Is your new employee excited? Check. Talented? Check. Productive? Ehhhh, maybe not so much. A lot of organizations do a great job of hiring skilled employees and getting them pumped up to start their position, but far fewer make it their mission to get new hires up to speed as quickly as possible.
Cue team members who struggle to hit peak productivity and become less engaged as they flounder. They deserve better. It’s time for a new onboarding model that helps employees kick butt right away.
Talmundo’s onboarding study conducted with Vlerick Business School found that an effective onboarding process decreases time to productivity by 51%. It’s not just us, SHRM discovered that a standardized onboarding process can result in 50% greater new hire productivity for organizations.
But wait, there’s more! According to TalentLMS’ Onboarding Survey,
Let’s look at the tech-savvy strategies you can employ to help employees get off on the right foot. At Talmundo, we’ve developed solutions that are better for new hires, better for your HR team, and better for your organization’s bottom line.
1. Preboard with chatbot technology
Eva is Talmundo’s onboarding chatbot who is ready to deliver all the valuable information your new hire needs to hit the ground running, without interrupting you. Even from 30 days out, Eva can start delivering facts about the company, along with crafted training modules.
2. Test on company knowledge
Scheduled quizzes let new hires test their knowledge of the company and their new job duties throughout the onboarding process. This info also helps you better evaluate the employee’s training needs.
3. Deliver essential content with friendly alerts
Talmundo can send alerts letting employees know what’s available and where to quickly find it. To keep your fingers on the pulse of your workforce, you get to see when your new hire accesses the data.
4. Meet and greet with one click
Begin connecting new hires to management and co-workers through virtual meet and greet sessions. These pre-start introductions provide an amazing tool for addressing all of those new employee questions.
While you can knock much of the onboarding process out of the park with Talmundo’s technology, sometimes it’s best to let offline solutions play a part. Pair the tech-focused strategies above with these “in real life” (aka IRL, if you’re keeping up with new slang) options.
The challenge is bigger than any one person or department. Convince managers of the importance of an inclusive onboarding process, and train them to participate.
66% of new employees list job duties, expectations, and results as their biggest onboarding challenges. You know, like how to do their actual job. That may be because onboarding processes nowadays tend to focus more on the cultural aspects of the new job rather than how to get stuff done.
Don’t get us wrong, cultureboarding is important and it should definitely play a major role in a new hire’s experience, but when it comes to productivity, one of the most helpful things you can do for employees is to show them which targets to aim for and how to reach those targets.
Tip: Learn more in our quick reference guide.
Research shows that friendships at work can lead to happier, more engaged employees, which could lead to greater productivity. But you don’t need research to tell you that—we all know that people who love who they work with tend to be more prolific and creative. They spend less time investigating who took their lunch from the office fridge and more time collaborating.
New employees need to form strong, positive relationships… and it takes more than an hour lunch meeting on the first day to do so. Help to break the ice throughout the employee’s first few weeks with these unconventional questions for managers, or our list of team building activities.
Employees can spend up to 35% of their work week in meetings. Considering that more than 9 out of 10 people admit to multitasking during meetings, we’re thinking that much of the work week could be better spent.
On the job training can launch your new hire from just started to superstar more quickly. Schedule bite-sized sessions to start happening within the first week of employment and then build up to larger or more complex projects along the way.
Did you know that for 43% of employees, getting a basic workstation took more than a week? 13% reported that it took two to five months and another 4% said the process spanned longer than a year.
Let that sink in for a second. More than 1 in 10 employees didn’t have a basic workstation for a few months after hire!
There’s no way they could be as productive as possible without, uh, a full desk. And working computer. And maybe a baby succulent. Anyway, you know what we mean—this should be a priority in your onboarding process.
Consider creating a new hire workstation checklist that outlines all of the tools and supplies a new hire will need, such as desk accoutrements, access to the company file servers, and a working phone line. Then, go through the checklist before day one to ensure everything is ready and waiting.
To sum it up: new hires crave proper onboarding that helps them overcome the learning curve. For the record, HR teams are on the same page; 74% of HR professionals reportedly want an onboarding process that speeds up the employee’s time to contribution.
Unfortunately, generic and unfulfilling programs are still keeping countless team members from quickly reaching peak performance. Employees’ most common gripes about inadequate onboarding include:
If you want your new hires happy and productive from day one, count on an onboarding program that provides the necessary tools in a streamlined process.
Talmundo’s employee onboarding solution educates, trains, and empowers employees to reach proficiency faster.
.svg){kind=small}
