If you are similar to most business owners and managers today, you struggle to fill open positions in your organization. As a result, you and your team are busy taking on the extra work of the vacant positions. So, when you hire a new employee, you want them to be up and running as quickly as possible. That’s why it is so important to have a solid employee onboarding plan.
In this post, I will share some key tips to onboard your new employees successfully.
First – Set clear expectations for their first day.
Before your new employee’s first day, send them an email introducing them to the key people who will help them get started and explain what they will do that first day. Copy the key players so that they have clarity on what the new employee is expecting. The email should cover the following items.
- What time to arrive, how to get into the building, and who to look for when they arrive
- What to bring (paperwork, personal items, tools, etc.)
- What to expect with breaks and lunchtime, including resources available, like a kitchen, fridge, microwave, vending machine, etc.
- An agenda for the day, including what time they will be able to go home
The email’s purpose is to organize you and the onboarding team. It will also remove the typical anxieties people have when showing up for their first day on the job.
Second: Prepare all tools and resources for the employee before their first day.
It doesn’t matter what job your new employee will take. Every employee needs tools and resources to do their job. Make sure you have a list of what they are and that they are ready when the employee arrives. If you can’t have every tool and resource ready, be prepared to explain to the new employee when they will get them and make sure that happens.
Third: Write a two-week training and coaching plan.
Taking the time necessary to train is the hardest part of onboarding a new employee. You want to get back to your core responsibilities. You want the new employee to ramp up fast and relieve you and the team. But, several things will happen if you don’t spend enough time training.
- They will struggle to perform.
- When the new employee fails, you will both get frustrated.
- You will have to get involved again for more training, which will delay their ability to be a great asset to your team.
- They may quit, possibly leaving bad reviews on the internet and putting you back where you started.
A two-week plan tells you, your team, and the employee what you plan daily to get them ready to do their job successfully. The position may require more than two weeks of training or coaching, but a two-week plan sets everyone’s expectations.
The plan tells the employee that you will support them and help them succeed. It tells you and the team that you need to support this new employee, which involves investing significant time with them even when it causes you some pain to do so.
A little more pain in the employee onboarding process early on will save you a lot more pain later when you have to let them go and replace them.