Summary: 4 ways your intranet can help with the employee onboarding process.
Starting a new job can be stressful, whether it be new graduates just starting out, or experienced individuals starting a different job. You don’t know anybody, you don’t know where the lunchroom is, where the water cooler is, or even where the bathroom is. It can be overwhelming for the employee, but impact the company as it takes time before they become productive and contributing members of the organization. But do you know that you can help them immensely with a comprehensive employee onboarding process?
Settling down at a new workplace is not only overwhelming for the employees but also impacts the company. Generally, employee onboarding takes some time before they become productive and contributing members of the organization.
Unfortunately, as per a study from Gallup, only 12% of employees believe their company has a great onboarding strategy. But there are certain things you can do to help employee orientation and bring them up to speed using your company intranet. Continue reading to find out how!
4 ways your intranet can help with employee onboarding
1. Welcome New Hires
This should go without saying, when a new employee starts, make sure they feel welcome! If you don’t have a widget on your intranet home page to introduce and welcome new employees, consider adding one. What this does is it will feature the new employee’s profile right on the home page to let other staff members know there is a new hire starting, making it easier for staff members to recognize the new person and introduce themselves.
Another great way to welcome them is to assign a ‘welcome buddy’ to the new hire. This person will show the new hire where everything is, from the staff room to where resources on the intranet are located.
2. Create an Employee Onboarding Site
The best way to get new employees familiarized with your organization is by creating an employee onboarding site on your intranet containing all the resources necessary for the new hire to succeed. Before bombarding them with too much information, have them sit down at their computer and navigate through the onboarding site on their own. You can include onboarding documents, videos, general info, HR forms, and more.
3. Create Checklists
You can create checklists for before the employee’s start date, the employee’s first days, first months, and the first year. To start, focus on before the start day and the first days, as these are the most urgent and curtail. These checklists should include tasks that employees need to complete upon arrival, such as:
- Checking computer logins to ensure they have access
- Completing any forms that are required
- Reading and understanding company information (core values, mission, etc.)
- Watching training videos
- Filling out their Employee Profile
All of these checklists can be contained on your onboarding site.
4. Get Feedback
After the probationary period is up, meet again with the new hire to discuss how they thought the onboarding process went. Getting feedback is an important step in the employee onboarding process. Garner that feedback and use it to improve onboarding within your organization. A great way to do that is to have a 3-month check-in survey for new hires to fill out on the employee onboarding site on your intranet.
Better Employee Onboarding Improves Retention
There are several ways your intranet can assist with employee onboarding. The above tips are a good starting point for improving your onboarding process overall, ultimately leading to higher employee retention rates.
How has your intranet helped with employee onboarding in your organization? Share your stories in the comments section. If you’re not currently using your intranet for employee onboarding but would like to learn how you can, request a one-on-one FREE DEMO with a product specialist to see how you can start.
Also, to dig in deeper, you can take our complimentary internal communications assessment to receive a comprehensive report on your internal comms efforts.
