Some employees may feel the sense of dread that comes with being the “newbie” in the office, others may be rearing at the chance to hit the ground running. Regardless, all employees need thorough onboarding to lay the foundations for a successful future in their prospective roles.
As all successful companies know, retaining and nurturing talent in the business is pivotal for their success. Finding the right people for the role, and retaining them, is becoming increasingly more difficult as the competition is fierce.
At TTRO, we have had a lot of experience helping companies formulate effective induction strategies based on their related industries and target audiences. Our TTRO experts have put together three exciting phases to form part of the onboarding architecture. Each phase contains various tools that lend themselves perfectly to a “push” and “pull” approach.
This phase is the pre-induction, which starts before the new employee even enters the building, and is key to setting the scene and creating excitement before their first day. In this phase, digital assets such as video, e-learning and animations are perfect as they can be deployed to their devices and accessed in their own time. In the “Hype” phase companies can send out explainer animations containing information about the company’s vision, mission and brand positioning, as well as personalised emails telling the employee what to expect on their first day. The most important focus in this phase, for the employee, is alignment with the business’s brand. Also, a great idea is to send out a little survey asking the employee some questions about themselves, which would be a great way for their managers to know a little bit more about them before they start.
Whatever you decide to do in this phase, keep this content exciting and engaging. The objective is to get the employee settled in, as well as to get them rearing to go and conquer!
This phase begins on day 1, and is the beginning of the employee’s growth within their new career path. This phase is usually very HR heavy, but importantly so. The delivery method of the “Immersion” phase is important, so that the employee does not get swamped with an information overload. A message from the CEO is a great touch in welcoming your new recruit.
Ideally, a platform where all the relevant HR documentation can be deployed simply and easily, will make things a lot easier for Line Managers and for the employee themselves. Let the employee immerse themselves in the business, and start discovering all that it has to offer. Digital learning can play a great role in delivering company information, such as Compliance, Conduct and Ethics, in a fun and engaging manner while still tracking the employee’s engagement via mini quizzes and assessments. Incorporating gamification elements into the learning elements, with results reflecting in an inter-team dashboard, will help with team integration and friendly competition amongst colleagues.
In this phase, not only will the employee be immersed in the company’s culture and processes, but their personal development plans will be established, and learner paths plotted. GET IMMERSED!
This phase is all about the employee’s learning and growth within the business. This period is all about the confirmation and reassurance of the employee’s decision to join the company, and the embedding of the knowledge learnt during the “Immersion” phase. During this phase, it is important that the coaching and mentoring is constant, and that the employee’s personal development plan has been identified and crafted. This is the phase where the employee can grab the bull by the horns and dive into the learning offered, whether it be through learning portals and apps or through facilitated training. The “Cultivate” phase is the beginning of the talent management and performance management journey, where an employee’s potential talent can be nurtured and harvested.
After this high-impact onboarding journey, your employee should feel firmly rooted in the business, and focused on high-performance and growth. Embedding these fundamentals properly, early on, will save your company time, money and energy; it also has the potential to yield a strong, high-performance culture!
If you are about thinking about embarking on a fresh onboarding campaign, let one of the experts help you make an impact today!
Author: Kate Atkinson