Onboarding and Offboarding Process: Does Quality Experience Matter? Part 1 of 2

This blog is a topic close to my heart. Why? Unfortunately, I am speaking from real-life experiences where I have been at both ends; the person that was new to joining an organization/department (onboarding) and the person leaving an organization or witness to a release of an employee.

I must admit that some of the decisions I’ve made when leaving an organization were due to first impressions I had received and a general lack of welcome in my first few weeks in the new role. It was a clear indication for me to realize that it was not a good cultural fit.

It matters how the people you work with, report to, or the ones you come across within the workplace, treat you when entering or exiting an organization. It says a lot about the culture of that organization and how ingrained that culture is.

Whether you are a hiring manager, an employee, or an HR professional involved in dealing with the onboarding or off-boarding process of the business you support, you must ask yourself a few important questions.

To build world-class organizations, a company must foster a culture of quality, connection, and intent. The first way to review how you can get there or maintain such an environment is by starting with the onboarding experience a company provides for new hires and employees who either choose to leave the organization or are being released.

How you treat your employees entering as new hires to the workforce or leaving your company matters as it will reflect on the company brand, what it represents and how it stacks up against the “Best Places to Work At” ratings.

It does not take a lot of effort to do the right thing. If the organization’s culture lives and breathes its values and mission statements, has the right people in place, and works to maintain the status, they are naturally getting to a better-quality experience for future employees.

I am going to tackle onboarding as part of this blog. This starts from the initial phone call to scheduling an interview, the face-to-face meeting, and finally, from the offer letter to the first day. These steps lead to the candidate joining the company; all matter in every interaction. Just as companies like to be impressed by candidates, so do the potential candidates. They also have a stake in investing their career, skills, and talents where they will be valued, respected, and appreciated.

So, what happens next? Establishing a long-term commitment and positive results from the new hire perspective is critical on the first day or the first couple weeks.

• Create a schedule for the first two weeks with introduction meetings. These can be with business partners across different departments to help build support working in a cross-functional team environment.
• Expectations of roles and responsibilities should be clear from the start. The new hire should have a clear direction and line of sight on what is expected.
• A welcome lunch is a great start when possible.
• Introductory meetings with colleagues within the team that they will work with. The new hire can then understand who does what, which is an excellent opportunity to place a face to a name.
• A tour of the office, so they can have a sense of direction of where the kitchen, washroom, printer room, other team members, meeting rooms, and where to pick up their mail are located around the floor.
• A dedicated work area for them that is fully equipped and ready to go. This should include computer equipment, phone, name tag, and basic office supplies.
• Schedule time with the new hire to help them navigate and familiarize themselves with internal systems, websites, and where to find or search for basic information.
• Provide important phone numbers such as IT support, HR help desk, payroll and benefits, mail room, building security and maintenance, etc. These are valuable resources for the new hire to manage and troubleshoot when/if issues arise.
• To impress a new hire on their first day, give them a welcome package that’s nicely done, including all the essential information listed above.
• A ‘welcome kit’ that includes: a notebook, pen, coffee mug, reusable water bottle, a copy of the company core values, mission statement, code of conduct, a phone directory with the numbers that may need highlighting, a company-branded pin, and emergency exit procedure, etc.

To summarize, there are many ways to make new hires feel welcome and fit in with their new environment. I cannot stress enough how important it is for companies and HR departments to enhance the onboarding experience for new employees.

To be a world-class organization that attracts and retains top talent, you must treat them as such. Your employees are your most valuable assets to your success, creating a culture and brand that every company will envy.

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, from personal experience, I have left companies due to poor experience and treatment throughout the onboarding process and beyond. Those are the alarming signs that new hires look for, and if the onboarding was a turn-off, it sets the stage for the longevity and loyalty of the new employee toward the organization.

To that end –part two of this blog follows to address the off-boarding experience, so stay tuned for the next one.