What Is at the Core of Onboarding?

The main objective of onboarding new employees into your company is to get them set up to work effectively. Exactly how onboarding employees works at an individual business will vary widely based on the industry, type of work being done, company culture, etc. But the basic principle should be the same: to help your newly hired staff learn what they are expected to do, how they should be doing it, and where to go when they need more guidance.

In this article, we’ll go over the important elements of onboarding in more detail and answer questions like:

• What is the main objective of onboarding?
• What are the top three keys to a successful onboarding program?
• What are the steps in the onboarding process?

Let’s get started!

What Is the Main Goal of Onboarding?

According to the Partnership for Public Service, “Onboarding is the process of integrating and acculturating new employees into the organization and providing them with the tools, resources, and knowledge to become successful and productive.”

What this means in practical terms is that onboarding a new employee might include tasks like:

• Getting needed legal paperwork filled out (like employee contracts, tax withholding documents, etc.)
• Setting up direct deposits for paychecks
• Reviewing company policies with them for paid time off and sick leave
• Introducing new hires to their managers and coworkers
• Explaining what a typical workday looks like, including where they can find their assignments or job site
• Giving a tour of the workplace
• Providing best practices for workplace communication, including how and when employees will be contacted by their supervisors

Is Onboarding the Same as Hiring?

No, onboarding is not the same as hiring, but it picks up right where hiring leaves off. Hiring a new employee typically ends when the new staff member signs a contract to begin working. Onboarding is everything that happens after and lasts until the new employee is a fully effective worker with all the skills and workload that existing staff in the same position have.

What Are the Elements of a Successful Onboarding Program?

There are three key elements to a successful onboarding program: participation, milestones, and following up. When you are designing your own onboarding program for new employees, be sure to structure it around these elements to get the most benefits for your business as well as for your new hire.

1. Participation | You need employees to participate in the onboarding process. Sending a bunch of emails requesting forms to be filled out is unlikely to be successful if your employee doesn’t have a company email and works away from a computer all day. For non-desk employees like construction workers and warehouse staff, sending text messages through a system like Yourco is often the best way to encourage participation.

2. Milestones | New hires should have clear milestones laid out for them, along with a timeline for when they can expect to reach them. This could take the form of a checklist with all the onboarding milestones listed. These might include:

• Filling out forms for:
• The background check
• State tax withholding
• I-9 employment eligibility verification
• Reading and reviewing:
• The employment contract and employee handbook
• Benefits enrollment
• The paycheck schedule
• Receiving training for: 
• Equipment usage
• Safety best practices

An initial list of these milestones sent via text message helps an employee know what to expect in their first few weeks on the job. A daily text with the specific milestones they can expect each day for their first week can further ensure nothing gets missed when someone first starts. Yourco’s platform lets you schedule texts for all your employees, so setting up a series of onboarding texts is a breeze.

3. Following Up | New staff should continue to be supported through the onboarding process beyond their first few days. So how do you know if onboarding was successful? Setting up an onboarding program with a 30/60/90 day plan of employee improvements ensures that your staff is getting what they need to fully do their jobs. Feedback surveys from new staff also help a business understand what they are doing well for their onboarding and what could be improved in the future. With Yourco’s text scheduling tools, you can create followup messages to be sent out at the correct times so you don’t risk forgetting this important step.

What Are the 5 Cs of Employee Onboarding and How Can Yourco Help?

The five Cs of onboarding are compliance, clarification, confidence, connection, and culture. At Yourco, we know that onboarding can be a complex process with a lot of moving pieces to keep track of. With employees that don’t work at a desk, don’t have a company email address, and/or may not have regular computer access, it can feel even more challenging to do onboarding well.

But Yourco makes it easy to do all five C’s of onboarding with your non-desk workers.

• Compliance – Legally required forms for workers are a necessary part of onboarding. Yourco allows employees to submit finished forms via text message and stores these messages for future reference if needed.
• Clarification – Newly hired staff need clear instructions about what they should do when they begin their new job. Yourco enables easy two-way communication so employees can ask clarifying questions. Yourco’s platform even includes translation software for your non-native English speakers so they don’t miss out on important information either. 
• Confidence – A well-organized onboarding program can instill confidence in a newly hired worker. Yourco’s platform makes sending onboarding documents and training materials easy, so your new hire is confident that they’ll have the support they deserve.
• Connection – Making connections at work improves a new employee’s productivity, communication, and morale. With Yourco, teams can stay connected more easily with individual text messages that remove the pain and complication of group texts.
• Culture – A company culture is built by shared goals, attitudes, and behaviors. Yourco’s platform allows for clear communication through easy-to-receive and read SMS text messages. This makes it easier to get a new hire on the same page with your existing company culture.

Yourco simplifies communication with your non-desk employees, streamlining the onboarding process. The Yourco platform includes employee group segmenting, automatic documentation, custom access levels, and more. When you’re ready to take your onboarding to the next level, contact us or try for free to get started.