Onboarding is more than just a simple action; it is a comprehensive process that enables new employees to assimilate the essential components of a company‘s cultural identity, knowledge, skills, and behaviours. This process is vital in transforming new hires into effective members of the organisation. Through onboarding, employees are seamlessly integrated into the company’s culture, which facilitates a smoother transition into their new role.

What is onboarding?

Onboarding is the intake process where new employees are introduced to your organisation.

The onboarding process involves a structured approach in which new employees are introduced to the organisation. They are taught knowledge, skills and attitudes to function effectively in their new role within the organisation. The duration of the onboarding process can vary from a few weeks to several months. It depends on several factors such as: the frequency of hiring, number of new employees. The difficulty of the job and the experience of new employees.

Why is the onboarding strategy important?

An effective onboarding strategy is crucial for both the organization and the new employee. A good onboarding strategy is important so that someone can quickly feel at home in the new position and become familiar with the company culture and values. This allows them to better identify with the organization and often feel more positive, resulting in them delivering better results and staying with a company for longer.

How to have an effective onboarding process?

Here are some guidelines on how to implement a good onboarding process:

1. Plan ahead: Create a detailed plan for the onboarding process that outlines the steps, timelines and responsibilities of all involved.
2. Communicate with new employees: Begin communication before the start date. Confirm the details of their employment, outline the onboarding process and let them know what the employee(s) can expect.
3. Designate a mentor: designate a colleague who can guide the new employee through the onboarding process and answer questions in the first few weeks.
4. Welcome new employees: immediately make new employees feel more at home by welcoming them warmly. Introduce them to team colleagues, give them a tour and explain how everything works.
5. Monitor and provide regular feedback: give new employees regular feedback to help them adapt to the role and improve their skills. Also give them the time and space to ask questions and ask for help so that support can be provided if needed.

By following these guidelines, organisations can create a positive onboarding experience for new employees, which can lead to increased engagement, productivity and staff retention.

What aspects are taken into account in the onboarding phase?

A new employee must learn a lot of different knowledge, values and behaviours during the onboarding period to become culturally integral to the company. To take everything in, an onboarding should include the following four main elements:

• Compliance – time dedicated to familiarising an employee with the legal regulations, standards, rules, guidelines, procedures or requirements applied in Organization
• Clarification – time dedicated to familiarising an employee with his or her role in the Organization, responsibilities, expectations of his or her work, quantity, quality and implementation
• Culture – time dedicated to familiarising an employee with the mission and vision of the company, its history, formal and informal customs, tools and forms of communication and cross-cultural issues in the international environment
• Connection – time dedicated to familiarising an employee with manager(s), hierarchical and functional connection, teammates and others internal and external customers

What are the benefits of this strategy?

An effective onboarding strategy is very important for both the organisation and the new employee. And can have several benefits, such as:

• Improved performance: effectively onboarding employees can improve their performance and maximise potential.
• Employee retention: an effective onboarding strategy can ensure that new employees stay with the organisation longer.
• Reducing costs: a good onboarding process can reduce costs by making employees productive faster and reducing turnover.
• A positive company culture: a successful onboarding process can contribute to a sense of belonging among employees and a positive company culture. As a result, new employees tend to be more motivated and enthusiastic about their new jobs.
• Reducing stress: an effective onboarding process can reduce stress and uncertainty among new employees.

The role of the manager in the onboarding process?

A manager is ultimately responsible for the employees, including the new employee(s), in their team and plays a crucial role in the onboarding process of every new employee. It is the manager’s responsibility to increase the engagement and motivation of the new employee, so that they are motivated to stay and to overcome mistakes. By retaining employees, the manager can prevent unnecessary costs such as recruitment and onboarding costs. A manager can ensure this by providing regular feedback, involving the employee in the team, and monitoring the employee’s activities.

In addition, the manager is responsible for delivering results with the team. By ensuring that the new employee is trained and introduced to the right people within the organization, the manager can accelerate the learning curve. This way, a well-onboarded employee can effectively perform and make a valuable contribution to the organization and team performance.

Difference between onboarding, orientation and training.

Onboarding, orientation and training are three different practices often used as part of the new employee onboarding process. Although these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, each has its own specific meaning and purpose.

1. Onboarding: onboarding is the process by which a series of activities enable the new employee to feel at home in the new organisation and perform work independently.
2. Orientation: orientation is for laying a good foundation for further training and development. This basis is laid by a good initial welcoming of the new employee, including for example: introduction to the mission, values and culture, meeting new colleagues and completing paperwork.
3. Training: Training aims to teach specific knowledge and skills needed for the new employee’s position. This could include, for example, specific technical skills for using certain software or developing interpersonal skills.

Measuring the effectiveness of the onboarding programme

As described in this article, implementing a good onboarding programme can have various benefits. However, to enjoy these benefits, it is important to evaluate the onboarding programme. This can be done by having conversations with the new employees as well as measuring their results and productivity. In short, analysing the achieved or not achieved results of new recruits is important because it enables organisations to measure and improve the effectiveness of their onboarding programmes. It can help minimise costs, increase employee engagement, enhance productivity, and improve employer branding.

Conclusions

In today’s competitive business climate, identifying and retaining new talent can make all the difference for an organization. A good onboarding strategy is crucial in transforming new employees into effective members of the organization, especially when it comes to foreign candidates moving to Italy where the risk of rejection is high. It is all the more important to ensure the right integration and exchange through onboarding. By providing new employees with a comprehensive process that enables them to assimilate the essential components of a company’s cultural identity, knowledge, skills, and behaviors, organizations can create a positive onboarding experience that can lead to increased engagement, productivity, staff retention and ultimately lower costs.