5 Tips for On-boarding New Employees

In the wake of the upswing in the world’s economy, more and more independent retailers are hiring across the board. Oftentimes that means more first-days and more hires to train. The truth is, the longer the ramp time, the more costly it is for the company. That’s why every retailer should adopt effective on-boarding practices to cut down on ramp up time, and save money in the long haul.

In this article, we are going to look at trade tips and tricks on how to effectively onboard and retain new hires.

1. Define what productivity means for your company

Ramp time is an essential part of on-boarding new employees. It simply refers to the period between when a worker is hired, and when he or she becomes productive in the workplace. That’s why you need to define productivity relative to your business’s bottom-line. In most cases, you can use metrics such as social reach, ramp time to revenue ratio, lead conversion rate, and pipeline management and generation to gauge productivity.

The big idea is to make sure that the new hire knows what’s expected of him or her by the end of ramp time. Ensure that the metrics for productivity are measurable and attainable for the activity and time.

2. Personalize the on-boarding process

On-boarding a new employee should be much more than conducting a conventional first-day orientation. It should be a multi-faceted approach that takes the new hire through an individualized process. Instead of using a boilerplate guideline, for instance, you can ask the new hire how he or she likes to be managed or trained. This way, you can learn about new employee’s personal goals so you can get new ones accordingly.

3. Make it Product-Based

If you’re bringing in a new hire to the sales or marketing team, it’s best to skip company-wide training and get down to the real stuff. What will the new hires service or sell? Think of the product or service specifics and categories so you can identify how much the new employees have to know early on. More than that, you will work towards deepening their knowledge of the product from day one.

4. Nail the Details on the First Day

For most new hires, the first day is often stressful, and they spend most of it trying to impress. If you bombard them with lots of info, the chance is that they aren’t going to remember most of it. As such, you should stick to the basics to make their first day comfy. Make sure that you present information in an easy-to-understand manner.

5. Create a Plan — and Stick to It!

On-boarding is an ongoing process that doesn’t end after two days or a week of orientation. You should have a plan that spans several months so you can get feedback and address issues accordingly. Even so, you should have someone who’s accountable and makes sure the new hire is up to speed quickly.