Onboarding at an organization sets the tone for … well, everything. New hires form their impressions of your company leadership, operations, efficiency, how employees treat each other, how they make decisions, and generally, how everyone acts at work. So you could say it's pretty important to get right.
Once people have formed that first impression, it’s hard to change it. That’s why it’s important to influence your employees’ initial impression as much as you can, which happens at onboarding.
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Shaping a new employee’s first impression about your company culture with comprehensive onboarding makes a big difference. Here are the key four
Increase Your Employer Branding
Your employees should be your number one brand ambassadors. If properly aligned, they will advertise your employer brand and mission organically — no extra marketing dollars needed.
When people feel good about work, they share your news, wear your branded tees — they become one of your biggest marketing and recruiting advocates.
Rather than spending big money on employer branding, spend it on your talent onboarding experience and let them serve as your company brand ambassadors.
Forster Employee Referrals for Recruitment
We all know that employee referrals for job candidates are a huge time and money-saver. By sourcing candidates and checking out their work history, your employees are providing you with a direct pipeline to pre-vetted talent.
To gain access to this recruitment pipeline, employees need to be excited about your organization. Getting employees connected to your overall mission, values, and company’s direction, is a great way to get people excited from day one.
Increased Talent Retention
Reports and surveys overwhelmingly show that it’s easier to retain talent when people feel like they are a part of a team with a mission and purpose they support.
Fostering a sense of mission and purpose and connecting leadership with employees year-round requires several phases, starting with the onboarding phase.
Onboarding is more than reviewing forms and getting set up logistically. That’s the bare minimum. On top of a smooth onboarding process to bolster employee confidence, it’s important to share what your company is all about.
A comprehensive onboarding process including a culture/code of conduct course will get employees excited and ready to be an integral part of your team.
Teaching Critical Thinking and Ethics
There is no better time to emphasize critical thinking skills and good decision making than your employee onboarding.
Most people don’t deliberately act unethically. They mean well, but in the heat of the moment, they act without thinking and sometimes make poor choices that lead to problems for themselves and their company.
Giving employees a long-winded presentation or print-out about your Code of Conduct is not going to change behavior or show employees how to make better decisions. You’ll get the best result by launching a short course that addresses critical thinking skills and provides a tool to make better, more ethical decisions.
The instruction should focus primarily on critical thinking and quickly address the nuts and bolts of gifts, conflicts of interest, misuse, and respect with relevant video examples. Provide this instruction at the same time you introduce your company, leadership, and mission to directly connect critical thinking and ethical decisions with the company culture.
Conclusion: Focus on Culture
If you want an ethical company culture, you need to integrate critical thinking and ethics into your onboarding so people understand the priority and get started on the right track.
You only get one chance to do onboarding right. Invest time and effort to ensure you’re providing a great experience for your new team member and setting that person up to be a brand ambassador, company advocate, and a positive, ethical influence within the workplace.