Chapter 14

All Aboard! Onboarding Techniques to Foster Engagement

In This Chapter

Recognizing the importance of onboarding

Seeing things from the new hire's point of view

Knowing what to do before a new hire starts, on the first day, and in the first week

Establishing performance expectations

You're super excited to start your new job — so excited, in fact, that you arrive early on your first day. When you do, however, you're locked out of the building, because you don't yet have a key card or badge. That means you're stuck waiting in the snow until a “real” employee comes along and lets you in (after you convince her you're not an ax murderer, of course).

Then what? You stand awkwardly by the receptionist's desk, waiting for someone to greet you. After what feels like an interminable wait, that someone finally arrives, and you're relegated to a back room, where you fill out what feels like hundreds of documents and review a staggering number of company policies. Hours later, your new boss ushers you to your workspace and tells you to get to work.

This would never happen, right? Well, actually, it happens more often than you might think. Indeed, for many companies, this constitutes the whole of their onboarding process. But this type of onboarding will do very little to foster engagement among new employees. Read on to find a better way!

What's the Big Deal, Anyway? The Importance of Onboarding

There is no impression like a first impression. Indeed, studies show that roughly 33 percent of employees decide to stay onboard with a firm or jump ship within their first 30 days of employment. Given this, you'd think companies would work to put their best foot forward with new hires through effective onboarding (new-hire orientation).

Surprisingly, however, many firms treat onboarding like a chore, sort of like laundry. To them, it's a necessary evil — something that just gets done before an employee becomes productive. For most organizations, onboarding is a matter of shutting the new recruit in a room by himself or with other lonely souls (read: additional new hires) in a conference room, reviewing and filling out mountains of paperwork.

The onboarding process is often even worse in smaller companies or satellite locations of a larger firm. These locations may not have an HR presence, so the onboarding role usually defaults to the receptionist, administrative assistant, or worse, whoever draws the short straw. (“Hey Mickey! It's your turn to greet the new hire and help her with her paperwork!”)

The fact is, effective onboarding is key to engaging new hires. An effective onboarding enables new hires to grasp the firm's culture, history, customer base, performance expectations, job requirements, communication expectations, and more. The best onboarding programs are well planned out in advance, with special attention given to “what” (the mountains of paperwork that must be completed), the “how” (the environment and handling of the onboarding process), and the “who” (the team with whom the new hire will be working).

Onboarding is so critical that Zappos, the notable e-commerce firm, puts all new employees through three weeks of company orientation before they start their new job, even going so far as to pay these new hires $3,000 if they decide not to stick with the company afterward. In other words, Zappos understands that the company's culture is so important that they're willing to pay you to leave if you determine you aren't a cultural fit. (Of course, people rarely take Zappos up on its offer, because Zappos does an outstanding job of determining a person's cultural fit during the interviewing and selection stage.)

Brain Swap: Considering Things from the New Employee's Point of View

As you develop your onboarding program, it helps to consider things from a new hire's point of view. You can assume that most new employees will have several questions. Some questions will pertain to their first day at work:

• Where and what time should I report?
• What should I wear?
• Whom should I ask for?
• Where should I park?

To aid in onboarding, these questions should be addressed in the employee's offer letter, but it never hurts to reiterate them in a phone call with the new hire prior to his start date.

Then there are the questions about matters that affect the new employee personally:

• What are my work hours?
• Do I need to report to work at a specific time?
• Will I be expected to work overtime, evenings, or weekends?
• Will I need to travel? If so, how often?
• How flexible are my work hours if I need to take time off to attend a child's school event or handle some other personal issue?

Addressing these questions early — either before the employee starts or early in her tenure — in an open, honest manner will help your employee to feel at ease and move on to more critical areas.

Consider assigning a buddy to your new hire to help answer some of these more basic questions.

Other questions new hires may have include the following:

• Who will I be working with?
• Who do I need to get to know in my department and in other departments?
• How will my work be evaluated?
• How does my work relate to the goals of the department and the goals of the organization?
• What channels exist to share ideas, suggestions, or concerns?
• How do people prefer to communicate within the organization (face-to-face, e-mail, phone, texting)?
• Do I get a laptop? A smartphone? Internet access? (Don't laugh. Incredibly, many companies still restrict Internet access.)

Not all these questions need to be answered before the employee joins, but helping the new employee to feel like he's an important part of your department (and ultimately the organization) is a key step in helping him feel at home, which is important with respect to engagement.

Finally, new employees may have questions about the organization itself:

• What are the firm's mission, vision, and values? How does my department fit into these?
• What is the culture like?
• Do we have a strategic plan? What does it entail?

Depending upon the new hire's role, some of this information may be less relevant. However, the firm's mission, vision, and values should be discussed as part of the new hire's orientation, if not before.

The Final Countdown: Preparing for a New Employee

Alexander Graham Bell once said, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to onboarding new employees. You can take several steps to prepare for a new employee's arrival, to prepare for the day she starts, and to prepare for her first week on the job. For details, read on!

What to do before day one

You don't need to wait for the employee's start date to begin the onboarding process. In fact, you shouldn't. Here are just a few things you can do to help engage new hires:

• Send a “Welcome to the Company” e-mail. This e-mail should include contact information for all key people and other important information, such as links to benefits information, company policies, and more. (For an example of a “Welcome to the Company” e-mail, see the nearby sidebar.)
• Have a key executive — maybe even the CEO, if it's a smaller company — give the new hire a call to welcome her to the firm.
• Send a company coffee mug, sweatshirt, or other branded welcome gift. Apple sends all new employees a welcome box stuffed with swag and an inspiring note. (If you think this sounds like orientation for college freshmen, you get the picture.)
• Direct new hires to your company's Yammer, Facebook, or LinkedIn page for new hires, where new hires can post their experiences, “meet” other new hires, and share survival tips. If you don't already have such a page, create one!
• Send the new hire any paperwork you need him to fill out — tax forms, the company code of conduct, and so on. Completing this paperwork in advance is less painful than doing it during his first day or week on the job.
• Tell the new hire what day and time she should arrive for her first day at work and who to ask for.

What to do on day one

It's the big day! Your new hire is thrilled to be here and is primed and ready to work. Your mission, should you choose to accept it (you do), is to ensure she stays that way. At the day's end, your new hire should feel energized, excited, hopeful, and positive.

As with most critical missions, you need a plan. Smart organizations have a checklist prepared in advance to ensure that all the steps of the plan are followed. Otherwise, you may leave your new hire with the impression that you're part of a slipshod organization. Make it a point to put together a day-one agenda or schedule. In addition to the various onboarding activities (see the next section for details), this agenda should include who's taking the new hire to lunch. Be sure everyone who has a role in the new hire's first day is aware of it.

What to do during week one

Here's a list of things you'll need to do during a new hire's first week. Some of these activities may occur on day one; others could happen later in the week. This will help to orient and engage the new hire.

• Complete all paperwork. This includes those documents required by law in the organization's country and/or state (I-9 form, tax forms, and so on), signed offer letter, signed code of conduct, and so on. You can expedite matters by sending the paperwork to the employee prior to his start date.
• Share information about benefits. Make sure the employee understands what benefits are available to her. These may include health insurance, dental insurance, a flexible spending account, a 401(k) plan, and other miscellaneous benefits. Also, mention what steps the employee needs to take to enroll in these various programs. If you offer a 401(k) plan, consider offering a negative election (meaning all new hires are automatically enrolled in the plan unless they voluntarily opt out). This will increase your company's 401(k) participation rate and ensure your employees are looking after their retirement needs. (It's never too early to start planning!)
• Talk about the company culture. Touch on who you are, what you do, and why you do it. While you're at it, discuss the company's commitment to values, health and safety, and goals. Some companies play a video that outlines the company's history, values, mission, and so on. Other companies have a key company representative give a presentation about the company's culture followed by a Q&A to a group of new hires.
• Talk about company policies. Ensuring that new employees understand your firm's policies, procedures, and guidelines right from the start is key to avoiding confusion down the road. These may include your company's policies with regard to working hours, attendance and time off, employee conduct (including dating of co-workers), use of social media or the Internet, dress code, charitable contributions and/or matching gift policies, employee referrals, and hiring of relatives. You'll also want to cover the company's code of ethics and corrective action procedures for poor performance, as well as various employment law policies, such as employment classifications, equal employment opportunity (EEO)/affirmative action, sexual harassment policies, and substance abuse policies.
• Discuss security. Security — both physical security and data security — is increasingly critical for many organizations. If your organization maintains a security policy, be sure to discuss it with new hires. Also, if employees require a key or security card to enter and/or move about the building, be sure to hand one over to your new hire.
• Show off your intranet. Your new hire will probably forget everything you just told him about benefits, company culture, policies, and security procedures. Fortunately, new hires can refresh their memories on your company intranet (assuming you have one). During your new hire's first week, take time to show him this digital domain.
• Give a tour. Show the employee around. Don't forget to point out important stuff, like where the bathrooms and lunch facilities are. Also, draw the new hire's attention to emergency exits; while you're at it, cover emergency procedures.
• Put faces to names. In addition to showing the new employee an organizational chart, bring her around for introductions to the leadership team, as well as to her department colleagues. If you've assigned this new hire a “buddy” to aid in the onboarding process, make that introduction, too.
• Outline job responsibilities. Make sure the new hire knows what is expected of him during his first week, first months, and first year of employment. Also, indicate when he can expect his first few performance appraisals. You can also use this opportunity to discuss how work is assigned and the workload schedule.
• Review the title and salary/pay grade. During this discussion, you'll also want to provide an overview of compensation, as well as talk bonus programs and market-based adjustments.
• Get technological. Get your new hire set up with any equipment she needs to do her job — an iPad, a smartphone, a laptop, a desktop computer, or what have you. While you're at it, be sure she knows how to get tech support.

Great Expectations: Performance Management and Onboarding

During the onboarding process, you'll want to make it a point to establish performance expectations, goals, standards for high performance, promotional opportunities, and whatnot. Doing so is key to engaging new employees. Remember: Achievement is a key engagement driver (see Chapter 4). Reinforcing achievement is a must, even for new hires.

As part of this discussion, you should indicate your expectations for the first week, first month, first quarter, and first year of the new hire's tenure. Be specific. The more specific and open you can be about your expectations, the more likely you are to set up your new hire for success. While you're at it, cover the key systems your new hire will need to use to be successful and discuss your plans for getting him up to speed. Also make any introductions — internal or external — to people who can help the new hire complete his first few assignments.

To keep things on track, conduct a formal 90-day performance appraisal for new hires. The purpose of this appraisal is to assess the quality and quantity of the new employee's work, as well as her understanding of the position requirements. This review should also clarify employee concerns and questions, as well as management expectations. Finally, it should set goals for the next nine months, including timelines and measurements.

Specifically, the review should cover the following points, with employees rated as “Unsatisfactory,” “Below Standards,” “Fully Satisfactory,” “Exceeds Standards,” and “Outstanding”:

• Adjustment to culture: Does the employee like it here? Is there anything the organization can do to help acclimate him to the culture? What is working? What isn't? What does the employee like about the organization? What should we change?
• Conformance to position requirements: Is the employee meeting performance expectations? Does she have strengths or weaknesses that require a modification to the position description? Successful firms evolve the job to fit the employee's strengths instead of doing the whole “force the square peg into the round hole” bit.
• Quality of work: Is the new hire a “get it done quick” or a “get it done right” employee? Establishing your quality standards is a must during these critical early days.
• Productivity: Is the new hire so focused on quality that he's not completing assignments? New hires who want to impress often make the mistake of trying to build a BMW when the job requires a Ford.
• Communication skills: Does the new hire lack the necessary communication skills to be successful? Does she suffer from a lack of confidence due to her newness? Is there training to help the new hire overcome these problems?
• Working relationships: Is the new introverted employee being overwhelmed by his extroverted co-workers (or vice versa)? Did you partner the new hire with a compatible “buddy”? If the new hire is struggling to adapt, consider a department luncheon, an after-work social, or partnership with a colleague on a project (especially with one of the department's more popular or respected members) as a means to jumpstart a relationship.
• Planning and organizing: Is the organization following its 90-day onboarding plan? If not, you may find that things will go astray as the new hire focuses on things she thinks are important rather than what the actual goals are.

Of course, you shouldn't wait 90 days to review a new hire's performance (good or bad). You should let your new hire know he's doing an amazing job, or that there are some performance concerns, well before then. Regular, ongoing communication is key to sustaining engagement. When you do review goals on day 90, there should be no surprises.

There is no such thing as holding a new hire's hand too much. A new hire will never quit a new job because, darn it, you've given her too much attention. In fact, the opposite is usually true. If a new employee fails to engage with the culture, team, department, and so on during her first 90 days on the job, that person is more likely to be poached by her former employer — who, if smart, recognizes that a great time to re-recruit a former employee is during that person's first 90 days with the new company (“Come back home! We miss you! Your seat is still warm . . .”).