Effective onboarding is an essential factor in getting new employees up to speed and enabling them to contribute in a meaningful way quickly. Onboarding will look different for every company and will even change as companies grow and shift their business priorities. Still, there are some common elements that can help businesses create more successful onboarding processes and improve their tech talent to get up and running.  

1. More than just HR: The term onboarding usually brings to mind HR processes, paperwork, and systems training. Leaving onboarding as a strictly HR realm, however, is missing an opportunity for employers to connect with employees during their initial time with the company and make a positive impact on their progress. Onboarding should include several factors, including level-setting expectations for new employees without overwhelming them and also attending to smaller details and “housekeeping” issues like ensuring key card access, checking the network and drive permissions, and making sure new hires understand things like workday start and end times, the structure around lunchtime, and more. When employees have this information upfront, they don’t waste time or energy trying to hunt down answers or making mistakes.   
2. Culture is critical: Modern onboarding is a joint effort between HR, IT, upper-level management, and other areas of the business. Sitting an employee in a room with a computer and asking them to read through an employee manual may be one necessary part of onboarding, but encouraging and enabling social interactions and introductions to the cultural elements of the business helps employees feel both more settled and more engaged in their early days on the job.  
3. Lead by example: Being a supervisor, manager, or executive means that you always have to set an example for your employees, but this particularly crucial at the beginning of working with new team members. Modeling the kind of behavior that you value – from work hours to team interaction to feedback – while also allowing for an employee to bring individuality into their role can help create much more successful, effective onboarding and increase employee retention rates.  

If you’re looking for new IT and tech talent for your organization, we can help. Our experience enables us to find the most qualified candidates to help support and grow your business. Get in touch with us today to help find candidates that will contribute to your company’s success.