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After weeks of wading through resumes, conducting interviews and negotiating terms, you’ve finally hired a new star employee. But now that she’s signed the contract, what’s next?

Time to get her onboarded.

Yet, onboarding – the process of adding new employees into your work force – has been forced to flip the script since the pandemic. Forget passing around 300-page binders chock-full of writeups about company policies and procedures, today’s onboarding strategies must meet professional workers where they are: maybe in the office, sometimes at home, usually a hybrid of both.

It’s no simple thing to come up with inventive ways to introduce fresh talent to an organization remotely though. Steph Barlow, a human resources consultant in Vancouver, uses the word “weird” to describe onboarding today. She says human resources professionals and hiring managers are often anxious about wowing recent recruits if all they ever experience is a sea of new faces on their screen.

“They’re worried that people won’t like their organization or get the vibe,” she explains.

But making a good first impression is only one aspect of the task. Offering the tools, training, support and knowledge new staff need to do their jobs well – and feel connected to their employer – is important. A good, personalized onboarding program can improve new hire retention by 82 per cent and increase productivity by 70 per cent, according to The Brandon Hall Group. It’s a strategic investment that can lower company expenses long-term.

With that in mind, here are three HR experts’ top onboarding strategies – and a couple to avoid.

What works

Do pre-board: Why wait until Day One? Start onboarding your new hire as soon as they’ve signed the offer, says Ms. Barlow. It might be as simple as booking a short introductory Zoom call with their team.

Ms. Barlow goes even further. She likes to make things as stress-free as possible, especially for those employees coming into the office, by creating a fun infographic for them in advance. It outlines exactly what their first day will look like, from meeting with HR in the morning to having lunch with management. She lists transit and parking options, and even which software tools they will likely use right away.

“It’s just to help orient them,” she says.

Do use technology: That’s what Terra Aartsen, chief product officer at Citation Canada in London, Ont., recommends. There are plenty of virtual onboarding portals, interactive learning platforms and video conferencing tools that can help standardize the process for everyone.

“If you have a truly hybrid work force, onboarding tools and platforms are absolutely critical to making this work,” she says. “It ensures that every employee has access to the same quality of onboarding regardless of where they’re located.”

Do keep it personalized: No one wants to feel like a number, but that will happen if you offer a one-size-fits-all approach to onboarding. While there are definitely large parts of the onboarding process that must remain the same for everyone, there’s more wiggle room for others. For instance, there might be an employee who’s missing software skills but is otherwise fantastic. Their personalized onboarding plan can include that training, Ms. Aartsen explains.

Do have a beginners mind: Ditch the corporate speak and remember how it feels to be the new person: usually overwhelmed.

“Speak in regular person language because the people you’re hiring don’t work there yet,” cautions Ed Muzio, chief executive officer of Group Harmonics in Austin, Texas. That means spelling out any corporate acronyms and other company-specific verbiage. From written material to training videos, messaging should be clear, specific, engaging and personable.

What doesn’t work

Don’t make assumptions: While there’s a lot of talk about generational differences on the job, Ms. Aartsen cautions against giving them too much weight when making an onboarding plan. Instead, focus on the individual, not sweeping macro trends.

“That human being that you’ve just hired, what do they need to be successful?” she asks.

Besides, pre-conceived notions aren’t always correct. Research has found that, despite being tech pros, many Gen Z workers actually want in-person, face-to-face time with managers and colleagues when they begin a job. But those been-there-done-that Gen Xers? Not so much. Remote onboarding is just fine. They already know how offices work.

Don’t just focus on the role: Ms. Barlow recommends that employers use the first weeks to help recruits understand the company’s values and history. Let them know how they fit into the story and why their work is important. Engaged employees who feel they have a purpose, onboard faster, start delivering faster and are higher performers.

“Their role is something that can be taught over time,” she says. “But if you want someone to be engaged with your organization, they have to care.”

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