“Onboarding” Can Make or Break Your Next New Hire

If you are a small or medium sized business, you may not bring new people on board that often. But when you do hire someone, what process do you have in place to help them be successful? Do you just give them the company handbook to read and say “we’re glad you’re here?” If so you are missing a great opportunity to integrate them into your business for the long term. Here are some suggestions to make a new hire “stick”:

• Have all of the tools they need to do their job in place before they start. I know salespeople who did not have business cards for several weeks after starting a new job. What kind of impression does that make, both for the employee and the business?
• It’s important to know company policies, but it’s even more important to know how your job supports company goals and objectives and what quality work looks like. No one works well in a vacuum. Create a clear picture of goals and expectations for the new employee.
• Facilitate connections with others both inside and outside the business. Your introduction to a key internal or external customer will help the new person see the larger picture of where they fit in.

If you make it clear that you are investing in your new hire, it’s much more likely that they will invest in you and help achieve your goals. That’s a win-win outcome!

Sharon Hamersley is Principal of Keys to Performance, Your Resource for Workplace Productivity. For more information, visit her web site http://k2performance.net or call her at 614-395-9440.