The 4 C’s of Successful Employee Onboarding

Onboarding is a critical process for engaging new hires. First impressions count and no employee wants to arrive the first day with a pile of paperwork to complete and without the necessary equipment. The best onboarding programs enable new hires to begin contributing quickly, reduce employee turnover, and increase retention.

SHRM has identified the following 4 C’s to create a successful onboarding program:

• Compliance is the lowest level and includes teaching employees basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations.
• Clarification refers to ensuring that employees understand their new jobs and all related expectations.
• Culture is a broad category that includes providing employees with a sense of organizational norms— both formal and informal.
• Connection refers to the vital interpersonal relationships and information networks that new employees must establish.

Here’s how technology can help you accomplish the 4 C’s of onboarding:

• Compliance: The first step is enabling new hires to access and complete company and government documents online via an employee onboarding portal. HR can then easily monitor document completion, ensure documents are only accessible to those who require access, and set retention policies so that documents are retained for the appropriate amount of time.
• Clarification: By providing access to an HR knowledgebase, you can give employees all of the relevant HR-related information they need to complete the onboarding process. You can also provide information related to first day FAQs. New hires will be able to access this knowledgebase for more information throughout the employee lifecycle.
• Culture: You can brand the employee onboarding portal to reflect your corporate identity. In this way, employees are immersed in company culture before their first day on the job. Company mission and value statements, as well as welcome videos and images, can also be included on the employee portal homepage or in the HR knowledgebase.
• Connection: It is important to also include a way for employees to easily communicate and connect with HR through the employee onboarding portal. If an employee has a request, he or she should be able to fill out a form, and then chat directly with the HR manager in charge of that request.

By mixing technology into your employee onboarding program, your company can greatly improve the new hire experience, and build a foundation for employee success.