When hiring your first employee, onboarding seems like a simple, straightforward task, but it’s more complicated than most businesses think. An effective onboarding process is key to long-term success, dictating how your employees will operate moving forward. A poor onboarding process means your employees are not getting the information and training they need to work efficiently and effectively.
Expert onboarding training is a worthwhile investment because it sets your staff up to perform at their best, reduces costly turnover, and builds confidence from day one by providing the tools, clarity, and support they need to succeed.
Let’s go over some common mistakes we see small and medium-sized businesses make when it comes to onboarding a new hire.
Common SMB Mistakes in Employee Onboarding
1. Not Having a Structured Onboarding Plan
Having a structured onboarding plan as soon as you begin hiring employees is essential.
While every hire is different, not having a set onboarding plan leads to confusion and inconsistency in how your employees operate. It’s important to ensure everyone on your team is on the same page, so that they can deliver the top-tier service your business requires.
A structured onboarding plan doesn’t just benefit the employee, it makes your job significantly easier — because let’s be honest — staying organized as a business owner/administrator is not easy. On top of all the other work you do for your business, you shouldn’t be expected to stay on top of onboarding without a plan to guide you.
Simplify the process by building an effective employee onboarding plan that you can use for years to come. As an example, download our FREE Employee Onboarding Checklist below:
2. Onboarding Too Fast
Business owners sometimes get into the habit of trying to get through the onboarding process as soon as possible. We cannot stress enough that this is not a good way to onboard a new hire.
Too much information at once is not just overwhelming for the employee, but ineffective in the long run. If the employee can’t absorb the information you’re giving them because you’re moving too fast, then they likely won’t be able to recall that information later on (a.k.a on-the-job). Best case scenario is they ask for help, worst case scenario is they make a major mistake.
Onboarding should be a multi-day process. As you teach new hires about their responsibilities and work processes, give them the chance to put it into practice before moving onto something completely new.
3. Overlooking IT Setup
Not having an IT setup first thing can derail the entire onboarding process, because your employees don’t have access to tools like company email, login credentials, and databases. While tedious, IT is a step that cannot be skipped. Any delays lead to an extended onboarding phase.
We like to refer to this part of the process as “pre-boarding”, a proactive approach that ensures you have these small details, such as a company login, set up before the new hire’s first day. By setting up IT ahead of time, you can go straight into the more meaningful aspects of the role on day one of onboarding.
4. No Feedback Loops
It’s hard to get onboarding right the first time. While you can perfectly follow an HR guidebook or certain methodologies, onboarding is not one-size-fits-all. So take the chance to ask your new hire how they honestly feel about the onboarding process.
Did they feel onboarding was too long, or too short? Are there any aspects of the role they still feel confused about? The feedback given will help you continuously improve your onboarding experience as a whole, while also tailoring it to individual needs.
Additionally, asking for feedback on the onboarding process shows employees that you value their input, which will make them feel heard and supported.
HR Onboarding Training for Small to Medium Businesses
Our HR onboarding training is designed to meet the evolving needs of employees, because we understand that a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective in the long-term. Instead, we help you adopt an approach that is flexible, practical, and employee-focused while adapting to the unique needs of your organization.
Why Small and Medium Businesses Require Onboarding Training
SMB don’t typically have a large, dedicated HR team who can handle a bulk of the responsibilities that come with onboarding. This leaves business owners and management who are already busy with day-to-day tasks tackling most of the onboarding responsibilities, often with little to no HR experience.
It results in an inconsistent and disorganized onboarding process that misses compliance requirements, making onboarding not nearly as effective as it should be.
Businesses could spend months — or even years — correcting mistakes and retraining employees in areas that were missed in the onboarding stage.
Ineffective onboarding also leads to:
- Performance issues with new hires
- High employee turnover
- Lack of productivity
- Employees feeling disconnected with the company and culture
- Compliance risks that could put your business in legal jeopardy
How Does H2R HR Onboarding Training Work?
Our HR onboarding training equips small-to-medium businesses with the tools, knowledge, and skills needed to deliver a valuable onboarding experience. We’ve helped many small and medium-sized businesses develop an onboarding strategy that meets compliance requirements and helps new hires feel welcomed, informed, and ready to succeed from day one.
As Canada’s trusted HR experts, our HR onboarding training educates you and your team on best HR practices so you can onboard new hires with confidence. Here’s what our onboarding training process looks like:
- We start with onboarding compliance training, educating you and your team on what legal requirements must be met. Additionally, we help you prepare any legally-required policies or procedures.
- We work with you to understand your business inside-and-out, helping us design an onboarding process that reflects your company culture, values, and needs.
- We teach you how to build a structured and personalized onboarding plan, complete with easy-to-use onboarding timelines and checklists that are tailored to different roles and departments. This makes onboarding into a seamless step-by-step process that supports both you and your new hires.
- We train you on how to engage with new employees, ensuring you facilitate a welcoming and supportive environment.
- We teach you how to use various HR technologies designed for onboarding, which can automate more tedious parts of the onboarding process and make you more efficient.
- We audit and evaluate your current onboarding process as well as the new onboarding process we build together, helping you identify gaps and improve overtime.
- Optionally, we help onboard employees on your behalf, allowing you and your team to concentrate on day-to-day business tasks and stay organized.
If you ever find yourself confused and stressed by the onboarding of new hires, don’t let it affect your business goals. We understand that you have a lot on your plate, so let us support you with the HR expertise your business needs to succeed.
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