Successfully onboarding new hires is absolutely essential to minimizing employee turnover and the steep costs that come with it.

Research has shown employees who make it through the first six months are much more likely to stay with an employer. By definition, an onboarding program falls within these first six months (and beyond). Managers who don’t put significant planning and energy into their onboarding program set both the company and their newest employees up for failure.

Consider the following major onboarding mistakes and how to stop them as soon as possible.

Not Involving Existing Staff

The staff you currently have are just as essential as the newest members of your team and taking care of each group can help you build a strong team while keeping turnover to a minimum.

Try to involve your staff in the onboarding and even the candidate selection process. If possible, invite a few employees to meet the final applicants one on one, and give input on the decision-making process. This helps make for a more thorough process and helps give current staff a sense of ownership over the outcome of hiring decisions.

Not Building a Strong Relationship

As with any relationship, the relationship between a manager and a new employee is built on trust. The manager trusts the new employee to learn the job and the employees trust the manager to treat them fairly. Not working to establish a good level of trust from day one is a big mistake.

As soon as the opportunity presents itself, sit down with a new hire to talk freely about communication preferences, work habits and anything else you think might get in the way of a productive relationship. Getting as much as possible out in the open not only avoids misconceptions, it is also a great way to lay a foundation of trust.

Not Expecting Different Learning Curves

Despite an employee’s past success, a new job and new set of co-workers presents a new challenge. Likewise, every new employee a company hires is different, each with their own set of skills and experiences. One of the worst things you can do is expect a new hire to hit the ground running and working with the rest of your team on a set timeline.

Not Taking Company Culture into Consideration

Becoming familiar with a new business culture often frazzles new staff members more than a new job. Learning about how choices are made across departments, and other facets of culture, don’t come naturally to everybody.

Part of your onboarding system should include a “ways we work” section that can include things like communication preferences, company traditions and unspoken rules. The objective is to fill in new hires in on all of the subtleties they won’t get from HR or upper management.

We Can Support Your Onboarding Process

At ZDA, we work hand-in-hand with our clients to ensure your workers are properly onboarded. If your company is currently looking for a talent acquisition partner, please contact our top supply chain recruiters today.

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