Employee Engagement Starts with Onboarding
Often, when we talk about employee engagement, we are talking about it to fix a problem; how to turn disengaged employees into engaged employees. As explained in a previous blog, we suggest that you modify your hiring practices so that you are hiring engaged employees using our B.E.S.T method. It’s also important to focus on engaging new hires; you want employees to feel engaged with the organization from the moment they hear “you’re hired!”
With engagement levels barely improving, don’t wait to engage with them after they already start working; engage them throughout the hiring process.
Start Before Day One
Just about every new employee plans everything out for his or her first day. From the clothes they wear, to the route they will take to get to the office, they are planning a lot of details for that very important day. Managers should also spend time planning for their new hires first day. Sending your new employee a message a few days before asking if there are any questions, or filling them in on the confusing door system into the building has a huge impact on the engagement of your new hire. From before day one, you can prove you are an engaged manager, and increase the engagement of your employees.
Feeling Welcome
Ever show up to a job on day one and no one really know what they are supposed to do with you? Avoid that. This may seem obvious, but it’s extremely important to make sure the employee’s desk is set up, the computer is ready to be used, and you are there to meet them. A nice, simple touch such as a welcome note can help alleviate first day jitters; it’s a great way to start your employee off in an engaged culture, and show them they matter.
Welcome Tour
Once your new employee has settled into their nicely set up workspace find time to give them a tour of the office. It’s important that this doesn’t fall off the first day agenda, if you personally aren’t able to give the tour leverage a team member to do this; it’s a great way to start interaction between your team members and new employee.
Avoid Boring Introductions
The first few days in a new job tend to be information overload – find a creative way for your new employee to get to know everyone. A great way to do this is ask employees to write an interesting fact about them on a card. Collect the cards and then have the new hire guess which employee belongs to each interesting fact. Bonus – this may even turn into a great team building activity for all!
Meet the C-suite
Building a culture in which leadership is approachable is something all organizations should strive for. Building this introduction into your onboarding process will show the new employee that your leadership team is involved with all parts of the organization. If possible, have someone from the C-suite on your “Welcome Committee” and ask him or her to provide the new employee with an overview of the company. For the few minutes this will take, it will be worth the increased engagement of your new employees.
Goals & Direction
No matter what level you are at, most people will feel overwhelmed by all the information coming at them in their new position. Help new employees out by giving them goals for their first week, second week, and first month. This will help give them a productive way to focus their energy. Within that time you should also create goals for the next couple months; this allows your new hire to prioritize and start achieving. Having goals and direction can help build confidence and independence.
The beginning of any relationship is critical and can determine how the relationship builds; keeping your new hires engaged starts them off on the right foot, leading to continued engagement throughout the working relationship. Don’t wait to try to “fix” a disengaged employee – keep them engaged from the very beginning!
-Kaitlyn Carr, Organizational Development Specialist @emplyengagement @kacarr789
