Recently I wrote about the importance of defining and measuring employee engagement to an organization’s bottom line. There are a myriad of strategies to keeping employees engaged, but one of the most successful ways is to start with on-boarding on day one. On-boarding is a key strategy to build a culture of employee engagement within your organization and lays the foundation for your organization to continue to engage your employees throughout their career.  This ensures that your employees are committed to the mission of your organization from their first day on the job and your bottom line isn’t affected by a lack of employee productivity.

First, it’s important to develop a comprehensive on-boarding program. This program isn’t about HR processes and paperwork, but rather educating new employees about the organization that they are joining. It doesn’t need to be complex, so examine the size of your organization and determine what the best fit is for your company. Introduce new employees to the organization, its history, the culture, leadership and the employees’ new peers. Develop a buddy program so that an employee’s transition into a new organization isn’t as daunting and they feel an immediate sense of camaraderie.  Also, there’s a difference between management and staff on-boarding, so examine what you need to educate supervisors on the organization’s way of managing staff.

We know firms that do on-boarding successfully. We recently worked with an organization that has a “Company On-Boarding Program” every month.  The Chief Innovative Officer conducted the On-Boarding Program and the Recruitment Staff focused on the “HR processes and paperwork parts of on-boarding.”  Having a key leader introduce the organization with energy and enthusiasm went a long way in making the new staff feel engaged.  The client created a presentation that was perceived as fun, creative and full of information.  It was a story about the organization.  It was a great combination of “Big Picture/Small Picture.”

Here are a few core components of an on-boarding program:

  • Focus on the history of the organization (there’s real value to taking time and explaining to staff how the organization started)
  • Who is the leadership and “key players” of the organization?
  • How does the organization work, operationally?  What is the organizational structure?
  • What do employees do if they have concerns?  Is there someone they can go to?
  • New employees will be connected with a peer (buddy program) for the first 30-60 days of employment.  This person is the “go to” person when there is a question and/or concern.
  • Managers and Supervisors – what do you they need to know:  Basic Management Structure, important HR and management related policies.  For instance, what’s the expectation on performance reviews, timeline, compensation and promotional reviews; interviewing ‘new employees’ (program and process).

We’ve also seen many different vehicles to deliver an on-boarding program.  Many organizations we know who have multiple offices use an on-line capability, but it doesn’t have to be high-tech in order for it to be effective.  Low-tech strategies such as power points, informal scripts, breakfast and/or lunch sessions that bring key leaders into the program to talk to staff about the organization and/or family they joined are all great strategies to create impactful on-boarding programs.

Take a look at what you are doing in on-boarding, because every organization has a story to tell.  The on-boarding program is a good time to “tell your story” to get those new employees engaged and committed to the culture of your organization.