Do you remember your first day in your current role? The first time you went through a door you’ve probably pushed open hundreds of times now?
What about your first day in your first ever job? Were you nervous? Did you feel awkward or self-conscious? Hopefully, you were made to feel welcome straightaway and quickly found your feet.
Thinking back to your own experiences of your first impressions of new roles can help you to create a positive atmosphere for employees joining your team. Before their first day, spend time thinking about the impression you’d like your new recruit to have of you – and make an onboarding plan!
What is onboarding?
Onboarding is the process of integrating new starters into your organisation and helping to familiarise them with your culture and processes. But onboarding isn’t just about the first day or week – it starts before a new employee walks through the door and continues into their employment journey.
Making an onboarding plan ensures that all new recruits will be given all the information they need about their new workplace, how you do things, and your expectations of them.
An onboarding plan is the place for you to introduce your new employee to the terms and conditions of their employment, and their duties and responsibilities. However, a workplace is about more than just the job. Onboarding is also the time to share your company policies and culture with your new staffer. This could include holiday entitlement, your position on flexible working, and the workplace dress code.
Welcome to the workplace
Of course, a huge part of onboarding is the actual physical workspace. While many jobs offer a flexible, hybrid or work-from-home option, an office provides a vital opportunity for communication and interaction. And for physical roles, the workplace is even more important.
Creating an induction plan is a great way to introduce new hires to both the workspace and their colleagues. As well as a guided tour, you could talk through policies and procedures, health and safety expectations, and offer your new employee opportunities to ask questions.
Feeling part of the team
Before your new starter arrives, make sure their individual workspace is prepared and ready for them. This not only helps them to feel secure and welcome on their first day, but they can start work more quickly! Set up IT for them, including email, login credentials and any specialist systems you use. You can also schedule any IT training they may need for their first day.
This is also the time to make sure the rest of the team knows a new employee will be joining them. Effective communication about new hires helps to encourage a strong team spirit. Do any of your key clients or suppliers need to know there’s a new starter? Now’s the time to tell them, too.
Will your new employee need a mentor? Chat to the team and ask a colleague, if appropriate, to work with your new recruit. Take time to check on them daily yourself, too.
Set up your HR system
The onboarding period is when you should set up your new hire on your HR system. Using specialised HR software ensures that all the data you need is securely stored to comply with GDPR. Using an integrated onboarding process also lets your new employee know you take their induction seriously.
The key dates in the onboarding process can be entered into your HR system – for example, reviews, training updates and annual leave requirements.
If you’re taking on a new employee or several new team members and you want to make sure all your bases are covered, we’re here to talk or to advise you about HR systems. You can get in touch with us on [email protected] or 01449 708999.