preboarding.
what is preboarding?
Preboarding is the period or process between recruits accepting their job offer and their first day on the job. It’s a part of the onboarding process and plays a vital role in introducing new employees to your company and their new position.
In the UK, about 1 in 5 (18%) job seekers felt a sense of regret after starting a new job when they discovered the job or the company differed from what they believed. A good preboarding strategy should help remedy many of these cases.
As an employer, making the preboarding process as seamless as possible for new employees is essential to help them settle into their new job and adapt to your company’s culture and processes.
what happens during preboarding?
Several activities occur during preboarding, depending on the role and your company’s onboarding process. Be sure not to overwhelm your new employees with too much information or too many processes.
- Announce new arrivals. Inform your existing employees about your new hires—you can do this via a company-wide email and on your LinkedIn page. Give them brief details about each employee and share their LinkedIn profiles.
- Answer FAQs before they ask. New employees usually have questions; you can take care of them using an FAQ resource. The resource should provide general answers that can be used across all departments.
- Give them a welcome pack/company swag. Gifts make new team members feel at ease and welcomed. Remember to prepare company swag or welcome packs for each new hire. You can even personalise them based on their role.
- Share a company handbook. If you have a manual that details everything about your company, departments, resources, and benefits, this is the best time to share it with them. They’ll need to understand your perks, policies, and culture before getting started.
- Give them a buddy: It’s often easier to ask one of your peers about some of the more mundane stuff. It’s a good idea to provide access to a friendly peer who is doing or has done the role this new hire is going to be doing. It helps the new hire to feel like they have quickly established one new friend at their new place of work.
Depending on the role, it could be one week or three months before an employee starts with you. Regardless of the period, prepare them adequately for their new role in your company.
why is preboarding important?
The success of any recruitment process is not just attracting the best talent but retaining the talent. Your preboarding process is crucial in building up recruits, staging them for success, and improving loyalty. Here are some of the benefits it offers:
it excites and motivates new employees
New employees are usually anxious. There are usually a lot of expectations, and they tend to worry about what to wear on their first day, when to arrive at work, whether to bring lunch or their personal computers, etc.
Preboarding helps to ease new employees’ nerves and get them excited to join your company. They shouldn’t spend time stressing over their first day but should be motivated. Your aim is to build excitement and confidence for their first day at work.
it fosters relationships
Some companies wait until the first day of work to introduce new hires to their colleagues. With preboarding, you can introduce new employees earlier, which helps them develop relationships before they begin working.
Connecting with other employees, allows new hires to build relationships in a low-pressure environment. It enables them to learn how friendly, welcoming, and accessible their new team members are—this will ease some of their first-day jitters.
it minimises turnover
About 51% to 100% of graduate employees in the UK quit within 24 months at their new job. Such a revelation should be worrisome for employers, hence the need to improve retention rates. The right preboarding strategy can be beneficial, and it helps you deliver the ideal work experience while minimising bottlenecks as they transition into their new roles.
The preboarding stage allows you to get your new employees excited about their job at your company and the possibilities awaiting them in their new roles. A video presentation about your company culture, work environment, benefits, and growth opportunities can be helpful during the transition.
streamline your hiring process with hireful.
Finding the best talent for any role or position in your company starts with the hiring process, which should include an effective onboarding process. This is important in making it seamless for new employees to settle into their new jobs and helping them from the get-go.
At hireful, we believe automating your processes can make hiring and onboarding convenient for your team. Our ATS offers all the necessary tools, including integrating new employees into your HR systems. Book a 15-minute intro call, and we’ll show you how you can benefit from our solution.
