Onboarding

Most people find that starting a new job is a major upheaval. A new company means new surroundings, new colleagues, processes and systems and a new culture. This takes some getting used to, and it is in the interests of the company and of the new colleague to minimise the time from start-up to peak performance.

Do it properly

Studies show that only 27% of companies go beyond a basic briefing and introduction. And in fact, only 2% of companies use onboarding as a fully prioritised business tool.

Unfortunately, an onboarding process is often a compressed affair with a packed meeting schedule in the first few weeks, after which the employee is left to get on alone.

Effective onboarding

Good onboarding is a process that extends over several months. It should be a smooth-running process in which the employee is not simply ‘exposed’ to a dense bombardment of information.

Our experience shows that the following four elements are important:

  1. Not just information

First and foremost, it is important to ensure that onboarding is about more than information. Good integration means giving the new employee a firm foundation, and here it is also important to focus on the corporate culture, collaboration and involvement of the employee’s stakeholders.

  1. Shared concept – individual execution

The company should have a shared onboarding concept which can work right across the organisation. The concept should provide for a structured approach, specifying areas and dates that leave the managers free to ‘do things their own way’. In this way, the company will achieve the desired effect even if things are done slightly differently at the local level.

The concept should ensure that the process covers the priority areas and that the activities are spread out over the initial period in the job.

  1. The manager’s responsibility – broad involvement

Onboarding is the manager’s responsibility. But it is essential to engage the whole organisation, so the new employee feels that everyone is on board. This calls for involvement from HR, but colleagues also need to be engaged so the manager has plenty of resources to work with.

  1. Follow-up and evaluation

Be sure to evaluate the completed onboarding, and use the new employee’s observations and feedback to further develop the onboarding concept.

We can help you with successful onboarding

At GML-HR we are above all specialists in finding the right candidate – and then ensuring that the candidate succeeds in their new job. This is shown in our exceptional satisfaction score and our guarantee percentage, which shows that 98% of the candidates are still in the job one year after being hired.

We can help to draw up specific onboarding programmes based on the concrete position to be filled, the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses and the manager’s need for advice and feedback.