When a new employee joins a company, we put them through an induction process to get to know the company, its services / products, job tasks, but many times we feel that it is not enough… I remembered the first time I started work and I felt nervous, anxious, then I went through the induction I was overwhelmed with so much information. I remember that night I spent reading the material they had given me.
Over the years, receiving new collaborators or giving training courses to HR professionals, I realized that “something was missing” because the induction process had not finished closing.
When I first heard the word Onboarding from a colleague the first thing that came to my mind is this reflection: every time I get on a plane I ask myself the following question; What makes you choose that airline again? And I began to analyze the process that travelers go through to board the plane.
First of all, I have to go to the airport in advance, secure a place on the plane, choose a seat, dispatch luggage and the famous CHECK IN is where I present my documents at the counter of the airlines where I purchased the ticket, choose my aisle seat and check my luggage. Once these procedures have been completed, I will have in my hand the boarding pass with which I will be able to access the boarding area. The moment of boarding arrives, I carry out the migration process. We go to the departure hall where there are cafes, the dutty free shop, when the flight is announced, we look for our gate (gate) that says so on the boarding pass and there we board the plane. We fly and when we arrive at our destination we look for our luggage, migrations and voila!
Let's look for the analogy: the new talent or collaborator arrives at our company on time or a little in advance to make a good impression, they chose an employer brand, a job position and we from HR will do the check in, formal part and then We "dispatch" them with their new credential to their sector and some companies "dispatch" them to an induction course.
The new employee is overwhelmed with as much information, places and people to meet as if he were in the departure lounge. Restless, nervous, happy, in short with a positive stress. Once in the training room (boarding) we announce the culture, norms, internal procedures, code of ethics, mission, vision and values of the company and we take it to your gate (workplace).
What makes you choose that airline again the success or failure of the flight, customer service, service on the plane, compliance with announced times.
I wonder what added value can we give to the process of entering a new employee? And what is the difference between traditional Induction and Onboarding?
In the traditional Induction process, a one-way communication is made, from the company to the employee, it is informative and orientative and there is no follow-up of the new member. In general this process takes hours or a day.
The Onboarding creates a progressive process designed to help the new partner to successfully make the transition to their new workplace professional stage /. The new collaborator begins to assimilate, align, orient himself and integrate his new responsibilities and the resources he has to do his task.
There is a constant interaction with the new member, with a two-way communication, so that the collaborator contributes quickly in carrying out their tasks, assuming their role, understanding their new job, connection with their colleagues, boss.
It is not a training program but an integration process that guarantees the success of the incorporation of the new employee. It can last from three months to a year.
In this process, the employee feels more secure and comfortable with their activities, they begin to generate circles of trust with their colleagues, they gain self-confidence, they feel motivated, therefore, their performance will be very good, clarity in the execution of the tasks. Job tasks are socially accepted participating in small talks, in informal interactions.
I can give you an example. An Onboarding process study at Texas Instruments found that employees who went through this program were in full production two months earlier than those who did not.
A successful Onboarding increases job satisfaction, commitment, the sense of belonging to the organization, lowers stress levels and we avoid rotation due to employee resignation, avoiding future re-recruitment and retraining expenses.
Arriving at the end of our journey we can conclude that: that person has desires, ambitions but at the same time fear of the new, the unknown, uncertainty of being able to overcome new challenges and being accepted by his work team.
Onboarding helps this process of transition, adaptation and integration in a systematic way of all organizational actions that support the integration of new employees. Integration occurs in the period between acceptance of the offer and full integration into the community of your company.
Giving a suitable welcome to our new collaborators will make our company remain in your professional history.
