Welcoming and Onboarding New Hires

Let me share some insights into Welcoming & Onboarding New Hire processes which is component 4 or your Talent Acquisition and Retention Strategy (TARS) and to get started I’d like to tell you a story. 

Quite a few years ago I came across a listing for my dream job, so quickly to submitted my application. I got an interview and aced it I thought and so waited for the phone call to tell me ‘You’ve got the job’ and it came, I was beyond excited and immediately started getting ready for my new life; I resigned, planned my exit strategy and started getting my life set up for this new adventure and then one day a package arrived for me from my new employer, which I thought was pretty strange, I opened the card that came with it first and it was a beautiful card signed by the whole team with lovely notes welcoming me on board and then I opened the box and in it was a bunch of swag, you know a cap, pen, a couple of T shirts, gourmet biscuits and other neat treats.  I thought, ‘how cool is this?’ and I told everyone about it for at least the next week and I’m not ashamed to say I also posted a picture of the package and cared on social media as well and everyone was pretty impressed.

So anyway, it’s my last day of work and they’ve planned a morning tea for me which is cool and I was excited about the new job but a little sad about leaving some of my work friends and we were chatting and when I got a text and it was from my new boss and it read something like ‘We can’t wait to see you on Monday’ and there were photos. There was a photo of my new desk all organised and sparkly and it had a mug with my name on it and another photo with a workmate holding up my new business cards and another one of them all waving at me. They had really gone above and beyond to make me feel welcomed and valued and I hadn’t even started with them yet and I can remember thinking, ‘this really is the best move I’d made so far in my career’. Of course, again, I had to share the message with everyone. I also remember that in that moment I decided I was going to do the best job possible for my boss and the team and I did for the 7 years I was with them. How could I not after they had made me feel so welcome and special.  

So that’s my story, have you got a similar story to tell? I’m sure some of you are nodding yes, something similar but the vast majority of you are saying no, never! And I’m with the vast majority. In my 40 years of working, I’ve never had a memorable welcome & onboarding experience, that story never happened and it’s not surprising because only 12% of employees believe their company welcomes and onboards new hires in an effective way so that leaves 88% of businesses who do not do it well even though employee retention is improved by 82% when the welcoming and onboarding is done well. This is crazy!

If that story was true how much time and money would those 2 efforts cost a business? The answer is hardly anything compared to the loyalty they would generate through reciprocity and the word of mouth, and social media marketing they could create.

So, I challenge you to think for a moment what your welcoming & onboarding process could look like? If you need help creating these processes, please ask, I’d be happy to join a think tank with you to design a simple programme that you can start using today. I look forward to helping you!

Reach out to us today at:
027 647 5000 | kayleen@ripple.net.nz