training & development
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HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR ONBOARDING PROCESS?
By William Dann
People tend to love new starts – a
new relationship, a new friend, a
move to a new city and, more to
the point, a new job.
The importance of a quality orientation
for new employees can’t be stressed enough.
Despite its importance, few organizations
and supervisors do this well. The reasons
for this are numerous, including the press
of today’s work and the tendency of supervisors
to avoid “insulting” the new employee
and so assume that the new employee, given
their resume, will know what to do.
Thus, new hires can be disappointed in
the onboarding process and come to feel
as if they have been set up to make mistakes
that could have been prevented.
Organizations consistently fail to take advantage
of the “honeymoon” period for new
employees – characterized by high motivation,
a positive attitude, openness to new
experiences, willingness to learn, commitment
to produce at a high level and to offer
suggestions for how to make things better.
In addition to the usual tour of facilities,
introduction to benefits and policies from
HR and meeting fellow employees, what
should be in the onboarding process to
overcome this disillusionment and maintain
high commitment?
CLEAR EXPECTATIONS
What are the results or final outcomes the
employee needs to produce? Most job descriptions
talk about what one should do,
and skip describing the expected results.
To ensure clarity, define jobs by products
as well as activity.
WHAT DOES GOOD
PERFORMANCE LOOK LIKE?
Different organizations, managers or
supervisors may have differing ideas
as to what good performance entails.
Communicate with new hires exactly
what a top performer in their role looks
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2015 ❚ 35
