On average, it costs about $4,000 to hire a new employee in the United States, plus months of recruiting, interviewing, and training. After such a large investment, you want to do everything you can to convince your new hire to stay with your company for a long time. While people used to aspire to work for the same company for their entire career, many workers now start looking for a new job whenever they feel disengaged. To retain your best workers, you must earn their loyalty. This should begin during the onboarding process. You only have one chance to make a great first impression!
Share Your Company’s Mission
More than ever, people want to work for companies that do good in the world and align with their values. Early in the onboarding process, share your company’s mission statement and how that guides company culture. If you can, explain specifically how their new role fits into the mission. When employees understand and support what a company stands for, it gives them a sense of purpose that increases their engagement. Engaged employees do higher quality work and are more likely to stick around.
Live Out Your Company’s Values
While it’s easy to tell new hires what your company values, it’s better to show them. If they notice a difference between what you say and what you do, they’ll quickly lose trust and may start coming up with an exit plan. Don’t make promises you can’t keep or overwhelm them with empty corporate buzzwords. If your company values innovation, have a new hire spend some time during onboarding with someone who recently started a new project or spearheaded a change. If teamwork is important, make them part of a team from the start. This doesn’t fall solely on the HR department. While all employees should live out your company values, make sure new hires spend time with colleagues who are fully engaged and represent the best of your company.
Help Them Feel Like They Belong
Once you win your new hire over with your company’s mission and values, they’ll want to belong. Don’t let them down! Be sure to have their workspace set up when they arrive and greet them with a welcome basket full of company swag so they see you took the time to prepare for them. It often works well to assign a buddy or mentor who can help them get more comfortable with their day-to-day responsibilities and facilitate introductions. But a new hire needs more than one relationship to really feel like part of your company. Be deliberate about connecting them to a wider team. Consider a welcome lunch. Involve multiple people from various departments in their training. Don’t assume they’ll make connections on their own or remember everyone from their tour on the first day. Continue to provide opportunities for your new employee to get to know and work with others even after the onboarding process is complete.
Show You Care
Everyone wants to be valued as a person, not just someone who can get the work done. Companies build loyalty when they show that they genuinely care about the people they employ. Since most people find starting a new job stressful, you can boost morale by making the onboarding process as hassle-free as possible. One way to do this is to enroll in the Berks Headshots LINK program to seamlessly provide each new hire with a quality headshot at a studio that will treat them well and provide posing guidance and expression coaching to help them look their best.
We recently photographed a new hire from a company who regularly sends employees to our studio. During her session, she told us that she’s excited about her job because they do things like this to go the extra mile for employees. At her last company, she received a cheap headshot that she hated seeing everywhere. She was amazed at the difference with this headshot experience and felt taken care of by her new company.
Make the Most of Your Onboarding Process
Enthusiasm is contagious. Don’t we all want employees to talk up our company to complete strangers? Even in this changing work climate, it’s possible to win the loyalty and respect of our employees and retain them for years to come. Through the onboarding process and beyond we should engage them in the company’s mission and culture and come up with creative ways to show that we care—like a morale-boosting headshot session with Berks Headshots.
