Onboarding: How to Make a Great First Impression with Namely

According to a Brandon Hall study, organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent.

So it’s safe to say that an employee’s first impression is a lasting one. Providing new hires with a great onboarding experience sets the stage not only for their first day, week, and month, but also introduces them to the company culture, and their team, as well as a way to engage with their new company. 

The onboarding experience is vital for both new hires and your company. That’s why it’s essential that your HR team and hiring managers are well prepared to ensure that new hires receive a smooth and unique experience before their first day. Here are a few ways to ensure a successful onboarding experience, all offered within Namely’s platform.

Onboarding for You, the Employer

A lot goes into preparing for a new hire to join your company. There is a list of items you are required to ask for, documents new employees must view and sign, and other legal documentation to complete. Not to mention, you need to ensure that the new hire completes the process and that all necessary items are ready by their start date. By streamlining and templating these tasks and tracking their status throughout the process, welcoming new hires can be a lot simpler with these tools in place:

• Insightful Onboarding Dashboard - You need to have visibility into your new hire sessions and their statuses. By having an overview, you can view analytics, new hires by department, and even remind them to continue and complete their onboarding steps.

  

• Custom Templates - By personalizing templates for new hires based on their roles, departments, and training needs, they can answer, view, and sign all required documentation during onboarding through a simple, wizard-driven flow

• Automated Task Lists - To streamline preparation for administrators and employees, you can assign tasks to users across the company. They’ll each receive their own checklist to complete for the onboarding process, ensuring that the new employee receives everything they need–such as equipment or a reminder to complete open enrollment.

  

Onboarding for Your New Hire

A new hire’s onboarding experience should focus on simplicity, engagement, and personalization to excite them about the new step they’ve taken in their career. While you’re busy setting up the onboarding process to ensure accuracy and data gathering, an employee’s focus is on getting a better understanding of your company, culture, values, and what it will be like to work there. They want to make sure they complete all necessary steps while meeting their team and training for their new role. Make sure you provide a seamless and enticing experience with:

• Progress Completion - Make sure your new hire knows when they’ve completed the process. Check off items as they get done, and show what’s left to make sure they’re ready to go. Some tasks can wait until after their start date, so make sure you have completion deadlines and next steps readily available for them to track. You want them to know what they’ve completed, as well as any outstanding items.

• Personalization - By having automated task lists and role templates completed you’re already ensuring that you’re getting all of the personal data you may need from them–but take it a step further. Start with a customized welcome letter letting them know how excited you are for them to join your team. Include your company values and mission in your onboarding and ask new hires fun fact questions to learn more about them. Simply asking what their favorite coffee order, t-shirt size, and go-to snacks are given a personal touch, as well as the ability to surprise your employee on their first day or birthday.

• Team Interaction -  Your new employee will be eager to meet their teammates if they haven’t already through the interview process. Initiate engagement on their first day by sending a Slack message to the company to announce that they have joined! You can even include the fun facts they provided, highlight something you have in common, or review who they will be meeting during training.

  
  

Conclusion 

During this exciting yet nerve-wracking time for your new hire, they want to feel a sense of belonging and that their new company has things in order. Having streamlined, interactive onboarding processes and technology in place allows you to put the emphasis back on welcoming your new employees, focusing on your company culture, and making sure the process is easy and simple.

By recognizing the importance of onboarding and implementing the right methods and tools, you can lead an excellent onboarding process that sets your new hires up for success.

Wish you had all of these capabilities in your onboarding strategy or do want to learn more about Namely’s onboarding experience? Watch this quick demo!

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