Building an Effective Onboarding Strategy

Onboarding: What is it?

Onboarding is more than filling out forms ….

“ Truly effective on-boarding needs to be so much more than just a day; it

needs to be a process - a process that serves to properly engage a new hire

and position him or her for future success through goal setting, coaching

and mentoring.” Midatlantic Employer’s Association

Key Drivers for Onboarding

• Time to productivity.• Better employee

engagement.• Better employee retention• Better socialisation of new

hires.• Reduction of admin

burdens and costs.

Top 5 Onboarding Mistakes

• Thinking onboarding begins on day 1.

• Too Much Paperwork.• No Centralised system.• Thinking it’s only up to

the new employee to impress.

• Thinking onboarding finishes on day 1.

Onboarding should start before day 1Talent management is a long term process designed to support and develop employees right through their time with an organisation.

At its best, the onboarding process is not limited by a start date that

matches the employee’s, but instead begins in advance, paving the way for the new starter to hit

the ground running.

Onboarding, Re-Defined

1st Day

1st Week

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Recruiting

PreBoarding

Contract Signature

OnBoarding Talent-Management

3-12 Months

Effective onboarding can create value for any organisation by helping employees to understand the company structure, master the ins and outs of

their job, and begin to have a positive impact on the business.

Onboarding is an engagement opportunityOnboarding plays a dramatic role in an

employee’s decision to stay with a company long term or move on.

An engagement strategy revolves around the individual employee

experience and the ability to understand their career progression objective and how to align business objectives while helping employees

reach their goals.

Employee turnover is costlyTurnover is expensive; the cost of replacing an entry level employee is 30-50% of the person’s annual salary. The cost for senior level employees can be 150% up to 400% of their salary. And every time someone leaves morale and productivity suffer.

Best Practices

Formalise

Standardise

Socialise

Formalise a Strategy

• Survey: pre-hires, new hires, managers, executives.

• Define your “critical path” of task/readiness.

• Analyse: costs, completion rates and other roadblocks (if possible).

Standardise: Automate & Regulate

According to Aberdeen group report “Onboarding 2013 - A New Look at New Hires”, by investing in onboarding systems,

organisations are able to dramatically reduce costs, engage new hires, establish consistency across the organisation and extend

the onboarding process.

Full automation will help

organisations deliver on

both the tactical and

strategic element of

onboarding.

Socialise

Localise and customise your content for better engagement and socialisation. Onboarding provides a valuable engagement opportunity and key job

knowledge to rev up a new hire with key insight into their role and how to fit into the organisation and its culture.

At SilkRoad we believe in integrated talent management. As the onboarding process comes to an end, it should evolve into learning and development. This aids in maximising staff engagement.

Onboarding is vital for integrating a new employee into the workforce and for bringing

them in line with company processes and culture, as well as reducing the time it takes for an employee to reach 100% productivity.

For the process to be effective it must start before the new hire’s first day on the job. Even more important than commencing onboarding early, is following through with it. Onboarding

does not begin and end on day one and if ongoing checks aren’t made as to an

employee’s progress, important events and issues can be missed.

Happy Onboarding

• Learn more about SilkRoad RedCarpet Onboarding Solution

• Check out our latest Onboarding Resources

About SilkRoad

SilkRoad is a global provider of cloud-based, end-to-end talent management solutions that enable customers to find, attract, develop, and retain the best talent. The award-winning SilkRoad® Life Suite® includes Talent Acquisition, Talent Development, and HRM solutions that are delivered through a Talent Portal to drive greater engagement, collaboration and user adoption. The suite is easy to deploy, easy to use, and affordable for business of every size. Visit SilkRoad.com/uk for more information.