the same page about how both are performing and how well the onboarding process is working. An effective onboard system can pay for itself if it helps prevent your new hires from leaving.

For more information about InsightONBOARD please call Lynn Gore at 866-802-8095 ext. 705 or email us at info@insightlink.com