If you want to make sure your new hire is a successful addition to your startup team, then you’ll need to focus on their onboarding. After all, an effective onboarding process will mean that your new employee fully understands the company mission, values, culture and policies. They’ll understand the role that they have in ensuring that mission is achieved and they’ll want to continue to play their part. A good onboarding process will ensure that your new employee feels excited about the future and valued and appreciated too.
According to a LinkedIn report, there has recently been a clear rise in the ‘Quick Quitting’ trend in the tech sector, where new employees leave jobs relatively soon after starting. However, the better your onboarding is, the less likely you’ll find your startup to be impacted by this growing trend!
We’ve put together a list of 10 of the most common mistakes which employers tend to make when it comes to onboarding new employees - mistakes which can easily be avoided!
1 Not having an onboarding policy in the first place
If you don’t have a dedicated onboarding policy and instead expect your new hires to start their role and simply get on with it, you’ll be making a big mistake. As well as conveying the impression that you’re disorganised, it will also come across that you don’t really care about the newest member of your team. You’re simply expecting them to hit the ground running and that’s that.
And remember, that applies across the board - even the most skilled or experienced new employees will still need some guidance and support when they first start! All new hires need to familiarise themselves with both the role and how the business works and a formal onboarding policy can often be the best way to help them do just that. The more effective your onboarding policy is, the more productive and happy your new hire is likely to be.
2 Designing an onboarding policy in isolation
Think that you can create the perfect onboarding policy without consulting your employees? Think again! If your onboarding is going to be effective, you need to get feedback and insights from existing employees. Be direct and ask your current employees for suggestions - ask those who are currently doing the role, the wider team and those you have hired most recently.
Whether you do this via anonymous surveys, on a one-to-one basis or in a group, what matters is that you do it. Find out what aspects you got right, what elements were clearly missing, what changes you ought to make. Did they have all the resources they needed? Did they feel valued from the off? Getting the lowdown on your onboarding policy from your employees’ perspective and implementing any suggested changes can make all the difference.
3 Not considering the onboarding goals
If you want to ensure that your new employee succeeds in their role, you’ll need to ensure that they really know what’s expected of them from the beginning. Set some clear goals and targets as part of the onboarding process and give them something to work towards. Having a 30-, 60- or 90-day plan can be a great way to outline your expectations on what you would like them to know, be able to do or have achieved by the end of their onboarding.
By including specific goals and metrics in their onboarding, you will also help your new hire to feel more productive and feel that they are actively contributing. That, in turn will have a knock-on positive impact on their confidence, helping them to settle in and grow into their new role and team.
4 Not explaining the culture
Don’t assume that your new hire will fully ‘get’ your startup culture. Spend some time as part of their onboarding to explain what it’s all about. Make sure that you clearly explain what your startup’s core values are. Don’t simply refer them to the list on your website or a framed poster hanging on the office wall. Give examples of how you live those values, how they impact the decisions you make and how they shape the direction of the business.
Clarify to your new hire how important the culture is to your startup’s overall mission and how it drives you and your team. Go into the details too, explain how you communicate and engage with each other and help them see how and where they’ll fit in. The more you do to help your new employee learn about the culture in their new work environment, the quicker they’ll adjust.
5 Not explaining how and where they fit in
It’s not enough to simply give your new employee an overview of their duties, instead, you need to outline the value of their role to the business as a whole. Clarify their responsibilities and the impact that they can have on the overall company mission. Make sure that they understand the role that other departments and teams play too and highlight any cross-functional work or collaborative tasks that they will do.
Onboarding can also be the perfect opportunity to fully reaffirm your startup vision and ensure that your new employee is excited and filled with enthusiasm for the part they’re set to play. Don’t simply expect them to know!
6 Omitting to explain company policies
Your onboarding process shouldn’t simply be about helping your new hire to get to grips with the day-to-day duties of their role. You need to spend some time helping them understand those all-important company policies too. From hybrid working and booking annual leave, to the company line on using social media, the quicker they learn about the policies they need to follow and adhere to, the better.
Cover all the basics. When is payday? What should they do if they need to call in sick? If you’ve got an employee handbook, then make sure to give them a copy, highlighting the most important policies and guidelines. Or perhaps create a "New Employee" Slack channel where they can access the relevant documents or find answers to any queries they’re likely to have.
7 Not making your policy fit for all
If your startup operates on a hybrid basis, then make sure your onboarding process is relevant for all. If you only focus on those new hires who work in the office and those working remotely are somewhat neglected, you’re doing them a real disservice. Use a buddy system and match your new employees with other team members. Help them build relationships and connections - no matter where they’re based.
Use the onboarding time to provide opportunities for your new hires to connect and collaborate and remember that it doesn’t always have to be about work! The more you do to help them develop friendships and build a sense of camaraderie with their colleagues, the more you'll be helping them fit in.
8 Forgetting about the welcome
If a new employee turns up on their first day and it transpires that nobody is expecting them or nobody really appears to care, that’s a pretty negative first impression to say the least. Day 1 of their onboarding should be remembered for all the right reasons. Make sure they are warmly welcomed. Let the rest of your team know that they’ll be joining well in advance so they’re not met with blank or surprised faces!
If possible, assign a buddy and don’t simply do it to tick a box. Try and match them with someone who would be a good fit, perhaps an employee who has been in the role previously or an employee who is well equipped to give them the lowdown on everything - from their duties and responsibilities to the long term company vision. The buddy you assign should be friendly, savvy and well able to provide that much-needed support during those early days.
9 Not starting the onboarding process at the right time
As soon as your new employee signs their contract, you can actually begin the onboarding process. You can get the ball rolling rather than waiting until their first day. Send them a welcome email and personalise it - don’t simply send a generic cut-and-paste affair. After all, the time between them signing the contract and starting can actually be the most opportune time to get them excited about what lies ahead.
You can showcase the company culture, perhaps invite them along to meet the team or to any socials that are planned. Keep them in the loop on any good news of note or any company achievements. You could also start the process of getting all their paperwork completed so that their first day is not spent in an endless loop of filling forms and scanning documents. Let their first day be a more memorable one!
10 Too much focus on the mundane stuff
Don’t make the mistake of filling your new employee’s first day with endless reading of policies and procedures and mission statements. Whilst they are of course important, the fact is that they won’t all sink in at this stage. Leaving your new hire alone with nothing to do except read vast amounts of text is a surefire way to bore them to tears!
Break up their days - add a little variety into the onboarding. The reading matters but interject it with opportunities to engage with their new work colleagues. Let them ask questions, and start building relationships. Don’t simply overwhelm them with an excessive amount of info for the sake of it!
————————-
Who we are
Offering personalised, consultative service, at TableCrowd Talent we’re a specialist recruitment agency with our finger on the pulse of the startup and scaleup scene. We are committed to matching graduates, professionals and C-level executives to exciting startup and scaleup jobs across London, the UK and Europe.
~~
