What Is the Difference Between Onboarding a Regular and a Non-Desk Employee?

Communication is the main difference between onboarding an at-desk and a non-desk employee. While this may seem like just one aspect of the entire process, it’s what makes the rest of onboarding possible.

Yet, businesses that rely on non-desk workers can often struggle with connecting with team members, especially when onboarding employees. Why? Because the main channel of business communication is typically email, and most non-desk employees have limited or no access to email. This results in low open rates; the average non-desk worker opens only 20% of emails. During onboarding, this means that employees could miss important training, documents, and safety procedures.

There’s a better way. Texting employees results in much more effective communication. In fact, non-desk employees open an average of 98% of SMS text messages. With an internal text communication platform like Yourco, you can make non-desk employee onboarding more efficient and effective.

In this blog, we’ll answer some frequently asked questions about the unique challenges of onboarding non-desk employees. We’ll also show you how SMS texting could be the right communication solution for your business. Let’s get to work!

What Is Onboarding Used For?

Onboarding non-desk employees should accomplish the following key tasks:

• Teach new hires how to fulfill their duties and pull their own weight on your team.
• Provide thorough safety equipment and protocols for new hires.
• Complete all necessary documents—like tax forms and employment contracts—to comply with labor regulations.
• Give new hires the chance to connect with team members.
• Build helpful relationships between new hires and mentors.

While each of these tasks are vital to complete on their own, a successful onboarding process checks all of the boxes. Texting non-desk employees ensures that you can complete each onboarding goal in a timely manner because new hires will actually see messages and participate in the process. Watch our demo to see how it’s done through Yourco.

How Does Onboarding Impact the Performance of an Employee?

When done properly, the impact of onboarding is that new hires will perform better and have higher job satisfaction, according to Harvard Business Review. Because onboarding includes training on both an employee’s specific role and company operations in general, it plays a huge part in how well employees feel prepared to do their jobs.

In contrast, ineffective onboarding processes hurt productivity and can lead to employee turnover. If your new hire doesn’t know how to do their job correctly and safely, they can slow down projects. Employees who aren’t properly trained will also have to rely more on team members, who will then have less time to fulfill their own duties. Both of these consequences will often cause frustration for new and experienced employees, increasing the risk of turnover.

With an SMS text messaging platform like Yourco, you can distribute training and safety documents that new hires can store on their phone and access whenever—and wherever—they need to.

What Are the Three Most Important Components of Employee Orientation?

The three most important components of employee onboarding are administrative, orientation, and enablement. Let’s take a closer look at each phase:

• During administration, new hires complete necessary paperwork, such as the direct deposit form and I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form.
• During orientation, new hires learn how they fit into your organization, and they tour important locations, are introduced to team members, and meet their trainers.
• During enablement, new hires receive ongoing training as well as regular check-ins with mentors.

Quick, clear communication is a necessary component of each onboarding phase. To smoothly transition non-desk employees into a new role, connect with them through the channel they prefer: SMS text messaging. Explore our website to learn more.

What Are the Benefits of Onboarding Past Orientation?

Then benefits of onboarding past orientation are:

• Higher productivity
• Improved safety
• Lower employee turnover rates

When creating or redesigning your onboarding process, you may wonder “Is onboarding the same as the first day of work?” and “Is onboarding the same as training?” Both of these questions lead to the same answer. Onboarding is an ongoing process that includes the first day of work, training, and so much more. To make onboarding more effective, many businesses adopt 30/60/90 plans. These plans schedule regular check-ins and opportunities for feedback. This ensures that onboarding includes thorough orientation and training instead of ending once new hires complete their paperwork.

Who Should Be Involved in the Onboarding Process?

The onboarding process should involve your HR team (whether in-house or outsourced), team leaders, and most importantly, your new hires! It may seem obvious that new hires should be involved, but many businesses make the mistake of having an onboarding process that happens to employees instead of with them.

Feedback surveys are a fantastic way to engage your new hires during and after onboarding. As a bonus, you’ll get valuable feedback about how to improve orientation, training, communication, and other key elements of the process. With Yourco, you can send out surveys and receive feedback all through SMS text messaging.

Get the Most from Your Onboarding Process with Yourco!

Onboarding doesn’t have to be difficult. Make your process more effective and efficient by communicating with your team members through the channels they already use. For the majority of non-desk employees, their preferred channel is texting. As an internal text communication platform, Yourco simplifies texting employees with the following features:

• Accessibility controls to manage who can access which conversations
• Automatic storage to ensure accurate record keeping
• Mass text messages that start individual conversations with each recipient instead of clunky group chats
• File sharing to send and receive important onboarding documents
• Linking with popular survey creation tools like Google Forms and SurveyMonkey

Start new hires off on the right foot. Try for free to see how easy it is with Yourco or contact us for demo.