Onboarding as a Critical Component of Talent Management

Описание: Research data and the changing expectations of the new workforce have created the strongest case for delivering a formal onboarding experience. Onboarding is a natural extension of the organization’s talent acquisition strategy, and organizations will benefit from investing in developing and delivering a robust onboarding experience. Onboarding is a process using knowledge, relationships, and feedback to align new leaders and employees with the organization’s vision, strategies, goals, and culture.

Onboarding success results from the partnership of the new hires, their managers, and HR business partners. What is also very important is to create an effective onboarding experience that is compatible with the culture of your organization. Onboarding maximizes the learning and contributions of new hires in their first year on the job, while keeping them engaged with just-in-time learning, information, relationship-building, and timely feedback.

The period before a new employee starts is a critically important time and is a “sweet spot” for accelerating their transition. One opportunity is to connect the new hire to the team at lunch or a coffee meeting prior to day one. New hires expect that companies will be prepared for them when they arrive and that they will experience a formal transition period. It is important to tie the experience to your culture and your story. Onboarding encompasses a longer time and a series of events and experiences that are different from orientation. Many organizations still think that their orientation programs satisfy the need for onboarding.

Often when organizations embark on building their onboarding programs, they “jump in” to create a solution that is often more like checklists than onboarding plans. Checklists can also be effective job aids and have a place in training. However, if checklists are used in place of an onboarding plan, then the new employee will not have the full benefit of a comprehensive and customized onboarding experience.

A surefire way to engage new hires is to make them successful quickly. The power of getting a few key things accomplished early and effectively is magical. The key differentiator for a successful onboarding experience is feedback. Early feedback is very different from performance feedback and is the third pillar of a best-practice onboarding program. If onboarding challenges are surfaced and addressed in these areas, successful transition for your new hires is greatly increased.