Stop a minute and think about this: why have an onboarding process for your employees or contractors? Despite the employee onboarding process being one of HRM's best practices, some employers have yet to embrace the concept in their companies fully.
Based on a recent survey, as many as 76% of HRM professionals believe that onboarding practices are underutilized in their organization. That is a scary big number considering that the onboarding process and practices have immense benefits for a company.
For your coaching business to get started on the right foot, we’ll educate you on why you need a successful onboarding process.
What is Employee Onboarding?
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) defines employee onboarding as the process by which new employees are integrated into an organization. The process includes activities that allow new employees to complete an initial new–recruit orientation process as they learn about the organization's structure, vision, mission, culture, and values.
Onboarding is about making the employee become part of your company. Therefore, there is no specified timeframe for how long the orientation process should take. It can extend to as many as twelve months.
It also means that employee orientation is not the same as employee onboarding. However, it is part of the onboarding process as it offers the new employee a general introduction to your workplace processes and practices.
The Major Components of an Onboarding Program
The best onboarding process is the one that is customized to the specific employee category. For example, the onboarding process for a contractor shouldn't be similar to that of a permanent employee.
However, vital components will be integral for your coaching business irrespective of the type of employee you are onboarding.
Pre-Boarding
The general expectation is that you will hire an employee ready to work in your business for a long time. If that is the case, you are better off laying the foundations for your relationship early enough.
That is why pre-boarding is vital to warm the new employee up to your business. Pre-boarding begins after the employee accepts the offer to work in your business but hasn't started working for you.
The following are some pre-boarding strategies you can adopt for your coaching business.
Emailing the employee some introductory information about your organization
Connecting the employee to another colleague who will be part of the employee's onboarding process
Sending a care package to the new employees. An example of such a package is a business-branded t-shirt
Orientation
The orientation is pretty common, even for businesses that do not undertake the full orientation process. It is the stage where you formally introduce your new employee to your business.
In the orientation stage, you introduce your employee to important details about your business, like organization structure, culture, mission, and vision. It is also the stage where you introduce employees to their responsibilities in your coaching business.
Foundation Building
There is a huge difference between an employee knowing and understanding your business values, mission, organizational culture, and vision. An employee can master all these within a week.
But understanding their value to your business can take longer. That is why the foundation stage is vital for your onboarding process.
Organizational values and cultures are better learned through assimilation. The foundation stage allows you to provide the new employee requirements for this assimilation through socialization and leading by example.
Mentoring and Onboarding
When you know someone has got your back, it becomes easier to settle down in a new environment. The learning process is also easier when you have someone to ask questions about the business. That is why it is a good idea to pair your new employee with a mentor.
Why You Need an Onboarding Process Now
These vital components of the onboarding process offer a partial explanation of why you need an onboarding experience for your coaching process. Now let's focus on the reasons why you shouldn't be among the 76% of businesses that don't utilize onboarding fully.
Onboarding Allows Your New Employee to Become Acclimated
Athletes will tell you the importance of conducting warmups in the actual sports venue is to allow them to get accustomed to the venue in terms of the playing surface and to test how their playing gear adapts to the venue.
The sports analogy applies to a company where there is a need to onboard a new employee to help them familiarize with your business. Onboarding offers the recruit a head start by learning about the business while being part of it.
Acclimatization is vital to an employee in that it helps them to:
Understand whether your business offers them exciting career development opportunities
Appreciate their position within the business
Determine the value, they can add to your business
Onboarding Allows Your New Employee to be Productive Quickly
The importance of a good head start during the onboarding process is that your new employees get up to speed with everything happening in your coaching business. That means they will settle quickly into their new roles and have a higher possibility of reaching optimum productivity levels much faster.
Now think of another scenario where you leave your new employee to figure out things independently. They will spend a lot of time figuring out how things work within your business.
Too bad if you already have an automation system that the new employee is not conversant with. It will take them even longer to figure things out. It can even take such an employee 8 to 12 months to reach their full productivity levels if you fail to onboard them effectively.
Onboarding Improves the Level of Your Employee Engagement
There is no better feeling when you’re a stranger who moves into a new place and is welcomed with open arms. It is a relief because you eliminate much of your anxiety about settling into the new environment.
A proper onboarding process signals to your new employee that you care and would love to feel at home in your new environment. Such a strong connection will eventually translate to your new employee being more dedicated and engaged with everyone and everything within your business.
And if the HRM theories and concepts are to go by, it also contributes to higher employee retention. You’ll retain your engaged employee mostly because they know that if they need something, they can ask you without having to face negative consequences.
You’ll also be free to share feedback that’ll enable you to move your business toward achieving its goals. Because everyone understands the destination and what they need to help the company get there.
Automate Your Onboarding Process Now
You can certainly improve the success of your onboarding process by making it more efficient. But that is only possible after you automate and streamline your business system. Find out how to do this for your coaching business and enjoy your freedom through automated systems today.
-min.png)
Comments