These are the special touches that will develop devoted employees and help your organization thrive.
In the current staffing environment, who has time to revamp onboarding? Historically, most organizations view it as a necessary burden to get new hires up to speed so they can perform their job. And who can blame them? Things are B-U-S-Y!
Fun fact! The organizations that put extra effort into a great onboarding experience have significantly higher employee retention.
Onboarding can (and should!) be so much more than signing some policies and attending a few training sessions. This is an organization’s chance to make a great first impression. To increase staff retention and improve the organization, employers should focus on connection, purpose, and commitment as guiding principles for onboarding.
Standard onboarding vs. better onboarding!
The new onboarding strategies involve not just showing the new hire how to do their job. It’s about explaining why this is a great place to work and how new hires can grow and contribute to a greater purpose.
Typical Onboarding
- Teach and test technical skills required for the job
- Present policies and procedure binders for review
- Sign the code of conduct
- Show location of the bathroom, breakroom, etc.
- Quick team introductions
Result: Staff are technically competent and safe to perform their responsibilities. Doesn’t help retention.
Best Practices for Onboarding
- Show what makes your organization special
- Explain the larger purpose of your organization
- Talk about the value of an employee’s specific role
- Foster connection with coworkers
- Coach to think for themselves while training on specific tasks
Result: Engaged employees who feel a meaningful connection to the organization and commitment to improvement.
The main takeaway: show new hires what makes your organization special. If you can get them to buy into the larger purpose, they’ll be less tempted to leave.
Answer these important questions:
- How is your organization special?
- What makes your organization attractive to employees?
- Why is it a better place to work than the facility down the street?
- What are the organization’s mission, vision, and values?
The answers to these questions are your starting place for developing an exceptional onboarding process. Whatever makes you special, make sure the onboarding process demonstrates that.
Younger workers especially are looking for purpose and passion in their work. An onboarding program can show them ways to find meaning in what they do on a day-to-day basis by connecting those tasks to the goals and vision of the organization as a whole. This is your chance to inspire them and make them want to stay, despite challenges.
Examples of how you can implement some of these practices:
- To foster connection, schedule time during meetings for ice-breakers or games that let employees get to know each other better.
- Encourage leaders to take individual staff members to lunch or coffee as part of onboarding. This shows employees they are valued, and also gives leaders an opportunity to hear from staff.
- Include training materials that share the company’s mission, vision, and values. This could be a pre-recorded video from the CEO, a story about how the organization helps patients, or a group chat with a company leader to explain what makes the organization special.
- Share quotes or short videos profiling staff members who put their own personality or spin on their work, and who understand how their role contributes to the overall mission.
Doing onboarding right does add a few steps to the process, but the time is well worth it. To make the process as easy and efficient as possible, be sure you’re taking advantage of technology and automation.
MedTrainer helps you implement these best practices more easily:
✅ Upgrade your onboarding checklist. Make it interactive and role-specific with our onboarding paths tool.
✅ Make a better experience for new hires! Our software lets staff complete steps in the correct sequence, at their own pace
✅ Remove manual follow-up with automated reminder emails based on your set due dates
✅ Awe-inspiring record keeping with automatic documentation for each step
✅ Check on new hire’s progress anytime, from your desk, with a streamlined dashboard and quick reports to see who’s done what
✅ Simplifies onboarding for organizations big or small
Sign up here for a private tour of MedTrainer’s software, trusted by over 300,000 healthcare professionals and counting. Or call us at (888) 337-0288 to learn more.