Onboarding (2): What should you cover?

Author: Debra Cadman

Overview

In this guide to onboarding new recruits, we look at the crucial components of an effective onboarding programme, providing practical examples of how to: upskill employees in their role; help them understand what it means to be an employee in your organisation; and provide new recruits with the social and emotional support they need to succeed. This is the second guide in our series on onboarding new recruits:

• In Onboarding (1): What is it and why does it matter? we explain what onboarding is and the importance of effective onboarding to new recruits and your organisation.
• In Onboarding (3): Engaging and effective delivery we look at how to make the onboarding programme come to life.
• In Onboarding (4): Evaluating onboarding we explore how to evaluate the success of your onboarding programme.

Summary

• It is essential to engage with new recruits between the time they accept the job offer and start their role. (See Preboarding)
• Sharing information about the organisation with a new employee helps to give them a sense of connection with it, increasing motivation, productivity and retention levels. (See The importance of learning about the organisation and how to facilitate this aspect of onboarding)
• HR can help teams introduce new employees to their job in a way that encourages high performance and engagement levels. (See How to introduce a new employee to their role)
• Various mechanisms can be put in place during onboarding to encourage strong performance from employees. (See Developing a new employee's performance)
• Onboarding lays the foundation for how employees feel about working in your organisation, so it is important to build equality, diversity and inclusion into the programme. (See Equality, diversity and inclusion during onboarding)
• Supporting a new employee socially can make a real difference to how comfortable and confident they feel at work. Buddies can also help new recruits settle into the organisation. (See Social support during onboarding and Buddies)