Onboarding an employee is a crucial step in setting expectations and making sure the employee understands how to operate in the systems of your company. If it’s done well it only needs to be done once; if it’s done poorly it needs to be revisited and revamped many times to correct.
1. Explain company vision, values, and slogan
Make sure to explain what this means in plain English if it is at all complicated. Also make sure to convey how these things are carried out. Give them examples of how your company lives up to these things or employees practice them.
2. Walk them through company rules and guidelines
Remember that people will only retain about 30% of what you go over so make sure they understand the really big No No’s and the very important Must Do’s.
3. Double check their personal information
Before registering them for any courses, logins, or paperwork, make sure you have all of their correct information. Including:
- Collect SSN/SIN number if required
- Email address
- Spelling and pronunciation of first and last name
- Mailing address
4. Walk them through safety courses and regulations
Make sure they access to all relevant safety courses, and that any regulations they need to be aware of are very clear. Give them a deadline of when the safety course or material needs to be completed by.
5. Confirm any materials, resources, equipment they might need prior to starting
Make sure they have all the Personal Protective Equipment, technology, apps or any other resources required for the job. Don’t take anything for granted, if your company uses a communication app, get them to download it then and there so you can confirm they have access. Make sure they have the minimum technological requirements, as there are still some diehards that rock a flip phone.
6. Schedule a follow-up meeting
Put a date in the calendar for two week later for a followup meeting (or whatever time frame your company uses). This followup is designed to see how they are integrating into the corporate culture and address any problems or issues that they might be having. The purpose of this meeting is to address small concerns or issues before they become big ones.
