Onboarding Key Employees – a Current Workplace Initiative

More than ever, workplaces are going to need to be an inviting place if they want to hang on to their star employees. With unemployment at the lowest rate in years, employees will not be staying in positions where they do not feel respected and engaged. In order to hang on to your star employees, it is important to create an environment that meets the needs of the employees as well as the organization.

Organizational Reputation: With the internet as a platform for people to communicate their experiences with an organization, more than ever it is important to create a positive experience for employees and candidates. Even the experience of those employees applying to your organization is an important opportunity to create a great experience for would-be employees. A recent study found that nearly 60% of job seekers have had a poor candidate experience and 72% of them have shared their experience on an online employer review site such as Glassdoor.com. These postings could minimize your ability to bring the best employees into your organization. One of their biggest complaints is organizations which do not get back to candidates to let them know the status of their application.

Onboarding: Another area where organizations vie not only to get the best employees but keep them in their onboarding process. Does it help new employees to feel comfortable in their new position? Many of Fortune’s Great Places to Work spend a great deal of time on their onboarding process which often starts before the employee walks in the door on day one. Some organization have leadership reach out to new employees to welcome them to the team. Others, like Doctors Hospital of Sarasota not only have executives at the onboarding session, but the head of HR says, “Congratulations, you made it, we are extremely selective of the people we bring on to our team.” Thus from day one people are feeling comfortable in their new role.

Ongoing Communication: People want to know they matter and a good way to help them is to have open communication with them from the start. Ensure that the position you post for is the job they receive. Follow up with them to clarify the situation and ask for any questions for clarity. Ensure the person understands that it is okay to ask questions and no question is off limits.

By taking time to engage the employee from the start, you have a better chance to hang on to your stars and keep your organization productive. The time spent will come back to you ten fold!