Nothing says you have a great organizational culture like a great employee onboarding process

February 4th, 2015
Written by: Elizabeth Richards

Experts say that culture is one of the most critical aspects of onboarding new employees. Indoctrinating or assimilating an employee goes far beyond making sure they know the location of the restrooms and extra staples, company policies and, of course, their roles and responsibilities. Culture is the way an organization approaches challenges and opportunities; the way employees treat each other; how people are coached and evaluated.

The SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series on Onboarding New Employees lists Culture as one of the “Four C’s of Onboarding”—the others being Clarification, Connection and Compliance.

Yes, culture is a critical part of onboarding, but I want to make a different—and equally important—point about culture and onboarding. The fact that your organization has a thoughtful and fact-based onboarding approach speaks volumes to your new employees about your culture.

Having an onboarding program—more than just an orientation or perfunctory welcome process—tells new hires some very important things about your culture. It says that:

• They are important! Everyone wants to be considered valuable, and never is this more critical than when someone walks in the door for the first time with an extra amount of uncertainty and anxiety. Onboarding gives them support when they most need it.

• They are worth it—not just a cog in the machine. Onboarding tells new hires that you have thought through their role and expected contributions as part of your organization’s broader mission. Everyone’s role is important and onboarding gives you a chance to ensure new folks know what theirs is.

• You won’t make snap judgments based solely on instinct. Without the right orientation program, supervisors tend to rely on their opinions and word of mouth in evaluating how a new hire is performing. A data-driven onboarding approach that features regular check-ins with the new hire, his or her supervisor and the supervisor’s manager will help create a fuller and more accurate view of the employee’s productivity.

• You’re in it for the long haul. A proper investment in onboarding says that you want the relationship to work out over the long term—that you’re an asset that will be supported and nurtured. That you don’t want unnecessary turnover.

A great onboarding process is an effective way to start expressing your organization’s culture at the most critical time in your employees’ life cycle: The day they walk through the front door for the first time.