Making a Hire? Here are the Onboarding Mistakes You Need to Avoid

We often say, “hire right, hire once.”  Not taking the time to find the right person for the right position leads to incalculable losses due to decreased productivity, unnecessary turnover, employee morale issues and a hit to management’s credibility.

As vitally important as it is, making the right hire is only the first step.  It’s just as important to ensure your new employee gets off on the right foot.  Studies show that companies with finely tuned orientation processes experience lower turnover, higher productivity and increased revenue and customer satisfaction.

All this is to say, don’t mess up a great hire with weak onboarding.

Your onboarding process does not have to be elaborate, but it does need to be tailored to each organization and often each position.  Mistakes many companies make in the first days of employment include:

• Not having the workstation cleaned, stocked and ready on day one.
• Not having technological devices and systems access prepared and tested.
• Not making time for tours and introductions, not informing current employees of the new hire’s pending arrival, or not including all departments in the introductions.
• Cramming all the paperwork and essential information in the first day, or even the first few hours.  Even worse, leaving the hire alone for hours to complete paperwork or read manuals.
• Not considering the cultural aspects of “fitting in,” and relying on org charts and formal documents instead of having an open dialog about the cultural norms of behavior and communication.
• Having the employee start when the supervisor or key mentor is absent.
• Not identifying a “buddy” who can help the new hire with day-to-day minutia or to answer questions they may be uncomfortable asking a manager.
• Not having a plan for training and instead trying to “take it as it comes”; not evolving training to respond to the employee’s progress and needs.
• Not preparing a job description or identifying performance goals, including the goals of the employee, the department, and the organization as a whole.
• Not taking the employee to lunch on the first day, preferably with a group of coworkers.
• Not having check-ins on a regular basis.

Next week, we will look at extending orientation beyond the first few weeks of employment to ensure your new hire is able to build upon the foundation that the initial onboarding efforts established.