It is the responsibility of a supervisor of any organization to welcome new workers and make them aware of the values and culture that drives the organization. On-boarding enables the organization’s new employees to grasp and comprehend what goes on the context of work and learn how to fit in and be part of the organization. Onboarding is a process that involves several steps which must be followed to ensure new employees adapt to the organizational environment:
Scheduling an onboarding session. The supervisor, together with the human resource manager work in coordination to arrange for an onboarding session. The purpose of this session on the first day employees report to work is to give them basic information concerning the operations of the firm.
The human resource manager then makes follow-up on the new employees providing information on their onboarding session and makes a copy to the supervisor. The email is meant to give more information on the exact day and time of the session, parking directions to the session, the venue for the onboarding proceedings, the documents required for verification and employees’ birthdate details to aid in creating their IDs.
Provision of hires’ ID information to the supervisor. It is the manager who feeds the supervisor with this information by use of mail to enable him/her to create email accounts for the new workers and register them for the needed classes.
Attending the onboard session. The new employees now start attending the session to learn about the organization and its environment. On day two of the session, the manager sends emails to new employees welcoming them and makes a copy to the supervisor. He also emails the supervisor about training reminders, evaluation information and benefits information (Bradt & Vonnegut, 2009).
The two critical elements to focus on are team involvement and information. When it comes to onboarding of new workers in any organization, the entire team has a responsibility to participate. This work should not only be left to the human resource management because the new employees at some point will need to interact with other members of the team or rather the organization. The involvement of the entire team in onboarding will motivate the new employees to gain more interest in the affairs of the organization and develop a sense of attachment and belonging hence giving them an easy time to adjust and adapt to the affairs of the organization (Stein & Christiansen, 2010). Team involvement is also believed to boost the interpersonal relationships between the new and old employees which is a prerequisite for effective communication in the organization.
Information, being the cornerstone of onboarding must be ensured to make this process effective and relevant. The human resource manager must ensure that not only all but correct information is passed to new employees to ensure that they get the correct perspective of what the organization advocates for in terms of policies, values and culture. Experts are required to make clarification on conflicting matters of the organization so that employees have first-hand basic information from which they can develop rational conclusions. This information needs to be made clear especially in the global environment because different organizations support different ideologies and beliefs (Westwood, Johnson & American Society for Training and Development, 2011).
Reference:
Watkins, M. (2003). The first 90 days: Critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Bradt, G. B., & Vonnegut, M. (2009). Onboarding: How to get your new employees up to speed in half the time. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Stein, M. A., & Christiansen, L. (2010). Successful onboarding: A strategy to unlock hidden value within your organization. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Westwood, R., Johnson, L., & American Society for Training and Development. (2011). Onboarding for managers. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development.
