The Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Onboarding

Hiring. This is the word that can strike both excitement and dread into the heart of any small business owner. On one hand, it’s exciting because it means you’re growing (and that you’ll soon be able to get tasks off your plate). On the other hand, there’s the thought of sludging through resumes, vetting candidates, scheduling interviews, and hoping you can find and train the right person…all with the fear of doing it again in 3 or 4 months if they leave. 

Hiring is not for the faint of heart! 

The struggle is real, but there are things you can do to make the process easier, both for yourself and your potential hires. In my next post, I’ll share some ideas and tips to make the hiring process easier, but today, I’d like to discuss how to retain the amazing team members you hire. 

It all starts with onboarding! 

The Significance of Effective Onboarding for Small Businesses 

Research indicates that approximately one in three workers leave their jobs within the first three months. 

One in three. 

This means that out of every three people you hire, statistically you’ll have to replace at least one of them within 90 days. You’ve put tens of hours into finding the right person to hire, onboarded them, trained them, delegated work to them…and they’re gone. 

And you get to start all over again. 

Why does this happen though? Many employees state their onboarding as a major reason. 

Without an effective onboarding process, 1 in 3 (at least) will statistically leave by the time they’re ready to start working independently – in other words, about the time you’re confident that they’re trained and ready to take on more. 

With an effective onboarding process however, the statistics show that close to 70% of employees will stay 3 years or more. They’ll add to your company culture, they’ll help you grow, and they’ll find satisfaction on your team and in their role. 

That seems like a good enough reason to focus on your onboarding systems. 

Important Onboarding Do’s and Don’ts 

A lot goes into building an effective onboarding system – much more than I could possibly put in  a blog post. In fact, I run a 6-week boot camp with ongoing weekly support to help business owners build their own. 

However, I can give you the guidelines – the do’s and don’ts – to help you evaluate your own onboarding systems and figure out what you need to build. 

Do: 

• Document your systems and policies. 
   
  I can’t tell you how often I’ve spoken with a business owner who is frustrated beyond belief with a team member. The processes and tasks seem like they would be easy – why can’t they just do it right the first time? 
   
  My first question to them is, “Do you have a documented process for it?”  
   
  When you’re starting a new job, there’s already a lot to learn. If you can’t be sure of expectations and processes, that challenge multiplies exponentially. 
   
• Pay attention to your employee’s personalities and learning styles. 
   
  We like to think that everything we do is done “the right way” – but in reality, if your business is going to grow, you need people who think, perceive, and problem solve differently than you do. Chances are strong that at least some of them are going to learn in different ways, and by providing resources in different formats, you can help them learn more effectively. 
   
  This can be as easy as providing a written SOP with screenshots, a short video, a visual workflow, and a checklist. Each will be useful to different people at different times, but anticipating these needs is important. 
   

• Use an onboarding agenda and keep them engaged. 
   
  An onboarding agenda is simply a plan for what will happen each day during your new team member’s onboarding period. It’s a way to make sure they’re learning and engaged, but not overloaded.  
   
  Of course, this plan will evolve over time, but the important thing is to have one in place even if it’s imperfect. 
   
  This agenda should not only include the resources that your new hire should review that day, but also meetings with key team members they’ll be working with. This will help to connect them with their team and build a sense of collaboration. (It will also let them know who to go to with various questions!) 
   
• Create an onboarding university. 
   

This is so important! It might sound complicated, but it’s essentially a collection of training resources that your new hire can access whenever they need to. It can start off simple and grow as your company grows. 
 
Think about it: the first week or two (or even the first month) of a new role will be filled with so many things to learn. Most people will not remember a new process the first time they encounter it, so having resources they can review easily accessible will not only give them the confidence to excel but also let them grow at their own pace. 
 
And when they have that structure and confidence, they’re much more likely to stay! 

And of course, there is a list of “don’ts.” These are also important to pay attention to! 

Don’t:

• Assume your new hire will “get it” solely by shadowing another team member. 
   
  Unless you have trained mentors on your team, it’s not likely that your new employees will understand the whole process by watching another team member perform a task. Shadowing is important and should be part of your onboarding process, but it’s not enough in and of itself. 
   
  For example, if you have a new intake or sales team member starting, part of their training can include listening to more experienced employees handle their own calls – but this will be a lot more effective once they’ve already learned what your company does, who your ideal clients are, and had a chance to review the scripts. 
   
• Leave them to their own devices. 
   
  When you’re overwhelmed as a business owner, it can feel like it’s enough to just hand someone their tasks and expect them to do their job. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work this way. 
   
  They’re learning your company and practices from scratch. The things that may be second nature to you (or to experienced team members) are completely new to them, even if they come with some experience of their own. By having a structured onboarding process in place, you’ll allow them to learn and grow; by leaving them to figure it out by themselves, it’s likely you’ll set the stage for them to leave. 
   
• Dump everything on them all at once. 
   
  While it’s important to have the documentation and processes available, you don’t want to dump it all on their desk on Day 1. Think about it: if you walked into your first day at a new job and were handed a 100+ page manual, stacks of documents to review, and a few dozen videos to watch, how long would you last? 
   
  Probably not long – and it’s likely your new hire wouldn’t last long either. This is where the onboarding agenda and onboarding university come in: they offer a well-structured onboarding process that is still flexible enough to fit any new employee’s needs. 

We’ve covered a lot of information, but the main takeaway is that effective onboarding systems matter. They’re obviously not going to be built in a day, but with the right framework and resources, they can be built quickly. 

If you would like more resources or guidance to help you build your onboarding systems, let us know – we are happy to help you create an action plan!