Why you need to spend time building an onboarding
Dawn Klinghoffer¹, Head of People Analytics at Microsoft, conducted a study that showed that staff where the manager was present and active in the onboarding process were 3.5 times more satisfied with the results. They were also 20% more likely to feel that they contributed to the company’s success.
With an ever-increasing amount of remote work, the managers’ presence in the onboarding process becomes incredibly important. To give new employees the feeling of belong of belonging to a team, there needs to be real people who represent the team and the company.
More productive and happier employees
For a successful onboarding process, it has also shown to be a good idea beneficial for the employee to have an onboarding buddy. This buddy is an experienced employee that the new employee can turn to with thoughts and questions.
At Microsoft, it was clear that the closer contact with the onboarding buddy, the faster the new employee became productive.
Employees who start being productive early on will also more quickly feel appreciated in an organization.
Filling a function in a team and delivering things that make the company work and grow come back to the employee. They come to feel that they have a place and can contribute in a meaningful way.
The reward system is switched on in the brain and people become happier.
People generate togetherness and loyalty
Having an onboarding buddy means that human contact is made during the onboarding process. If the onboarding was only digital, the human connection that is so important to us humans would be lost.
Professor Siobhan O´Mahony at Boston University says that strong ties between colleagues are the basis for team spirit how an organization makes things happen. The challenge right now with remote work is to grow that human connection. This is what many believe is the big question to be solved in a future of remote work.
What does this have to do with employee loyalty? The components that contribute to loyalty are trust and confidence in their co-workers and in the company and the business that is conducted. Cohesion and feeling involved in decisions concerning one’s own work are also important for creating loyal employees. When the employee feels that the organization harnesses their skills, skills that enable them and the company to develop, loyalty is created.
Clear communication in the onboarding provides safety
To create loyal employees, you can lay that foundation already when onboarding by being clear at the outset about what role the employee has in the organization’s success. To create safety for the new employee, it is important that they get a clear picture of who is doing what.
When a new employee knows where to turn to perform their tasks, this lays the foundation to success. An important task for the onboarding buddy is to convey the organization’s culture and structure.
When onboarding, it may be good for the new employee to meet their work colleagues for digital coffee breaks. Especially in an organization that has switched to working more remotely. Depending on the size of the team, it can be good not to have too many new employees at the same coffee break.
Start small and allow new employee to have coffee with a few people at a time.
This becomes extra important today in a situation where many remotely. In an onboarding process at an office, the learning process is less formal and takes place by the water cooler.
Creating loyalty is like building a pyramid. The wider the base, the higher the top. Spend time on the onboarding process to build loyal employees. In the end, this will also help you reduce staff turnover.
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Dawn Klinghoffer¹, Head of People Analytics på Microsoft
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