What Is Employee Onboarding
Communication?
Employee onboarding communication is an essential step in welcoming a new hire to your company. The process should cover critical details such as organisational culture, policies, procedures, and job expectations. During employee onboarding, clear and transparent communication ensures new employees feel welcomed, informed, and ready to take on their new roles.
Indeed and Glassdoor’s 2023 Hiring and Workplace Trends Report found that as many as 46% of employees have stated that their expectation of happiness at work has increased in the last year. This statistic means employees are putting their well-being ahead of salaries and benefits and prioritising a positive work environment. Effective employee onboarding communication allows companies to show new recruits that they are valued and that their needs are important to them.
The Significance of Employee Onboarding
Communication
Corporate onboarding communications programs are an opportunity to create and maintain long-lasting engagement with your most important resource – your employees.
Beyond disseminating necessary documentation, employee onboarding communication allows you to provide your newest recruit with a sense of belonging and ongoing support. A warm, welcoming environment will accelerate acclimatisation and ultimately ensure a positive work experience.
A Gallup study found that 70% of employees who experienced an exceptional onboarding process believed they were in the “best job” for their skills. It also reported that these employees are 2.6 times more likely to find their work extremely satisfying – a major boost for retention rates.
The Role of HR and Internal
Communication Teams
Human resources (HR) and internal communication teams are pivotal to a positive onboarding experience. HR responsibilities include ensuring company policies are adhered to, structuring onboarding programs, and organising the logistical criteria.
With their guidance, new hires should easily and quickly complete their paperwork, benefit enrollment, and introduction to the company’s culture.
Internal communications teams play a role in the consistent and relevant information flow to employees. The company’s values, mission, and expectations are conveyed through materials created by the internal communications team, including welcome kits, handbooks, and multimedia presentations.
Through their collaborative efforts, HR and internal communications teams can create a cohesive onboarding experience, ensuring a smooth integration into the company’s culture.
Strategies for Employee Onboarding
Communication
At Goodman Lantern, we employ a variety of strategies to ensure new
employees have the best onboarding experience possible.
Creating an Onboarding Communication Plan
Seamless integration requires structure and planning. We outline key milestones, means of communication, and the appropriate channels to follow. We also ensure the necessary materials have been created and are ready for completion. Then, we create a rollout strategy for the communications plan that could include staggered information releases or targeted emails. Finally, we develop evaluation mechanisms that can be implemented to gather feedback so adjustments may be made.
Tailoring Communication to New Hires
To personalise the experience for your employee, it’s important to learn what their individual needs are as well as their learning preferences. We tailor messages to specific roles, your organisation’s culture, and potential career paths. We’ll help you choose a relevant platform for your employee’s needs. This could range from group meetings to one-on-one sessions to a digital medium.
Consistent and Timely Updates
A lack of communication and check-ins could cost more than you realise. The Gallup State of the Global Workspace Report found that nearly 6 out of 10 employees did not have supportive bonds with their colleagues, managers, or employers. Through actions such as quiet quitting, actively disengaged employees combined with low engagement have cost the global economy $8.8 trillion. At GL, we ensure consistent and timely updates so your employees never feel forgotten or disengaged.
Structured Training Programs
Goodman Lantern’s employee onboarding training programs include job responsibilities, company policies, and training on the use of any relevant tools. Ensuring your employee has the necessary skills to perform the job also smoothes their transition into the workforce. This learning could occur through interactive sessions, e-learning modules, or co-worker mentoring relationships.
Multichannel Communication
We keep the lines of communication open with emails, video conferencing, intranet portals, Q&A sessions, and discussion forums. Not only do these various platforms allow your employees to receive relevant information, but they also encourage interactive discourse to facilitate engagement. Goodman Lantern assists with content and strategies for the various forums.
The Role of AI and Automation in Employee
Onboarding Communication
Developing a hand cramp from struggling through a binder of documentation during orientation is a thing of the past. AI and automation have enhanced efficiency and taken away the tedium of paperwork.
Streamlined administrative tasks have increased productivity by reducing manual workload, and the availability of AI chatbots means employees can have any queries answered through real-time assistance.
With algorithms driving the employee onboarding program, the process is personalised to the diverse needs of employees and their learning preferences. At GL, we know how and when to leverage AI for better success. But we never forget the human touch.
Challenges and Common Barriers
As with any process, employee onboarding communication comes with its
set of challenges. Here are just a few:
Information overload
It’s easy for a new hire to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they’re given, making it difficult to retain.
GL’s solution We’ll provide a structured onboarding program that breaks information into digestible bites. We’ll also develop content for a central repository, creating easy access to information and encouraging self-paced learning.
Lack of clarity in job expectations
A new recruit who’s unsure of their role in the company could easily suffer from anxiety and confusion, resulting in a delay in their integration into the company.
GL’s solution We can produce detailed job descriptions that outline responsibilities, expectations, and key performance indicators with defined roles and tools for measuring success.
Inadequate feedback portals
Eliminating issues can prove challenging if a system for employee feedback isn’t in place.
GL’s solution Our content team can create anonymous surveys to remove the fear of reprisal. We can also provide training guidelines for managers on how to foster a culture of constructive feedback.
Measuring the Impact of Employee
Onboarding Communication
According to BambooHR research, 31% of employees quit their jobs within six months of starting, with 17% leaving after their first week. However, this can be negated thanks to positive employee onboarding solutions. These solutions were found to leave employees 3x more likely to feel a strong commitment to the organisation.
To ensure this remains the case, we monitor your corporate onboarding communications programs to maintain effectiveness and continuously improve. New hire satisfaction surveys, time-to-productivity metrics, and retention rates are just a few key performance indicators (KPIs) we assess.
Along with tracking the clarity of the information provided, we also analyse the engagement levels in onboarding sessions and training programs. For a holistic view of the impact of employee onboarding communications, we conduct regular follow-up surveys and performance reviews to give insight into the potential for long-lasting employee satisfaction and retention.
How GL Helps Organisations In the
Audit Process
Goodman Lantern’s auditing process aims to enhance efficiency, ensure compliance, and improve employee engagement. In collaboration with you, we create criteria to meet your company’s onboarding goals. These goals could include completeness of information, compliance with policies, and employee satisfaction.
After reviewing the relevant documentation and data, we thoroughly analyse the employee’s onboarding journey. From pre-boarding to the first few months of employment, we evaluate tasks, timelines, and interactions.
With this collected data, we can compare your company’s performance to industry standards and best practices. Our expert auditing team will use benchmarking to identify gaps and discover areas for improvement, particularly in communications, training, and engagement.
We’ll develop a comprehensive plan to facilitate actionable recommendations to improve the overall onboarding experience. Finally, monitoring and evaluating the impact of our employee onboarding solutions will be the last step in our auditing process.
Our Clients Love Working With Us Because We Believe in Collaboration
At Goodman Lantern, we’re all about building long-term, successful relationships with our clients. We take the time to get to know your business and the people behind your brand. In true collaborative spirit, we do everything we can to tell your story and help your business grow.
“Goodman Lantern has an unparalleled level of skill and talent, coupled with a keen understanding of implementation.”
“The communication is excellent and you receive responses within 24 hours.”
“We are delighted with our collaboration with Goodman Lantern because in addition to always delivering the content on time, they have also been extremely responsive to all our requests. Moreover, it was a real pleasure to work with a team that is both very professional and fundamentally human.”
Employee Onboarding Communication FAQs
At Goodman Lantern, we employ a variety of strategies to ensure new
employees have the best onboarding experience possible.
Why is it important to audit a corporate onboarding communication program?
A comprehensive audit will spotlight the effectiveness of your onboarding program and identify gaps through comparison with industry benchmarks. By enhancing the experience for new employees, you’ll see your retention rates increase along with your employee satisfaction.
How often should an audit take place?
Audits on employee onboarding programs should take place annually or whenever significant changes occur, or issues have been identified.
What are some of the common challenges during an audit?
Typically, each audit has its own set of obstacles. Still, the most common issues arise with regard to incomplete or unclear documentation, lack of engagement activities, compliance issues, and inconsistencies in messaging.
What can you expect from an employee onboarding program audit?
Once we’ve ascertained your onboarding goals, our auditing team will thoroughly analyse your corporate onboarding communication program. We’ll create a plan of action to improve processes, streamline communication, enhance training, and ensure compliance.
How will you know if the findings of the audit have yielded results?
Continuous monitoring and follow-ups must be conducted once the recommended actions have been implemented. Some factors to look at include:
- Employee feedback
- Retention rates
- Time-to-productivity
- Compliance
- Engagement metrics
- Performance reviews
- Qualitative feedback
Regularly auditing your employee onboarding program and consistently striving to improve hits all the right notes with potential employees and stakeholders. With well-being central to their careers, employees will appreciate the time and care you’ve taken to protect their interests.
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