Make the first day of the employee a memorable one. Depending upon the 'first impression' the employee experiences, they would decide to stay put for a long haul or have a brief one. Hence, it is critical to have a well-organized and streamlined onboarding process. A pleasant experience, where a mixed group of new and old, young and long-serving, from varied departments give a warm welcome, are memories they will cherish. Moreover, this is an opportunity to set clear expectations and communicate development opportunities. 

John Pierce, a Forbes Councils Member, in his article “Make Or Break Your Company's Success," says that an organization should engage with its employees from 'the get-go.' He quotes a 2017 study, where it was observed that 53% of HR professionals surveyed reported that employee engagement rises when onboarding is improved. Employees who experience good onboarding are more likely to be productive and do their best work.  Similar views are echoed by Richard Warren in his blog “Onboarding Can Make or Break a New Hire’s Experience." As per Richard, in addition to having a well-organized onboarding process, onboarding is also an opportunity to instill the company's values in new employees by orienting them into the company culture, vision, and mission and explaining why they should be committed to it. From the employee’s side, this is a chance to ensure that new employees have the knowledge and skills to succeed in their new roles. Employees can hit the ground running and avoid any bumps in the road by providing training on the job and teaching compliance with company policies. 

Richard breaks down the entire onboarding process into five broad steps. On the first day, it is all about the employee providing personal details and filling out forms for enrolling in various employee schemes the organization offers. As the employer's liabilities for its employees commence immediately upon the employee joining, it is pertinent that such formalities are completed instantly. For e.g., employee insurance – the employee is eligible right from the time they have stepped into the organization on the first day of their work and is entitled to the benefits of such schemes. Before finally putting the employee on the grind, company orientation, job training, job shadowing, team meeting, assessing progress, and giving feedback are the sequential steps that Richard recommends.       

In his article, John stresses the need to mentor new employees. The existing employees of the organization who understand the ins and outs of the business will be able to guide the employee accordingly. One of the seniormost employees can take up this role. The story of how the employee and the organization grew up will provide insight into its challenges and how it has fought through them. This takes us to the culture of the organization. 

Employee attitudes, policies, teamwork, approachability, and humanness define the organization's culture. Today's employees look beyond the organization's financial compensation, and they tend to see whether their cultural priorities align with that of the organization. Where they find a synergy, the employee is willing to stay longer and be passionate about their work.  

Mentoring and communication with new employees continue after onboarding, an ongoing process as the employee grows within the organization. Setting the expectation at every rise in the employee's career is akin to onboarding and preparing for their new enhanced role.

Technology is disrupting even the onboarding process. HR executives are evaluating and exploring tech-based solutions to shorten the onboarding time and make the employee productive immediately. Automated solutions are replacing the cumbersome paper-based process of gathering employee profiles. Orientation schedules have become flexible based on the availability of the respective business heads. Where many employees are joining simultaneously, tech solutions eradicate the manual processing of their onboarding, making it quick and seamless.