Employers around the world are focusing more and more on the new hire experience. Whether it is deploying tools or re-working the engagement strategy, the new hire experience is strategic.
Considering 1 in 3 employees look out for a new job within their first 6 months, the growing importance of the new hire experience is quite understandable.
In this article, I will list the best practices to engage new hires through the preboarding & onboarding phases. First of, let’s get some definitions out there.
Employee Preboarding
Employee Preboarding is the time from offer letter acceptance & day 1. This is an often ignored time period to get new hires engaged. More on this in a short bit.
Employee Onboarding
For this article, employee onboarding is the learning that takes place from Day 1. The learning should be focused on the role, the work of the new hire and enabling him/her to get up-to-speed in the shortest time possible.
Now that we have the definitions in place, let’s see what the employees want through this process…
The Tydy 2016 Employee Onboarding Survey gave us a lot of insight in to what candidates want to see from their new hire experience.
It’s very evident that new hires want to know more about their role and the growth opportunities in the company. Are they gonna be just another cog in the wheel — or are they gonna be creating a significant value every day? Who are they gonna be working with and where do they fit in to the equation of the team? What does the company believe in and what are the policies and benefits?
These are questions that need to be answered through the new hire experience. While sharing all of this important — it is critical to understand how to and when to share the information.
Here is a quick go-to guide on structuring the type of content to send during each stage.
To summarize — Preboarding is for making sure new hires understand the company and its culture, Day 1 is to really welcome the new hire with open arms and Onboarding is to initiate the learning process and get up-to-speed in the shortest time possible.
Happy Onboarding!
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