Onboarding is crucial for any company. Effective onboarding acclimates the new hire to the company, their role and their sense of purpose. However, if not done right, onboarding can be costly and inefficient, and shortcomings can go unnoticed until it’s too late. Employers can almost always afford to improve employee onboarding, which starts with recognizing the need to do so.

Just because onboarding is essential doesn’t mean the high costs and inefficiencies that typically come with it are. Once you acknowledge that your training process needs a tune up, you can take action and reap considerable benefits. Let’s first evaluate why it’s important to constantly improve the onboarding process.

Why You Should Improve Employee Onboarding

Potential savings are the biggest motivator to improve employee onboarding for most organizations. Onboarding can cost upwards of $12,500 a year at some companies in administrative expenses alone. That doesn’t include costs from lost productivity and errors that may arise as new hires slowly get used to their new environments.

An effective onboarding process can also shorten the time for new hires to reach their full potential. New hires that learn the in’s and out’s of their position faster help boost productivity, and decrease the risk of inefficiency. Optimized onboarding also has long-term benefits. An inefficient and disengaging training process can make it challenging for new employees to assimilate to their role. This can lead to turnover and create a costly hiring cycle. On the other hand, engaging, effective onboarding can create a more satisfied and loyal workforce.

How to Improve Employee Onboarding

Regardless of where you stand compared to your competitors, there’s likely room for your onboarding to improve. Here are some steps you can take to make the most of this process.

1.   Survey current employees.

Improve your employee onboarding by understanding where it falls short. Your current workers are the best resource for gaining this insight. Survey your existing workforce about what they liked and didn’t like about their onboarding experience. Don’t be afraid to ask them the same about other jobs they’ve held. You should also follow these questions with more specific questions about what workers found the most useful when starting their roles and what they wish they’d learned in onboarding.

Once you have these answers, look for commonalities to see what you’re doing well and where you could improve. As you adapt to these suggestions, be sure to tell your employees how you’re using their feedback. Workers are more likely to stay in a company if they feel like their thoughts and ideas are valued.

2.   Automate routine tasks.

Automation is another important part of improving employee onboarding. One of the reasons these processes are so costly is that they involve a lot of repetitive, time-consuming paperwork, which detracts from other more value-adding work. Automation can provide a solution.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) can automate routine tasks like data entry, scheduling and filing paperwork. These tools also complete this work faster and with fewer errors than manual processes. As a result, the onboarding process will be shorter, letting new hires get started sooner.

Automating these tasks also reduces human resources (HR) and learning and development (L&D) professionals’ workloads. It gives them more time to spend on new hires. The recruits will also have less paperwork to manage, which can boost engagement from the start.

3.   Involve experienced workers.

While automation has many benefits, it’s also important to recognize the value of your human workforce. Your current employees are your best source of practical knowledge for the positions you’re filling, so it’s best to involve them in the onboarding process.

Set up a mentorship program where you pair new hires with experienced employees in similar roles. New hires can get up to speed faster working side by side with seasoned experts through hands-on training. While some new hires may prefer to work with a supervisor as a mentor, some may feel more comfortable learning from a co-worker or peer. Provide both options to learners so that they can learn in a way that’s most comfortable for them.

Onboarding programs like this foster social connections in the workplace. The faster new employees form these bonds, the faster they’ll become comfortable in their roles. That translates into higher productivity and reduced risk of turnover.

4.   Review onboarding processes regularly.

Even after making these improvements, remember that refining the onboarding experience is a continuous process. You probably won’t perfect every aspect of your training on the first try, and new technologies and best practices emerge frequently. Consequently, it’s important to review things regularly to make necessary adjustments.

Amid the recent shift to remote work, organizations cite remote onboarding and training as their major challenge in filling job positions. These difficulties highlight how onboarding must continuously adapt to meet new employee expectations and business practices.

Survey employees and monitor relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge your onboarding at least once a year. These regular reviews will help you notice areas to improve and trends to adapt to earlier, helping you maintain an effective training program.

Looking Ahead

There is always room to improve employee onboarding, especially amid shifting workplace trends. If you want to reduce hiring costs and form a more productive and engaged workforce, start by looking at your onboarding process. These four steps will help you make the most of your onboarding, regardless of your company’s specific challenges. You can then enjoy lower costs, higher productivity and minimal employee turnover.