While all companies face issues when bringing in a new hire, middle market firms are more exposed to the negative consequences that might arise from flaws in the onboarding process. In essence, onboarding is the months-long path to acclimation for new employees: to the firm's mission, policies, procedures, and culture; to their specific role; and to their relationships with coworkers and managers.
When the onboarding process is not well developed at a firm, two problems arise:
- New employees likely will not meet performance expectations, hurting productivity and pressuring other employees to pick up the slack (a dangerous ripple effect).
- New employees will feel disconnected from the work itself and from coworkers, feeling disillusioned about their prospects at the firm (a recipe for "quick quits").
Middle market companies don't have as much room for error to absorb setbacks to the bottom line and drops in employee morale that come from high turnover, and many of these midsized firms' HR departments are small and overworked. The solution for best avoiding these problems and fostering successful onboarding of every new hire lies in organization-wide efforts.
- Get logistics out of the way. Mandatory logistical details (such as giving and getting the necessary legal, payroll, and benefit information or presenting orientation procedures and training modules) can be taken care of early through the use of HR-focused software. This type of software is attainable for most midmarket firms, and automating this part of the process will allow the new employee to move on quickly to on-the-job training.
- Build relationships. It's important to free up HR personnel or departmental leaders to create meaningful interactions between the new hire and other employees as soon as possible, improving the understanding of key processes and improve interpersonal dynamics from the outset. Developing mentor relationships can provide confidence to new employees during critical moments in their first several months. During this early period, supervisors should not only assign a specific mentor for the new employee but also draw support from the entire department by way of informal gatherings (a lunch or some sort of team-building event) that help new employees learn appropriate behavior in more of an informal setting while also giving them the chance to get to know each team member's personality.
- Set clear expectations. With midmarket firms inevitably having fewer numbers of employees than larger companies, it's imperative that new workers understand their primary roles, how they should support others, and what criteria is used by supervisors to evaluate their performance. Someone in a management role should be spelling out these specific expectations during the first few days of employment and set a review date (generally at forty-five days) to provide feedback, along with giving a chance for new hires to make their voices heard. After the forty-five-day performance assessment, much of this process can be repeated on the way to a second assessment at ninety days. At that point, any areas requiring improvement by the new employee should be addressed with support from the firm by way of educational materials or additional mentoring. Such action also helps to cement the employee's loyalty. At 180 days after hiring, both the firm and the employee should have a strong feel for whether the situation is mutually beneficial.
How can you tell when it's an appropriate time to ramp up duties for new employees? Let us know what you think by commenting below.
Rob Carey is an NCMM contributor and a features writer who has focused on the business-to-business niche since 1992. He spent his first 15 years at Nielsen Business Media, rising from editorial intern to editorial director. Since then, he has been the principal of New York-based Meetings & Hospitality Insight, working with large hospitality brands in addition to various media outlets.