Picture this: You recently accepted a job offer and your first day is just around the corner.
You’re feeling equal parts nervous and excited because—while you fell in love with the company during the interview process—you also know there’s a possibility that things might not work out.
But then, you get an email from your new manager asking to grab coffee on the morning of your first day, so they can walk you through the overall onboarding process (lots of meetings with the people you’ll be working closely with) before you have sessions with HR and tech support.
Chances are you’re going to feel a lot more confident going into your first day knowing that the team is eager to meet you and there’s a plan in place for bringing you up to speed, right?
A seemingly simple gesture like sending a personalized note welcoming a new employee to the team can go a long way in reassuring them that they’ve made a smart career choice. It can also help make that connection between expectations (which are typically set through employer brand messaging and the interview process) and reality (their actual employee experience).
Onboarding as a whole is your chance to do exactly that—build trust with new employees and prove to them that the company culture and environment you’ve promised them is, in fact, real and true.
Yet, many companies are still getting onboarding wrong and according to Jobvite’s 2018 Job Seeker Nation Study, almost 30% of job seekers have left a job within the first 90 days of starting, citing “day-to-day role wasn’t what they expected” (43%) and company culture (32%) as reasons for leaving.
So it’s safe to say that a bad onboarding experience can be a deciding factor in whether a new employee wants to stick around for the long-haul, or turn right back around and start looking for a new opportunity.
What Makes a Great Onboarding Process?
Onboarding new employees should start before their first day and continue all the way through—at least—their first 90 days on the job.
The goal is to create a process that makes them feel welcomed, valued, and prepared to step into their role and be successful. How?
Our latest ebook breaks down the crucial parts of effective onboarding with specific ideas for "pre-boarding" new hires, plus what you can do from Day One to Week One to Month One and beyond to provide a well-rounded and positive onboarding experience.
