The World’s First Guide to Engagement Led Onboarding

How can we confidently claim world’s first status?

We are engagement onboarding. And here’s our guide to getting it right in 2019.

Engagement onboarding is like mum’s warm hug when you fly back home for Christmas. She’s been texting you all month counting down the days until she sees you again; she called the day before your flight to confirm the details of your arrival and where to find her, and when you finally meet, she loads up your pockets with your favourite festive ginger cookies she so lovingly baked that morning.

Engagement onboarding is employee experience-focused goodness that welcomes your newest employees into your work family with a warm hug. It’s as much about introducing your organisation, culture, team, and processes, as it is about the new hire’s introduction to you – who they are, what drives them, and how they’d like to grow while in your care.

As the world’s first engagement led onboarding platform, we’ve put together our Guide to Engagement Onboarding in 2019. Just a lil’ something we baked hot and fresh this morning in preparation for your arrival.

Enboarder’s Guide to Engagement Onboarding

Step #1. Get the employee experience right with a solid plan

Engagement onboarding promises an enjoyable employee experience throughout their entire onboarding journey; from the moment the contract is signed to their first year anniversary (and even beyond). Ponder for a moment:

Do you overload new hires with a tonne of paperwork?
Do they arrive without a desk or equipment or system access?
Do they often miss their first pay cycle because someone “forgot to push a button”?

It’s not difficult to get these simple things right, yet, it makes a world of difference to your new hire’s experience with you and long-term engagement.

A good employee onboarding experience is when org-readiness processes are streamlined, interactive, and efficient. A powerful experience comes from connection and integration, doing more to delight, and personalising the onboarding experience to individual needs.

How to get it right

As the employee journey looks different in every organisation, your first step is to sit down with the key players (HR, hiring managers, IT, accounts), and map out your current employee onboarding experience to make sure you’re doing it right.

That is, what happens from Day minus 30 (contract signing) all the way up to Day 365.

Check out our mind map to see what onboarding should look like.

Step #2: Dial up your pre-boarding communication

Pre-boarding is where amazing things happen. Because, not many companies bother themselves too much with pre-boarding, let alone do an awesome job of it! So, it’s your chance to build an employer brand that stands out with an experience that lifts engagement.

Your pre-boarding communication helps enhance the candidate-to-employee experience. A new employee that’s just signed on the dotted line, chompin’ at the bit to meet their team, join them for coffee meetings, and take ownership of their dream role, still needs reassurance you’re their perfect match and you’re just as excited to have them onboard.

Considering graduate renege rates can be as high as 17% (with more than 60% intending to renege for better offers), pre-boarding can seal the deal on new hire commitments, so you’re not scrambling for last-minute runner ups.

Leave them in the dark at your own peril.

Step #3. Socialise and integrate new hires quickly

We all work better when we feel accepted by our peers, even the power players in the C-Suite! The sooner you can welcome your new hires to the team and connect them with workplace values, the safer and lovelier they’ll feel, and the better they’ll be able to do their jobs because they know who’s who in the zoo, and where to go to for advice, troubleshooting, and support. Yes, even the remote teams.

When it can take up to eight months on average for a new employee to reach full productivity, you’ll want to make sure that training, socialization, and cultural integration are prominent during onboarding.

Check out these three simple ways to ensure new employees feel a sense of welcome and belonging.

Step #4. Go above and beyond to WOW

We’ll say it again – 70% of the variation in employee experience is due to their manager. According to The Talent Board, they found less than half of new hires received a phone call from the hiring manager during the onboarding process, and less than 20% had any social connection with their future team members.

Sad to say, the usual onboarding experience is so poor, a bright and happy manager making a welcome call is probably enough to delight anyone! But, we did say to go above and beyond.

So, here are our favourite blogs that provide tips to help you blow the employee onboarding experience out of the water:

Step #5: Automate and personalise onboarding with epic software

Automation is key to getting a seamless employee experience right.

Our obvious bias aside, if you truly want to wow your newest employees and foster long-term engagement and retention with your organisation, you need awesome onboarding technology on your side. One that can personalise the new hire’s experience, and automate tasks and communication to make onboarding easier and enjoyable for managers.

One that can retain culture as you scale.

Enboarder was specifically designed with the employee experience in mind. And we have the added bonus of in-time digital nudges that coach your managers to be onboarding rockstars, too.

#Step 6. Learn from the best

If engagement onboarding feels like you’re walking in high heels for the first time, don’t fret. You don’t have to feel awkward and clumsy. See what the leading global brands did, and are doing, to electrify the new hire onboarding experience.

We’ve been keeping tabs on some of the legends we’ve worked with; you can check out their case studies and webinar run-throughs to fuel your inspiration:

Follow us on LinkedIn and keep tabs on all our case studies, best practice guides, and webinars when we tune in live with engagement onboarding champions who candidly run through their strategy and process with us.