You have spent a lot of time and money to recruit your top candidate, but you are not done yet. After a candidate accepts a job offer, the onboarding process begins. Onboarding continues throughout the first year on the job. Studies have shown that new employees are not fully committed to the new job for the first six months, which is when a great onboarding plan comes into play. By making a new employee feel welcome, helping them understand their role in the big picture, and helping them get up to speed quickly, you confirm that their decision to join SUNY Oswego was the right one.
So, while your new hire is still evaluating if they made the right decision, follow these top ten tips that confirm that SUNY Oswego is a great place to work:
- Be there: Schedule your new employee to start work on a day/week you know you are available (i.e., not on vacation, traveling on business, week of back-to-back meetings).
- Arrival: Make sure there is someone there to meet the new employee as they arrive on their first day. Highly recommend meeting them in the parking lot or front door.
- Work area: Have an assigned work area ready for them and a place for them to put their personal belongings.
- Ready for work: Make sure you have all supplies/tools/equipment (i.e., computer, phone, etc.) ready and working.
- Lunch: Make plans so the employee will not have to each lunch alone for their first day(s).
- Notice message: Send a notice out before the new employee arrives to inform co-workers and other key people that they have been hired and what their job responsibilities will be.
- Introductions: Show the new employee their office/space and have co-workers come to the employee to introduce themselves.
- Time for training: If you plan to have a co-worker train the new employee, ensure the person has the focused time to spend in order to properly train the new employee.
- Assign a buddy: Assign the new employee to someone in your department who is a positive, engaged person to help with their onboarding.
- Meaningful work: Provide the new employee with real and meaningful work from their first day on. Being able to have even a small accomplishment in the first week of work is very motivating for a new hire.