Employee Onboarding: How To Integrate New People Into The Team

Digital transformation has completely changed the way companies need to act. After all, competition is increasing, and the consumers have become empowered and even more demanding. Thus, when it comes to integrating new people into your company, it is essential to have a fast process.

Therefore, employee onboarding becomes an essential action to help recently acquired talents adapt efficiently to their new work environment. After all, it is not enough to be talented, it is necessary to fit in the company’s culture and values, boosting the entire organization’s performance.

However, do you know what the employee onboarding process exactly is and how it works?

In this article, we will explain the importance of this concept and what benefits this practice generates. Besides that, of course, we will show you what are the necessary actions your business has to take. Keep reading!

What are the challenges when recruiting new talent?

Recruitment work is not simple. After all, you need to find, among several candidates, the one who can best develop and perform their functions in your company.

Another fact makes this task even more complicated: employees’ difficulty to adapt to a new environment. When this problem happens, managers are responsible for making the process easier and optimizing the organization’s performance.

After all, to manage your team correctly and deliver the expected results, it is not enough to have qualified and talented specialists. They also must adapt to the company’s model and culture. With an efficient employee onboarding process, everything becomes simpler.

What is Employee Onboarding?

Employee onboarding is a set of actions and practices that seek to simplify new employees’ adaptation to a company.

The goal is to integrate newly hired staff more quickly to the company’s values, methodology, and culture, avoiding eventual discomforts in the process.

Instead of letting the employee learn by himself — and in the hard way — how things work internally, onboarding helps to present the company and its processes, letting them know how it works. This way, professionals can focus only on the execution of their tasks, without worrying about other factors.

Human Resources teams are increasingly using this approach, leaving aside a simple generic presentation of how the company works.

Onboarding is far more complete, focusing on the total immersion of the new employee. Four pillars build this strategy: orientation, follow-up, supervision, and training.

With the correct execution of these activities, professionals will feel more comfortable in their new work environment. However, the time for them to adapt becomes shorter, which allows them to offer higher productivity, generating more efficient and faster results.

This way, employee onboarding values the satisfaction of both parties involved in the process: company and employee. The benefits and advantages affect both and contribute to improving performance in general, ensuring a satisfactory performance in your team.

Implementing a robust employee onboarding process, especially with the support of an Employer of Record (EOR), can significantly benefit the institution. A well-structured onboarding program enhances employee retention, as individuals feel more connected and engaged from the beginning of their employment. This, in turn, reduces turnover costs and ensures a stable, experienced workforce. Moreover, a streamlined onboarding process supported by an EOR aids in compliance with local regulations and labor laws. This not only mitigates legal risks for the institution but also fosters a positive employer brand, attracting top talent in the long run. The institution’s reputation as an employer of choice is strengthened, contributing to a competitive edge in the market and promoting sustained organizational success.

What are the benefits of this practice?

So, do you want to learn more about the benefits of employee onboarding in your organization? We have selected four of the main advantages of this practice. Check it out! 

Aligning the collaborators to the company’s culture

Every company has its vision, values, and culture. But that doesn’t mean that all employees know each of these concepts. Therefore, it is essential to introduce the organization to new employees. That way, everyone will be aligned with the company’s objectives and goals, and both parties will grow together.

Retaining talents

It is not enough to hire skilled employees. You need to ensure that they fit into your company’s routine operations. After all, with more employees aligned to the organization’s profile, it is easier to retain these talents, since these professionals will tend to feel more comfortable in their work environment.

Just as with customer loyalty, the level of satisfaction of your employees is fundamental. Retaining the best professionals can be a difficult mission, but onboarding can help.

Reducing turnover

Besides losing your professionals to the competition, you avoid another very common issue for those who work with HR: turnover. Employee onboarding can be a great solution.

Engaging and motivating the employee

Nowadays, to get the best out of each employee and, consequently, improve your company’s performance, it is not enough to offer a competitive market salary, benefits, and an adequate structure. It is necessary to get your staff engaged in their jobs, and onboarding can help in this process.

Boosting integration and productivity

The sooner an employee feels comfortable, the faster the results of their work will appear. Therefore, integration drives their adaptation, helping new ideas emerge and enabling teamwork.

Which actions are necessary to perform the employee onboarding?

Many are the advantages of helping new employees adapt and immerse themselves in your company’s environment, so this is a strategy that must be considered and applied by your organization’s HR. To make this job easier, we have listed some tips you must consider in the process. Check it out!

Set a goal for the process

We have already listed the advantages and benefits, but you must have a defined goal when applying employee onboarding. Usually, the solution comes from a problem that has arisen, such as increased turnover or difficulties in new employees fitting in. Based on the issue, establish your goal. 

Start while recruiting

The onboarding of employees must start during the recruiting stage, before the newly hired professional begins their work. At this step, it is important to clarify how the company works, even if this explanation sounds a bit generic at first.

As the hiring process intensifies, the onboarding work must also increase. Describing the job and the functions that the new employee will perform should be a priority. Thus, the chances of acquiring the candidate who is closest to the company’s needs are even greater. Also, you can speed up the whole process.

Create an employee welcoming checklist

Establishing a schedule is essential for the new employee to access your company’s most important data and information. So create a checklist of what will be offered at each stage of the onboarding process, ensuring that nothing goes unnoticed and that the immersion is as broad and efficient as possible.

Document the entire process

You must adequately document everything done during the onboarding process. From adopted procedures to obtained results, it is important to register everything for future actions. This work helps to identify which activities work best and those that need improvement.

Schedule evaluations and feedback

Although onboarding happens on new employees’ arrival, it is a process that cannot be abandoned by the company. Monitoring the adaptation of employees must be constant, so scheduling periodic evaluations and feedback is an important action, since it allows the company to evaluate its process from time to time and, therefore, make any changes that are found to be necessary.

In the employee onboarding process, the manager plays a key role in the correct execution. Whoever occupies the leadership position needs to ensure that new employee integration happens with ease. The aim is to let people focus only on their work and, in doing so, increase their satisfaction.

Hiring new talent is not such a simple task! We have shown in this article how important onboarding can be, but first, you need to know and determine the values of your business.

How about understanding organizational culture, its main types, and how to define it for your company?