Think back to when you were once a new addition to your current team. How did you settle in? Was it easy to be the new team member among more-experienced employees?
Looking back now, do you think anything in your employee onboarding process should have been done differently so that you didn't struggle when you first started?
If you found yourself nodding in answer to the last question, you're not alone. According to the Harvard Business Review, a surprising 32 percent of global executives feel their onboarding experience was poor.
It is imperative to ensure a proper employee onboarding process for new hires because the first few months are when the employee forms an opinion about the organization they're working for. As employers or teammates, it's our duty to make sure their initial experience isn't sour. It's also a benefit to the company's success: according to the Society for Human Resource Management, "organizations with a standard onboarding process experience 50 percent greater new-hire productivity."
Communication is key
When we talk of employee onboarding, we often fail to address one of the major factors that influence the process: employee communication. Whether it's with HR, the manager, or within the team itself, the quality of employee communication is what can make it or break it for the new hire.
A team communication software like Zoho Cliq can help your new recruit transition from "newbie" to "trusted employee" more quickly. With its variety of messaging and collaboration features, Cliq can help communicate organization policies, team feedback, and important announcements, and even schedule training sessions and events—everything you need to give a new hire a smooth transition.
Here's some ways you can use Zoho Cliq to ease the employee onboarding process:
Cliq tips for HR
As part of the HR department, you're given more responsibility to manage the employee onboarding checklist and ensure the new recruits become familiar with the organization's policies and procedures.
With Cliq, you can create a channel called "#announcements" and add all the new employees there. This will now give a platform where you can always be in touch with them, and be able to communicate any important information instantly.
Set up a welcome bot to welcome new hires to the organization, walk them through basic company policies, and check in with them through PrimeTime.
Cliq tips for management
Since your employees' work is dependent on frequent communication with you, their leader, it's all the more vital to ensure your new recruits fit into your team well.
Communicating your vision for the team as well as for the company is important, but may sometimes get overlooked. Having a comfortable one-on-one relationship with your new hires can help direct their feelings towards the workplace and the roles they take on, so this should be addressed in the early stages of the employee onboarding process.
Use Cliq to make sure they're involved in all the necessary team channels and can easily ask questions there. Chatting directly on Cliq, checking in regularly with an encouraging message, or even creating a group chat with all the new recruits can make your new hire feel comfortable enough to know you're someone they can approach without hesitation, which of course is one of the many important characteristics of a leader.
Cliq tips for coworkers
If you've had new team members join recently, the following tips can help you use Cliq to welcome your new coworker.
It's easy to feel isolated in a room full of strangers, and this can have a severe impact if the room full of strangers is your workplace. As a peer and colleague, you can help ease the newbie into your workplace. A disengaged or unwelcoming workplace can make it hard to like coming to work every day.
Breaking the ice
While this phrase may be a cliché, it's an important step in employee onboarding because as mentioned, working in a room full of strangers can be uncomfortable.
Make sure the new hires become familiar with their team. This can help them approach their tasks better and faster, knowing they can ask for advice from people they know.
Include the newbies in team channels and conversations on Cliq so they won't feel left out and can also learn by observing team interactions.
There are other numerous ways to introduce the team as well, such as a fun team-building exercise, or maybe gathering everyone to sit together at lunch.
Holding ice-breaker sessions are a great way to get the team all warmed up and the sooner that happens, the faster your new recruits will feel comfortable working alongside you.
This employee onboarding period is the ideal time to encourage team communication to ensure you're all aligned and can work in sync.
Employee engagement
Nurturing an engaged workplace helps ensure everyone enjoys coming to work everyday and has the drive to achieve their goals and more. An encouraging environment can maximize a new employee's drive to achieve their best. By encouraging, of course, meaning any workplace that fosters communication and collaboration between its employees. A positive atmosphere that encourages team communication can help drive an engaged workforce.
Ensuring employee engagement is not solely the responsibility of HR or the managers alone, but should be a team effort with everyone involved. Team collaboration and communication can be motivation to work and even drive productivity up by 21 percent.
Cliq tips for the new hire
If you're a new recruit, you have an equally important role in breaking the ice. Take initiative and talk to your colleagues, message them on Cliq, interact with everyone in the team channels, and try to get to know them.
Read through past conversations to get an idea of how collaboration takes place in your organization, and to help you get up to date on everything that's happening around you.
Small things like these help pave way for a positive and healthier atmosphere for you to work in.
At the end of the day, a successful employee onboarding checklist comes down to one thing: communication. Whether it's with the HR, the team manager or with the entire team, the only way to ensure a smooth transition into the workplace is through properly channeled communication.
Zoho Cliq not only helps remove communication barriers and breakdowns within the workplace, it also helps ensure transparency in work, simplification through automation, and constant connectivity with your whole team.
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