How do you actually onboard new employees?
A new employee often mainly learns how one colleague works, not how the work is best done. Good onboarding starts with recording what you want to pass on.
A new colleague starts on Monday. A laptop is ready and someone gives a tour. After that they learn the work from whichever colleague happens to have time. And that colleague does it slightly differently from everyone else.
That is how it goes in many companies I know. Nobody does anything wrong. But this way, the new employee mainly learns how one colleague works, not how the work is best done.
What the numbers show
According to Gallup, only 12% of employees think their organisation does a good job of onboarding new people. And a survey by UWV, the Dutch employee insurance agency, among some 4,000 employers shows that only 19% of employers focus on better onboarding to prevent people from leaving. Yet whether someone stays is often decided in the first year.
First know what you want to pass on
Good onboarding only works when you know what you want to pass on:
- Where is the best way of working recorded?
- Who may decide what?
- What do you expect after four weeks, and after three months?
If that is not written down anywhere, no onboarding plan can solve it.
How the HELDER method tackles this
In the HELDER method, it starts with recording the best way of working for each process. Onboarding follows that way of working. You tailor the support per task: where someone is already capable, you let go. Where they are still growing, you help.
A new employee sees what you no longer see
There is something else that almost nobody makes use of. In their first weeks, a new employee sees things you stopped noticing years ago. Ask about this deliberately after four weeks. Answer every idea within five working days. That way every new colleague also becomes someone who improves things.
Source: Gallup, Why the Onboarding Experience Is Key for Retention. UWV, Onboarding: een goede start voor personeelsbehoud (2024, in Dutch).