After deciding to resolve a resourcing issue, you face a considerable investment – in recruitment fees, the time and effort to screen and interview, and in taking on the new salary.

Thus, not having a plan in place to support and train the new hire, nurture their enthusiasm, and ensure they’re as efficient as possible in the least amount of time is counter-productive. Worst yet, by not providing a great experience in those first days and weeks, the energy and excitement the new starter would have had is replaced with anxiety and a disappointing first impression.

One of the most important things you can do to turn your new employees into superstars is to give them a stellar onboarding experience: 

• having their equipment and systems access ready to go;

• having a robust, standardised (and easily customisable) onboarding plan that they can follow during their first day and week, with defined check-in points with appropriate team members;

• having training resources available for them to get up to speed with their duties, the tools they’ll be using, and the business.

As logical as it sounds, it’s almost guaranteed that very few of us have had the benefit of this over the course of our careers.

The benefits for your team?

• A personalised self-directed onboarding plan, allowing them to get up to speed quickly, without a significant investment of anyone else’s time.

• The structured start translates into confidence, sustained enthusiasm, and positivity about the new employer and its investment in the employee experience.

• Any anxiety the new starter might've had about starting a new role is replaced with excitement about learning and becoming an expert.

• Gratitude at having something productive and beneficial to do during their first week!