Your long-standing open position has finally been filled. The employee is a perfect fit for your team. You breathe a sigh of relief. Whether you just hired a new Lead Technician, Project Manager or Salesperson, you feel a weight lifted off of your shoulders and you are freed up to finish all those projects, take on more work, and even win more clients with your brand new employee! But can one right hire really affect all these things?
While finding your next great employee can be especially challenging in today’s economy, ensuring they are productive and fulfilled enough in their position to stay with the company long-term can be an even a greater challenge. If you want to maximize the potential of your new employee, you should create an onboarding plan for their future success before they’ve even accepted the job offer.
What does that look like?
- Provide a written job description. This provides the employee with a list of what they are expected to accomplish on most days, as well as a baseline for employer and employee to prioritize responsibilities and measure performance.
- Assign a mentor. This person serves as a safe place for your new employee to go. They don’t necessarily have to be the employee’s superior, so long as they have a strong working knowledge of the company and are ready and willing to interact with them.
- Hold a new hire orientation. This orientation should have a defined agenda that introduces most, if not all, of the company’s staff, covers company policies, reiterates their job description in detail, provides company-issued equipment and tours the office facility.
- Create a 30-Day Outline. Establishing this in advance allows your new employee to jumpstart their productivity and confidence by letting them know what they will be learning and when. It also streamlines things for current staff involved in the training.
- Schedule a formal 90-Day review. Identify 3 to 5 measurable items that you feel can signify success within 90 days and create a review document. Give your employee the opportunity to rate themselves on your scale beforehand, then provide a written assessment of your own to discuss in a scheduled one on one meeting. This allows you and the employee to be on the same page when reviewing performance and removes any confusion on how they will be evaluated.
You may feel you’re lacking the time, experience or money to invest in these onboarding activities. Regardless of whether you do your own hiring, leave it to a recruiter, or combination of the two, you’re putting resources towards finding your next employee. Why risk wasting those resources by not having a well thought out onboarding program in place?