All you need to know about personalized employee onboarding experience
- Kartikay Kashyap
- October 3, 2023
Technology can help in making your employee onboarding experience personalized.
Do you find your recruits dozing off during the orientation session? Or not being much attentive? The new employees not paying attention during the onboarding process is a very common phenomenon. And the result ends up in a workforce, which is not fully informed, is confused, and has too many doubts about various processes. Why do you think this happens?
The cause of disinterest in employees happens when they need to connect with the onboarding process. The onboarding experience plays a significant role and most of the onboarding programs follow a one-size-fits-all approach. But this approach rarely works. All stages of the employee lifecycle are an experience now. If employers fail to give a good employee experience, most likely, employees will have a disengaged workforce. Employee onboarding is the first stage of an employee’s lifecycle. It is when you welcome your employees and introduce them to the overall values and culture of the organization.
Personalized employee onboarding
What is a personalized employee onboarding experience?
Giving a personalized employee onboarding experience involves introducing an employee to his new workplace, the values of the company and its culture, and adhering to the specific needs and requirements of the employee. It involves providing individualized training and support, assigning a mentor, or giving a platform that knows which part of the company the new hire needs to know and which skills the person has to learn. A personalized employee onboarding experience results in long-term retention of employees and helps the company to save money since the cost of an outgoing employee is very high.
Why do we need to create a personalized employee onboarding experience?
Just like big brands have started to personalize their communication with their customers, HRs also need to create a personalized experience for their employees for a better relationship and bond. Giving a personalized experience helps the employees create a better bond with the company’s brand, values, and mission. It results in high performance and productivity from the very start and can also lead to better retention of employees. Employees expect a personalized experience at all stages today, and as HRs, we need to deliver our best.
Steps to make the employee onboarding experience personalized
Knowing your employees
Just like marketers draw a plan to know their customers, HRs will also have to first assess their employees’ needs and preferences. For HR, their customers are their employees, and they must stay updated with their changing needs. Before we try to personalize the employee onboarding experience, it is good to find out the background, learning style, and goals of new employees. Some employees will be more comfortable with video-based learning and can grasp things better. In that case, one will have to incorporate video and pictorial-based learning sessions so employees can grasp things better during learning sessions. Similarly, some employees will be more passionate about accelerating their careers and will need continuous learning opportunities to upskill themselves.
There are various ways through which we can assess the needs and requirements of employees. We can conduct surveys to assess the preferences of employees. Moreover, the best way is to observe the employee onboarding process and keep noting down points on how we can personalize the onboarding process effectively.
Creating a plan to make your onboarding process personalized
After collecting the data by assessing the needs of your employees, it is time to incorporate the same in your employee onboarding process. We will have to ensure that whatever information we collected through the previous stage gets incorporated into all the onboarding activities, from orientation to training employees, to prepare them for the role. These activities will include job shadowing, mentoring, and team-building exercises.
Moreover, to make a successful and personalized onboarding program, we need to come up with unique and out-of-the-box ideas. When we talk about personalizing the employee onboarding process, we also have to make it personalized for the business. Certain businesses, such as heavy steel manufacturing, will require new employees to visit manufacturing sites for newly hired junior engineers. Some FMCG companies also make newly hired interns visit regional markets to understand the business.
Welcome the employee in a personalized manner
Creating a personalized welcome kit for the employee is one way many organizations are creating a personalized onboarding experience. The kit would include hampers and goodies, which the individual would prefer to have, coupled with a personalized welcome note. It is like a feel-good factor for the new employee.
Taking the help of technology
Technology can help in personalizing the employee onboarding experience in many ways. Technology helps streamline the onboarding process, and there is very less chance of any human error. Additionally, with the capabilities of artificial intelligence, today’s technology can make the employee onboarding process more interactive, which helps make a better connection with the company.
- Virtual onboarding platform : Virtual onboarding gives employees a centralized platform to access resources and learning materials from one centralized location. These materials can include interactive onboarding modules, videos, and quizzes that cater to different learning styles.
- Personalized learning content : Virtual onboarding platforms also have e-learning modules and solutions. AI technology can personalize learning content per the employee's needs, requirements, and preferences.
Recommended Read: Onboarding Reboot for your organization : Redesign Employee Experience
In the long run, a personalized onboarding experience helps in keeping the cost of the organization in check. A bad onboarding experience can frustrate the employee, who will wander around wasting time for knowledge and information. Moreover, certain employees leave the company if they do not align with their role and the employer. A personalized approach also helps maintain equity in the employee onboarding process. Different individuals will have different learning needs and styles, and the one-size-fits-all approach does cater to the needs of new joiners.
