Onboarding and after
This is our final article in the series and in it we discuss the importance of onboarding and how to quickly and easily prepare for the arrival of a new hire.
A professional and smooth on-boarding is an essential part of every hiring. A simple checklist is all you need to prepare for every new hire and once the process is in place it is just activated for each starter. There are numerous online checklists an onboarding tools available free so there is no excuse for not having this organised.
Your checklist should be broken into three sections, before the first day, on the first day and after the first day.
Before the first day
An email to the new starter with any pre-starting documentation and other outstanding issues – some things can be really simple like dress code and parking.
Prepare and calendar all the meetings needed with the new starter.
Set up any IT or other workstation-related issues.
On the first day
Greetings and introductions to relevant management and co-workers
Schedules and other documents needed in the first week
Safety and security issues – keys, access cards, rest-rooms, fire-escapes and other building-related orientation
IT – including email access, phones, database accounts and passwords and other job-related IT.
After the first day
Schedule follow-up meetings for feedback and review, end of week one and month one
Schedule formal performance review (end of three months)
After six to twelve months the employee will be fully engaged in the new position and any meetings scheduled should be around recognizing success, creating an employee development plan or gaining informal feedback.