Onboarding That Gets Employees Productive Quickly
Why Small Business Must Onboard Quickly To Keep From Overwhelming Their Superstars
“New part-time hires are onboard in 5 days or they are overboard.”
Big companies use sophisticated software, cute onboarding gifts, and boring orientation sessions to onboard their employees. Small business does not have the luxury to be so wasteful and that’s a good thing.
Productive onboarding is important, however. Part-time employees productively onboarded will stay longer, understand what is most important, and become profitable for the business faster. After all, you don’t hire employees for their benefit, you hire them for the benefit of the business. You need them to make money fast.
Productive Onboarding Can…
1. Engage employees when they are most excited to work for you. If your new hire is not asking questions they are disengaged already and might be unmotivated. You cannot train for laziness. However, you are responsible for creating an environment where the new hires feel comfortable to ask questions.
Have you made it clear that you expect them to ask questions throughout the onboarding process? Do you answer questions in a meaningful way that makes the new hire feel like they not only understand the “how” but also the “why?” Employees who understand why are more likely to follow the “how” exactly the way you want it done.
2. Set expectations now so there are fewer misunderstandings later. You already know half the battle is won when you clearly communicate expectations. Did you know you win the entire battle when you add a “because” to every expectation communicated?
We expect you to sanitize the counter because we don’t want to spread disease through surface contact. We expect you to recognize every guest as they walk through the door because it makes the guest feel special and then they are not annoyed about waiting to be served. We expect you to show up to work 5 minutes early because your fellow employees would like to end their shift on time.
3. Get the employee up to speed fast so they make a return on your investment sooner than later. Obvious, I know, right? So why do so many small businesses take so damn long to get their new hires onboarded? Get the fluff out of your onboarding process. Here is a shortlist of where to find fluff in your onboarding process:
a. Required reading (Unfortunately for us the State health department makes our staff read War and Peace length Regulations. Nothing can disengage an employee faster than boring as hell regulations. Break up the reading into chunks.)
b. Forms (Are all the forms necessary? Have someone on hand to answer questions so the new hire is not stymied and frustrated filling out your forms.)
c. Orientation (Do you like the sound of your voice? No long introduction speeches.)
d. Introductions (Cut the small talk down to, “Welcome to the team, we are excited you are here.”)
e. Facility Tours (Don’t get bogged down at the water cooler.)
Where big businesses often take up to 90 days to get a new employee integrated and onboard, we take a mere 5 days. Yep, new part-time hires are onboard in 5 days or they are overboard. Most of the time we know the first couple of days if a new hire is a fit with our values and culture.
Here is our onboarding plan developed over years of trial and error. Incorporate what you like into your onboarding plan.
General Onboarding Guidelines
1. Onboarding can be boring, make sure to mix up the boring stuff with the fun stuff. It all has to be learned, it doesn’t all have to be learned in a specific order.
2. Everyone participates in a new part-time employee onboarding, but most of the training is done by a manager to help maintain consistency. When you have a deep bench of superstars, who does the training becomes less important.
3. It’s a race to get the new employee onboarded in 5 days. Keep and maintain the momentum so we get the employee productive quickly and so we waste little time, money, and energy on training someone who might not pass muster.
4. The trainee is responsible for their training. Our new hires fully understand they have 5 days to onboard. They must have their 5-page training checklist with them at every shift. They must nag, if necessary, the veterans to train them.
We’ve found this shift of responsibility, from the company to the new hire, is key to getting the training done in 5 days. It also identifies new hires that lack self-motivation — laziness and rudeness are two character traits you can’t change.
5. At any time during these 5 days, if we determine the new hire is unwilling or unable to clean or is rude we immediately set them free to find work more suited for their skills and temperament. It’s a kindness to the new hire and it’s a superstar retention tactic. Your superstars do not want to work with whiners, slackers, and pigs.
Onboarding Checklist We Use
Before Day One
1. Get the new hire’s workstation and equipment needs ready. Don’t make the new hire hunt down what they need to do their job. I worked with a nursing home that hired a bookkeeper but had no computer for her to use. Unless you are still using paper books (God help you) your bookkeeper needs a computer.
2. Pre-frame the new hire to your staff. When you get your staff excited about the new hire they will be more receptive and have high expectations. You can pre-frame this way,
“The new guy starts tomorrow”
or this way,
“Please be sure to welcome the newest member of our team tomorrow. She’s a bright college student studying finance at the university. You’re going to love her positive nature.”
The latter pre-frames the new hire in a way that sets her up for success.
3. Send a welcome email to reinforce the new hire’s decision to work for you. You might say something like this, “Welcome to the XYZ family. You’ve made the right decision to join the XYZ family and here are the reasons why: (list benefits here).” You have now pre-framed the company in the mind of the new hire. They are expecting a positive experience.
Pro Tip: Include parking instructions in the welcome email. It’s the little things that make life easier, don’t you think?
Include all the necessary paperwork in advance (immigration, income tax, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements) so there is less time wasted on day one.
Many of our part-timers have never filled out a government form. We highlight all the fields on the immigration and income tax withholding forms so there is less confusion about what information is required. Also, we make it clear we need to see their identification documents as required on the government form instructions.
4. Have you used an email drip campaign to market to your customers? Try using an email drip campaign to onboard your new hires. Drips are easier to drink than the traditional firehose used to convey important information.
a. Email 1: Welcome email with paperwork attached, confirm email did not end up in a spam folder
b. Emails 2–6:Training material for Days One through Five
c. Emails 7 and beyond: Important policies highlight, policy changes, special guest promotions
Day One
1. Orientation
2. Tour: Location Of The Open Sign, Lights, Drop & Employee Safes, Mop Sink, Bucket, Mop, Cleaning Supplies, Toiletries
3. Expectations
4. Required Reading (boring, yawn…)
5. The Perfect Sunless Tan
6. Everyone Is Responsible for Sales And Everything Supports Making Sales
Day Two
1. Guest Room Preparation
2. If You Have Free Time To Lean You Have Free Time To Clean
3. Sales Training
Day Three & Four
1. Salon Cleaning (Did I mention how important cleaning is?”
2. Sunless Booth Cleaning
3. Restroom Cleaning
4. Sales Training
Day Five
1. Finish Any Missing Checklist Items
2. Sales Training
3. Successful Completion Of Bed Runner Exam
4. Evaluation By District Manager
a. Review Bed Runner Exam Results
b. Demonstrates Interest In Using Our Products And Services
c. Demonstrates A Positive Attitude And A Willingness To Learn
You must determine what information to communicate during the onboarding: industry-specific, company values, and operational tactics. They should know how to use the tools of your trade, dress code, scheduling, payday, and all the other specifics. Productive onboarding means your new hire stays for the long haul, understands your expectations, and is ready to hit the proverbial ground running — fast.
What’s Next?
It’s a race — onboard fast so your superstars can be productive again.
Set expectations early so there is no confusion about responsibilities.
Use a new-employee email drip campaign to facilitate the onboarding.
I’d really be in your debt if you would review the first draft of Recruiting Hiring & Retaining Superstar Part-Time Employees?
You are awesome!
Go here, even if you just want a copy and have no time or desire to give your comments: https://DonKermath.com
