Jun 8, 2021
Knowledgeable, experienced, skillful employees are crucial for any organization to stay ahead in a rapidly growing competitive economy. With several recruits lined up, hoping to be hired, choosing a promising candidate is a big task for any human resources department.
After a time-consuming recruiting process, even if HR does find the right candidate, the next big problem arises: How to retain those new hires with the organization?
The simple answer is by formulating a strategic, systematic, and well-tailored employee onboarding program. You may not know this, but a great onboarding program ensures that about 70% of employees stay with an organization for the next three years.
If, being an HR manager, you would welcome updating your next onboarding strategy, let’s look at some quick tips and unique ideas on this.
Purpose of an Employee Onboarding Program
The Society of Human Resources Development (SHRM) defines employee onboarding as:
“[T]he process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly.”
A practical and organized onboarding program helps new employees to feel they’re a part of the organization and helps them to understand your organization’s culture in an encouraging environment. Moreover, effective onboarding experience helps recruits gain knowledge, develop skills and feel connected to your organization. This makes them more enthusiastic and enables them to perform their jobs to full capacity.
So, the positives of onboarding include:
- Helping new recruits acclimate to the organization
- Facilitating relationship-building between employees
- Goal setting, recurrent manager check-ins, and employee development programs, which educate them as to what’s expected from them and where they can improve, to bring the changes
An organization only faces disadvantages if the onboarding plan is ineffective or executed poorly.
Elements Contributing to Successful Onboarding
Incorporating crucial elements of success like these can make your onboarding strategy a defining tool to preserve quality employees.
- Interview recently onboarded recruits and ask what they think is missing from the current process. The best advice comes from people who have experienced the process.
- Determine the goals you want to set for new employees and devise a plan to communicate those objectives to recruits.
- Avoid overburdening new employees with tasks; instead, the HR department should work as a team with the recruits.
- Assist new employees with the settling process. Help them feel welcomed; have their workstations prepared; organize weekly meetings to fill any communication gaps.
- Consider implementing a mentorship program where new hires can access proper training and have a go-to companion, helping them feel comfortable while asking questions.
- As an employer, connect with new employees to guide their careers and support them in making career advancements.
Strategies to Improve Onboarding Practices
When deciding to join an organization, potential new employees give strong consideration to the employer–employee relationship, the working atmosphere, and the organization’s concept of teamwork. With a productive onboarding plan in progress, human resources departments can gain a favorable return on their time and investment in the form of qualified and dedicated employees.
Employers lose an estimated 17% of new hires within the first 90 days due to ineffective onboarding. It’s time to upgrade and modify your onboarding program with these proven strategies.
1. Reach out to new hires before their first day
Neglecting new employees after the appointment letter is issued creates a negative impression of your organization. Instead, for a successful onboarding process, take a visionary approach. Don’t wait for them to join your organization. Communicate with them in advance of their first day, through a phone call or a welcoming email.
If you set up an online onboarding portal for them, where they can access organizational information and perhaps complete their paperwork, delivers a positive, encouraging image of your organization.
2. Be welcoming
New employees are understandably a bit nervous, and want to feel at ease on their first day, so a nice welcome may do just that. You can involve all the new hire’s respective colleagues in the greeting process and perhaps provide them supplies embossed with your organization’s logo, along with a welcoming card, to create a positive first impression of your organization.
At Twitter, new employees are welcomed enthusiastically. New employees receive their email IDs upon arrival and are greeted with a t-shirt and a bottle of wine at their desk. New employees enjoy breakfast with the CEO, and their desks are placed right beside those of their teammates.
3. Create an onboarding timeline
Instead of overloading your new employees with tons of work, HR can create a proper timeline, scheduling work for their entire week. This keeps them engaged and busy and both gives them a sense of direction and signals what is expected from them, allowing them to merge with your organization far more smoothly. Successful organizations document processes and monitor their effectiveness. Make sure your program has a mechanism that tracks its effectiveness.
4. Provide help in socializing
While the current pandemic situation has suspended many in-person activities for applicants, new hires, and employees, hopefully this will soon pass. Enhancing your employee onboarding process by transforming it into a social experience generates a positive image of your organization.
New employees can find it difficult to mingle, so by introducing them to the workers and team around them, you help them feel at ease and reduce their anxiety. Plan a lunch, perhaps, with all the team members the recruit will be working with, or arrange a team-building event where the new employee can get to know their colleagues better.
5. Set clear goals
Another strategy to improve your onboarding process is to map out realistic goals for your new employees.
According to Global HR Research (GHRR):
“The number one thing your new hire will be interested in when they onboard will be learning about their role and what will make them successful.”
By outlining short- and long-term career goals for employees, you give them a clear overview of what is expected from them and what milestones they must achieve. This is also an effective way for HR managers to discern the strength and weaknesses of new employees.
6. Solicit employee feedback
By keeping all means of communication open in your onboarding process, you encourage new employees to furnish valuable suggestions and point out potential areas for improvement. A good way to achieve positive reviews from new hires is to send them a confidential survey asking them to provide an anonymous review of the organization’s onboarding process.
Selecting the Right Tools for Your Onboarding Process
To make your onboarding strategy more impressive, you can use employee onboarding software to ease things for you and your recruiting team.
Here is a quick review of some onboarding tools that can contribute to your effective onboarding process.
- Origanimi: Create organization charts and internal structure of your organization to help new employees learn its hierarchy.
- KissFlow: An easy-to-customize onboarding tool to help HR create impressive presentations and visual representations. The real-time dashboard enables your HR team to keep a close eye on the onboarding process.
- Bamboo HR: Best for small organizations, this is a cloud-based HR tool, a complete software package for managing your onboarding operations, including ATS, onboarding apps, time-off management, advanced reporting functionality, and much more. Easy to use, consistent software to smooth your onboarding activities.
So, now you know all about onboarding new employees with excellence. Make use of our employee onboarding tips and see your organization prosper through improved productivity.
In His Name HR helps organizations build high-performance human resource programs. E-mail us here.
Mark A. Griffin is President and Founder of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Christian Higher Ed HR, Human Resources, Job Shepherd Employer
Jul 16, 2018
2019 Trends and Analysis ~ How To fix Healthcare in America?
Healthcare Is Broken. Costs continue to rise.
But have you ever taken time to understand why? The deck is stacked against Employers and Employees.
Come learn more about identifying the problems, and steps you can take to stack the deck in your favor.
Limited Seating Register Below
About Patrick Moran
Patrick T. Moran II, CLU – President and founder of INGROUP Associates, (now an Alera Group company) and has been in the insurance business since 1985. Pat specializes with working with business owners in the areas of Employee Benefits, Estate Planning, and Business succession planning.
Pat is also one of the founding members of the Alera Group, which is a nationally recognized Employee Benefit consulting firm. Alera Group is a collection of Industry thought leaders, providing National Scope of services, combined with Local Service. Today, Alera is one of the fastest growing Employee Benefit consulting companies in the country.
Pat is a graduate of Bloomsburg University, and received his CLU from the American College. He also serves on several boards, and enjoys family time, Tennis, and Biking.
Sexual Harassment and Your Responsibilities Under the Law
You can’t open a news website without seeing another #MeToo circumstance being reported. As a result, many organizations have a “zero tolerance” policy for sexual harassment in the workplace, but what does that really mean to you, as a leader? Or you, as an employee? What is sexual harassment?
In this interactive presentation, you’ll learn:
- What sexual harassment is—including the verbal, visual, and physical conduct that could be considered or perceived as harassment
- What your rights and obligations are under the law
- What you can do as an employee to support a harassment-free work environment
- What you should do as a leader to help provide a harassment-free workplace
- What to do if you feel you may have been the subject of sexual harassment
- Steps your organization can take to better your work environment
Sexual harassment is unacceptable in any workplace. It simply should never be tolerated. Come learn how you can help free your workplace of harassment and make it one where all employees will grow and prosper. Mark is not an attorney. This presentation is to provide practical and HR related experiences and should not be considered legal advice.
About The Presenter
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In HIS Name HR LLC, a human resources outsourcing and career coaching firm created to help companies pilot the complex issues of managing HR.
As a human resources professional with 20-plus years of experience in both public (Quaker Oats Company, Kodak Inc., Merck Inc.) and private companies (Woolrich, Conestoga Wood Specialties, Valco Companies Inc.), Mark is passionate about building high performance workplaces through utilizing best practices while leading companies with strong values.
While serving in the United States Air Force, Mark received his Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resources Administration from Saint Leo University. He earned his MBA from Bloomsburg University while interning for Congressmen Kanjorski as a Military Liaison during the first Gulf War. Mark has completed several executive education programs at the University of Michigan and is a certified practitioner of the Myers Briggs Type Instrument MBTI®.
Date And Time
September 5, 2018, 8AM-10AM
7:30-8:00AM Registration and light breakfast
8:00 – 8:15AM Opening Comments Julie Garrett
8:15 – 9:00 AM How To fix Healthcare in America? Pat Moran
9:00 – 9:45 AM Sexual Harassment and Your Responsibilities
Under the Law Mark A. Griffin
9:45 AM Closing Comments and Adjourn Julie Garrett
Location
The Farm and Home Center
1383 Arcadia Road
Lancaster PA 17601
Map
Limited seating for this event. To register for this free event with a light breakfast included contact:
Barbi Cottingham
INGROUP Associates
717.509.8803
E-Mail Barbi
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Events
Oct 26, 2016
It’s no secret that organizations want to succeed. It also should be no surprise that their employees want to succeed! Of course, there’s often a strong, positive relationship between the two—when employees succeed, so do the organizations they serve. A key question, then, becomes: How can organizations most effectively encourage and support their employees’ success?
Mark Griffin, founder of In HIS Name HR and a professional with more than two decades of experience working with high performance organizations, is uniquely qualified to explore this question. Managing Employees to Success promises to be an interesting and interactive event that will offer fresh ideas and productivity-enhancing insights for employers and employees alike.
Benefits Of Presentation
This presentation provides practical core Human Resources education for anyone that is directly or indirectly involved in leading employees. Using best practices from several high performing organizations, relevant HR competencies are presented in a manner in which participants can reflect, compare and contrast, form opinion and personal approach and implement upon their return to the work place.
This presentation will also help prepare people within your organization who may want to move into a supervisory role. The training is highly interactive (includes table exercises) and gives participants the opportunity to collaborate with other organizations.
Topics To Be Covered
- Creating a high performance culture through practical HR competency development
- Where most organizations go wrong engaging employees
- Setting expectations
- HR tools for creating success
- Employee policy manuals
- Codes of Conduct
- Employee relations and communications
- Performance management
- Counseling and discipline procedures
- Terminations
- An overview of labor laws
Register For CLA Outcomes 2017 Dallas TX Here
About The Presenter
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In HIS Name HR LLC, a human resources outsourcing and career coaching firm created to help companies pilot the complex issues of managing HR.
As a human resources professional with 20-plus years of experience in both public (Quaker Oats Company, Kodak Inc., Merck Inc.) and private companies (Woolrich, Conestoga Wood Specialties, Valco Companies Inc.), Mark is passionate about building high performance workplaces through utilizing best practices while leading companies with strong values.
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Events
Sep 6, 2016
It’s no secret that businesses want to succeed. It also should be no surprise that their employees want to succeed! Of course, there’s often a strong, positive relationship between the two—when employees succeed, so do the organizations they serve. A key question, then, becomes: How can organizations most effectively encourage and support their employees’ success?
Mark Griffin, founder of In HIS Name HR and a professional with more than two decades of experience working with high performance organizations, is uniquely qualified to explore this question. Managing Employees to Success promises to be an interesting and interactive event that will offer fresh ideas and productivity-enhancing insights for employers and employees alike.
Limited Seating Register Below
Join Us: October 28, 2016 Noon – 2PM
9 West Main Street New Bloomfield, PA
Map
Benefits Of Seminar
This seminar provides practical core Human Resources education for anyone that is directly or indirectly involved in leading employees. Using best practices from several high performing organizations, relevant HR competencies are presented in a manner in which participants can reflect, compare and contrast, form opinion and personal approach and implement upon their return to the work place.
This seminar will also help prepare people within your organization who may want to move into a supervisory role. The training is highly interactive (includes table exercises) and gives participants the opportunity to collaborate with other organizations.
Topics To Be Covered
- Creating a high performance culture through practical HR competency development
- Where most organizations go wrong engaging employees
- Setting expectations
- HR tools for creating success
- Employee policy manuals
- Codes of Conduct
- Employee relations and communications
- Performance management
- Counseling and discipline procedures
- Terminations
- An overview of labor laws
Who Should Attend
- Business Owners
- Office Managers charged with Human Resources Responsibilities
- Vice Presidents, Directors & Managers
- Employment Managers, HR Managers and Employee Relations Professionals
- HR Generalists, HR Analysts, HR Coordinators and HR Supervisors
- HR Administrators
- Supervisors
- Managers
Or Call Becky: (717) 582-4523
Cost will be $15 for Chamber members and $20 for non-members; this includes lunch!
About The Presenter
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In HIS Name HR LLC, a human resources outsourcing and career coaching firm created to help companies pilot the complex issues of managing HR.
As a human resources professional with 20-plus years of experience in both public (Quaker Oats Company, Kodak Inc., Merck Inc.) and private companies (Woolrich, Conestoga Wood Specialties, Valco Companies Inc.), Mark is passionate about building high performance workplaces through utilizing best practices while leading companies with strong values.
If You Could Not Make It Here are The Slides!
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Events
Apr 13, 2016
You can’t open a news website without seeing another #MeToo circumstance being reported. As a result, many organizations have a “zero tolerance” policy for sexual harassment in the workplace, but what does that really mean to you, as a leader? Or you, as an employee? What is sexual harassment?In this interactive presentation, you’ll learn:
• What sexual harassment is—including the verbal, visual, and physical conduct that could be considered or perceived as harassment
• What your rights and obligations are under the law
• What you can do as an employee to support a harassment-free work environment
• What you should do as a leader to help provide a harassment-free workplace
• What to do if you feel you may have been the subject of sexual harassment
• Steps your organization can take to better your work environment
Sexual harassment is unacceptable in any workplace. It simply should never be tolerated. Come learn how you can help free your workplace of harassment and make it one where all employees will grow and prosper.
About the Speaker
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In HIS Name HR LLC, a human resources outsourcing and career coaching firm created to help organizations pilot the complex issues of managing HR.
As a human resources professional with 20-plus years of experience in both public (Quaker Oats Company, Kodak Inc., Merck Inc.) and private companies (Woolrich, Conestoga Wood Specialties, Valco Companies Inc.), Mark is passionate about building high-performance workplaces by utilizing best practices while leading organizations with strong values.
Who Should Attend
Business Owners
Office Managers charged with Human Resources Responsibilities
Vice Presidents, Directors & Managers
Employment Managers, HR Managers and Employee Relations Professionals
HR Generalists, HR Analysts, HR Coordinators and HR Supervisors
HR Administrators
Supervisors
Managers
About The Presenter
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In HIS Name HR LLC, a human resources outsourcing and career coaching firm created to help companies pilot the complex issues of managing HR.
As a human resources professional with 20-plus years of experience in both public (Quaker Oats Company, Kodak Inc., Merck Inc.) and private companies (Woolrich, Conestoga Wood Specialties, Valco Companies Inc.), Mark is passionate about building high performance workplaces through utilizing best practices while leading companies with strong values.
Date And Time
September 5, 2018, 8AM-11AM
Location
Farm and Home Foundation of Lancaster County
Map
Limited seating for this event. To register for this free event with a light breakfast included contact:
Barbi Cottingham
INGROUP Associates
717.509.8803
E-Mail Barbi
About The INGROUP
At INGROUP Associates, we are leaders in employee benefits innovation, technology, and service and plan management. We bring our clients the latest and most comprehensive solutions on the market, allowing them to customize a strategy that delivers based upon their unique needs.
It is INGROUP’s mission to partner with our clients to help them build Healthy Bodies, Healthy Living, & Healthy Teams in their organizations. We accomplish this by cultivating long-lasting relationships, advising and educating, providing solutions, adding value, and acting with integrity. The passion and commitment we deliver to every client exemplifies the foundation upon which our company is built.
About Patrick Moran
Patrick T. Moran II, CLU, President and Founder of INGROUP, has been in the benefits consulting business since graduating from college in 1985. Initially, his practice focused on individual life, disability and retirement products, representing primarily Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co.
He quickly realized that he enjoyed working with business owners and, following the completion of their individual insurance planning, they often asked for his assistance with their employee benefit coverage’s. This employee benefit practice grew to be known as INGROUP Associates, Inc.
Today, INGROUP has grown to be one of the larger employee benefits consulting firms in Central PA. Pat serves on several senior management Broker Advisory Boards with the leading health insurance carriers in Central PA. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and is a graduate of Bloomsburg University
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Events
Jul 22, 2014
Ephesians 2:10
10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Part of leading people is developing them to be the best they can be, not only in the workplace but within their families and communities as well. Look at your people from a whole person perspective, not just a ‘worker” perspective. Give your people the opportunity to do greatness in their lives and they will do great things for you. Developing your people skills can impact the communities in which they live and in which you do business. Many companies are putting programs in place that help match employees’ interests to volunteer opportunities in the community. Some companies are shutting down for a week and building homes with Habitat for Humanity, for example.
Develop your people not only to be their best at work but their best at home and their communities.
I have often wanted to manage a process where a company would inspire their people by running a contest in which each employee could present why their volunteer organization is the most impactful. The winner would receive a considerable prize to help fund the employee’s efforts. If you are promoting good works by your employees not only in the workplace, but in the world we live in, you are going great things for God, and you are building a “Kingdom Minded” Organization.
Help our community of readers
Do you help your employees help others? How do you find your employees’ strengths and match them to community involvement? We would love to know what it is you have going on.
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Inspiration
Sep 5, 2013
Genesis 2:15
5The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
From the very beginning of time we have been blessed with work! Work is an inevitable part of our lives. When we are not working, we are often thinking about work! Work seems to preoccupy all of us. Work defines us, feeds and prospers us. Work is the foundation of our society and our world. Work, my friends, is not going away. If work is inevitable, and we must take it straight on, why does it have to be terrible at most places of work?
If work is inevitable, why allow it to be bad?
If we are honest with ourselves, we know the reason, and it is leadership, plain and simple. Any workplace that employees feel is destructive will always point back to a lack of competent leadership. Work does not have to be a utopia; of course it has elements of discomfort because of its very nature — you’re not fishing or at the beach! Leaders make sure work is a good place for your employees. But work should be enjoyable and meaningful to those who go.
If you manage your business with leadership that creates a culture of inclusion, prosperity, and a shared vision, while fostering plain old family love and relationships, you are building a “Kingdom Minded” Company.
Help our community of readers
What do you do to make sure your workplace is palatable? If you could make further changes, what would they look like? Share with us and enhance others through your contributions.
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Inspiration
Jun 6, 2013
Proverbs 22:9
9The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.
How many companies give thousands away but their employees can’t afford to buy their medical coverage? This happens more than you might realize.
Having worked at a variety of companies, both secular and Christian-owned, has given me the opportunity to witness a similar thread of generosity absurdity. Oftentimes our tendency to be generous involves looking outward to our communities, our nation or other continents. However, we should, as Christian Leaders, look first inward before looking outward.
Take care of your employees and they will take care of their communities
Let me explain in simple terms — help your employees first so they may be prosperous and go forth to help build the Kingdom. Not paying your employees correctly for the sake of having more dollars to give to a foundation, a foreign mission, or local charity is self-defeating. Ultimately, your employees will grow bitter and their fruit will never ripen.
Help our community of readers
What has your organization done to help your employees? Have you set a good foundation for them to grow, support their families, and build the Kingdom in their communities?
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Inspiration
May 23, 2013
Leviticus 25:14
14If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops.
In today’s competitive world, companies are experiencing pricing pressures like never before. Being a second or third choice of customers will more than likely put you out of business. The knee-jerk reaction to cut corners, short customers, overcharge or underbid a job with the intention of up-charging later is all too real.
Be diligent in your decision-making; be faithful and so shall HE
Every day, you and your employees are faced with making choices, choices to do the right thing even when you believe it may ultimately harm your company. But that, dear reader, is faulty thinking. Organizations that have solid Mission, Visions and Core Values and lean into them during hard times will prevail. When we put our trust in Christ and do the right thing, make the right choices and stay truthful in our business lives, we will outlive the others. Build a “Kingdom Minded” Organization today, trust in Christ, and be diligent.
Help our community of readers
What have you experienced in this area that you can share? Can you witness to us an organization that has fallen on hard times, yet maintained its ethics and, in a brief time, returned to great reward? We would love to hear from you below.
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Inspiration
Feb 19, 2013
Exodus 35:35
35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers — all of them skilled workers and designers.
Most companies are packed to the hilt with talented people! Oftentimes the talents of the people are far greater than imagined because we, as leaders, have never tapped fully into them or have even asked what lies beneath. I once worked with a company that spent thousands of dollars paying a web design company to build them a website, when that could have been built by an employee who was on staff, but it was never discovered that they had the resources, the vision, and the talent to do so. The company chose to look elsewhere when what they needed was right under their nose!
Don’t spend thousands paying for something you already have!
Do you know your employees’ hidden talents? The talents above and beyond their daily job requirements? If you know your people’s talents and draw on them regularly, you will ignite your workplace! You will be building a “Kingdom Minded” Organization.
Help our community of readers
What have you witnessed that worked to advance and optimize the talents of the people in your organization? Have you experienced greatness within your teams without having to look outward? How did you discover those talents from within? Have you been an encouragement to your people, have you leverage their talents?
Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Inspiration
