6 Steps to Optimize New Employee On-Boarding

There's a lot of pleasure to be had in running your own business. You get to be your own boss, call the shots, and reap all the benefits of your own success. There's a reason business owners tend to be some of the most satisfied workers across all industries in the United States.

That doesn't mean being the boss always comes easy. There's an endless amount of challenges that come with being a business owner, and there is always room to improve. Handling a new employee will always be an area where a business owner can learn and improve. 

If you're onboarding new employees at your place of work, what should you understand about getting them on the same page as the rest of your team? How can you craft an onboarding process that helps your new hire and yourself? Read on, and we'll walk you through a few ideas and tricks that can help make the process run much smoother.

1. Create a Consistent Process

The last thing you want to do is present an onboarding process to a new hire that is sloppy, inconsistent and reveals a lack of planning. We all know how important a first impression is, and there's no bigger first impression for a new employee than their official onboarding. 

Just tossing some paperwork at a new hire and hoping they figure out the rest on their own is going to send them packing quicker than you'd prefer to think.

This problem is more common than many like to believe. 

In order to avoid any kind of a mess, it's important to plan out in detail how you want your onboarding work to be done ahead of time. The process should stay consistent from hire to hire, and there should be set expectations and plans in place that you can follow.

This way, you can keep the onboarding on track even as other things come up that might need your attention.

Brainstorming and planning ahead of time will also allow you to approach the task of onboarding a new employee with a clear mind. 

Approaching Your Onboarding Plan

First, you should start with a blank slate and list out all things that a new hire might need to know about the kind of work you do. Start broadly, thinking of general information about your business they'll need to know, then you can work more specifically into details associated with various job titles and departments. 

You'll want to think about their daily tasks and needs. What kind of logins will they need, what access, and what programs will they use? They'll need to be able to get started with all these things quickly.

You'll also want to think about basic needs outside of their work. Do they know where the bathrooms are? The procedure for getting in and out of the building? How about where to get lunch? 

The more you sit and brainstorm, the more you'll realize you might have to convey to your new hire. The onboarding needs of each business will be different, but the most important thing businesses across all industries can do is take this time to plan ahead. 

You'll be able to fine-tune and better your onboarding process based on results each time, but there should always be something you can rely on in place.

2. Get Paperwork Done Ahead of Time

One hack that can make the onboarding process easier for both employer and employee? Try to get all the initial paperwork done ahead of time. That means before the employee is clocked in at work for their first day. 

Many businesses give an employee a huge packet of paperwork that ends up eating nearly all their time on their first day. This eats up precious time that this new hire could be used integrating into the environment and getting comfortable. 

No one is going to learn much with their head submerged in piles of paper, writing down their social security number for the ninth time. New employee forms can be dense and distracting to get through. 

This is why, when you make an official offer to a new hire, you can also provide them with all the paperwork they'll need to fill out to get started with your company.

If the employee can take some small amount of time the week or two before they start to complete this paperwork, it can make their first day run so much smoother. 

If you feel uncomfortable asking your new hire to do this kind of work off the clock, you can always just give them the option to do it whenever they want. You'll find that given the option (instead of being forced), many employees will also want to get this kind of paperwork out of the way ahead of time.

Your employee likely wants their first day to be as productive and engaging as you do. 

Today, it's easier than ever to do all the tasks involved with this kind of paperwork remotely. You can even use a website like WorkBright.com to verify I9 information through the web. It couldn't be easier. 

3. Consider a Welcome Video

As we stated before, crafting a great first impression with a new hire can help carry over into their work for many weeks. The environment you set on a new hire's first few days can really set the tone for the whole stretch of their experience. 

One way to go above and beyond with this first impression? Consider presenting your new hire with a welcome video. This video can accomplish a number of amazing things when it comes to establishing a connection to your new employee.

For one, a welcome video can be an easy and efficient way to get across things about your business that might be hard to capture in words. It's a great place to 'sell' the idea of your company again, reassuring the new hire that they made the right choice in accepting this job. 

You can cement the ideas of your company culture, get across all the basic information about your company's history and way of life, and help to welcome them into this existing world. 

A welcome video can provide an easy way for various members of the business to say their hellos to the new hire. If you've got the time, it's great to personalize these videos, but using the same video for multiple hires is also possible. 

You can include this video in a welcome email to a new employee, or present it to them in person once they arrive at your place of work.

At the end of the day, an employee will see a welcome video as evidence that you were willing to go above and beyond to make their first day special and memorable. This extra step will not go unappreciated and will help you start off on the right foot with this new hire.

4. Plan Out a Reasonable Timeline

The most difficult part about onboarding a new hire? Determining how long the process should take in the whole. It can be far too easy to overwhelm a new employee on their first day or two, throwing a mountain of information at them and expecting them to be up to date within a small window of time.

New employee orientation can take time, and it's important to plan ahead for the time that will be needed. The window that you should provide will vary depending on the size and scope of your business and the position that the person in question is being hired for.

It's best to overestimate the time needed. It's much easier for a person to decide they feel comfortable and get ahead of schedule as opposed to a new employee already feeling like they are falling behind.

When you make your initial onboarding plan, you should highlight how many days it takes to reach various milestones.

How many days before a new hire is integrated into all systems? When will they have met all the various players at your business? When will they take over certain responsibilities from existing team members? 

Again, the answers to these questions and more are not set in stone. They will depend on the kind of work that you do and how you run your business. The most important thing is just that you have expectations in place and communicate them clearly to your new hire.

It's important to ensure that the expectations are clear, reasonable, and give your new hire ample time to get comfortable. 

5. Welcome Them to the Area

A new office and place of work can be like entering into a new world. While it's essential that they get used to your office as a new place to spend their time, it can also be helpful to take the extra step of welcoming them to the area in general. 

Including information about the surrounding area in your initial documentation can be another way to show an employee you're willing to go above and beyond to make them feel welcome.

A great and useful tool is to give them a guide to all the various lunch establishments near the office. You can break it down by type of food, budget, or even have different employees pick out their personal favorites.

It can be disorienting for a new employee to determine where to go during their lunch hour, and this kind of guide can make the task much, much easier.

Including other information about essential services and entertainment options near the office can also be helpful. Is there a movie theater around the corner? A gym with a great membership deal?A park that can be a great place to take an evening stroll? 

All of these are worth mentioning to new hires so that they can start to get comfortable building their life around this new workplace.

Remember, the more comfortable they are at your office, the more they'll perform quality work and stick around for many years.

6. Make Team Introductions

The first day of work for a new employee can feel a lot like the first day of school. They are being integrated into an environment where they are the odd person out. Everyone else on your team already knows one another and how things work. This can make any sort of new hire feel nervous or anxious

Trying to make this new employee feel as welcome as possible as early as possible will help everyone out. 

Think long and hard about how best to introduce this new hire to the rest of your team. Sending out a new employee announcement to your existing team ahead of their arrival can be a good start so that your current employees know what to expect and attempt to connect with this new person.

It can also be a good idea to plan a team lunch sometime on the first day or two of a new hire's employment. Having a casual environment in which this person can meet the rest of your company can allow them to integrate much easier. 

If it's too hard to get everyone in the office together for this, at least prioritize getting them some face time with the employees which they'll be working most closely.

Bettering Your New Employee Onboarding

If you're bringing a new employee onto your team sometime in the near future, you'll want to ensure that you're doing so in a way that will make their experience as positive as possible.

The above are a few essential tips and tricks that can make your overall onboarding process efficient and memorable. This can help make a new hire feel welcome and better your overall employee retention. 

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