You made the perfect hire, one who is talented and eager to learn. He or she had a great first day. Now what? How do you turn that potential talent into a real-life superstar?
Just like the first day, your new hire’s first 90 days need to be planned out. Before the employee starts, you need to have a set plan of how to acclimate the new hire to your company, your team, and your style. In other words, onboarding. The most successful companies have a general onboarding path to follow that includes not just filling out paperwork and getting the grand tour, but a roadmap for training, available mentors, and lots of hands-on advice from managers. Statistics tell us that organizations with a standardized onboarding process have 54% greater new hire productivity and 50% greater new hire retention. Managers' job satisfaction increases 20% when their employees have formal onboarding training.
Not a bad return on investment for thinking ahead. So, how can set your onboarding apart?
Offer Training Resources
We know that millennials are much happier and more comfortable using technology, so having an online course for them to start their training works wonders. We also recommend conducting an Individualized Management Questionnaire as quickly as possible to get to know their learning styles and how they like to be managed.
Make the Path to Success Clear
Also important is to have a clearly-defined path for your new hires to follow. Set expectations, but allow them to move at their own pace. Remember that the higher the work intensity, the faster they will want to onboard. If you have more than one person onboarding at a time, set up a leader board. You can also have a leader board of all of your new hires from the past 12 months. Have your new hires collect points as they move through the process and set up a competition. Even if there is no prize at the end, they can compete to move through the process quickly and accurately.
Another option is to have them collect certifications as they move through your onboarding process. Have them level up from, say, Padawan to Jedi to Jedi Master. Make it fun and interesting so they want to complete the process.
Plan Your End Goal
What is your 90-day end goal for your new hire? It’s important to think this through ahead of time and then verbalize it to them. Should they have made x number of cold calls, x number of sales, or met with all of their existing accounts and have a growth plan for each in place? Whatever their 90-day goal is, make sure they are well aware of the goal and have a plan to get there.
Set your new hires up for success!
