Three Tenets For Successful Post-Pandemic Onboarding

A strong onboarding process is crucial to getting your new hires up to speed and acclimated with the company, but the process is much more than that. A good onboarding sets your new employees up for success by showing them the resources available to them and the support network they will have, and it gives them valuable insight into your company culture.

Experts like management consulting firm Sia Partners point to a well-done onboarding process as a significant factor in a new employee’s success.

“Onboarding is normally seen as a “check the box” activity, but it’s the most important thing a company can do, especially when you’re onboarding in today’s remote environment.” -Sia Partners

Of course, onboarding becomes a more difficult hurdle to overcome in this post-pandemic world. The pandemic changed the hiring world in two principal ways: a shift towards emerging technology and a surplus of workers looking for employment in an uncertain world.

Per the Society for Human Resource Management (as reported at USA Today), unemployment jumped from 3.5% to 14.8% in the first three months of the pandemic. With the concept of ‘normalcy’ changing on a daily basis, organizations had to adapt and embrace new technology. Even workers that didn’t lose their jobs were looking for new work at ever-increasing rates.

As the country begins to heal, it’s clear that remote and hybrid work models are here to stay. This prevents a new obstacle for employers, who may only see their new employees on a screen. While this makes onboarding difficult, a well-prepared organization can still set its new hires up for success and welcome them into the company culture. We provide three major tenets to be aware of in this new age of onboarding, with help from the experts.

Embrace technology

It may seem obvious, but technology is the heart of remote work and the reason all of this is possible. How many people were overly familiar with Zoom prior to the pandemic? Now, it’s become a part of day-to-day life so familiar to use that even our children are savvy users. That means it’s crucial to stay up to date on current and emerging technological trends as they arise.

The Business Journal’s Niki Jorgensen suggests that everyone in the organization use the same platforms and be familiar with them. “For remote onboarding meetings and introductions, managers should design the process to use the same video conferencing platform used by the entire organization. Instant messaging platforms can help new hires build relationships with colleagues by encouraging the casual interactions typically reserved for the office. If employees are to use these tools in their daily duties, managers should ensure recruits have a solid understanding of how and when to use them.”

With everyone on the same page, and not just the hiring managers, it fosters a sense of community and continuity within your organization. This way, a new hire can ask anyone in their department for assistance.

The Alternative Board believes the missing ‘water cooler’ element can be recreated on Zoom by having a virtual “welcome party” for new employees. This allows them to see their new coworkers as people and provides opportunities to make workplace friends.

Prioritize culture

Using technology like this to create a human touch is one way to get your new hire to see your culture at work. If your employee is just completing their work behind a screen with no investment or correction to your organization, you’re doing both parties a disservice.

The University of Pittsburgh offers some suggestions. By providing a company handbook (and maybe some fun facts), your employees will get a chance to really know who you are. Beyond that, taking extra time to go over job responsibilities and expectations in a one-on-one setting provide a sense of clarity. By being specific with expectations and taking extra time to answer questions and be available, the new hire will feel valued.

Jorgensen adds that a company can provide activities that highlight cultural pillars and promote the corporate community.

“If collaboration is a pillar of the workplace, management should schedule time for hires to meet with new colleagues, either one-on-one or in a group setting.” – Niki Jorgensen

Ultimately, community, clarity, and plenty of time are the keys to emphasizing your culture.

Communication is key

The common theme in both of the above tenets is apparent. At its core, communication is the key to a good onboarding process, and without daily in-person interactions, it becomes even more essential. As employers, you should make sure extra time is allotted to check in with your new hires. The Alternative Board states that learning by osmosis and walking around the office aren’t viable learning options in a digital setting, so employers need to have regular meetings and open a back-and-forth dialogue.

Elearning Industry’s Eleni Zoe Papaioannou offers six challenges of onboarding remote employees, and most of them, including challenges such as feelings of isolation, personalizing the experience, and avoiding miscommunication, can be solved with constant and clear communication.

Talent Culture’s Jo Meunier believes an emphasis on soft skills is vital to interacting with younger workers, and skills like creativity, complex problem solving, and critical thinking can be fostered by a stable culture with good communication. Not only is excellent communication necessary for onboarding but for the employee growth afterward as well.

Wrap up

Onboarding in the digital age is an evolving and complex concept, and academic studies on the topic are increasingly popular. What’s clear is that the workplace changes brought about by the pandemic are here to stay. Employers need to adapt to this new world so that they can recruit and maintain the top-tier talents they deserve.

The Society for Human Resource Management offers a helpful how-to guide on setting up a virtual onboarding process linked here.

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5 Signs You’ve Found The Right Candidate For The Job

Whether you are looking to fill a role internally or for a client, the ability to know the makings of a great candidate goes beyond a strong work history. Finding success in recruiting requires thorough investigation and great instincts. In addition to aligning company and candidate values, personality and culture fit play a significant role in finding a perfect match and ensuring employee retention. Often portrayed through the attributes of the former athlete, here are five clear-cut signs you’ve come across the right candidate for the job:

Well-Prepared & Naturally Inquisitive

A strong introduction is critical as it shows the candidate’s enthusiasm for the role, passion for the industry, and high interest in the organization. A great candidate will have thoroughly researched the organization and position before conversation. When they’ve taken the time to truly understand a company, it shows their motivation is pure.

Is the candidate posing unique, in-depth questions or generalized questions concerning their own selfish ambitions? The more qualified professionals will have the ability to demonstrate their skills and experience through the thought-provoking questions surrounding long-term goals, business strategy, and issue resolution.

While a high energy level should be conveyed in their cover letter, the candidate must remain consistent in phone conversations and interviews. There is a reasonable cause to be excited when a candidate appears confident and has checked off the early boxes. However, a senior-level background and leadership potential is not the end-all-be-all to the makings of a prime candidate. To become a leader backed by followers, employees must first master the art of listening and understand what it means to be a good follower.

“Nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.” – Lawrence Bossidy, Former COO of GE.

Visible Knowledge & Proven Results

Insightful and well-informed candidates are hard to come by, but finding such professionals is an excellent prerequisite to the makings of an all-star employee. With a track record of success, you will find the candidate’s forward-thinking will shine through, and they will be able to bring ideas to the table quickly. If they find ways to contribute to the company during an interview, they set a strong precedent for what a future relationship holds. 

Beyond any bullet points from a resume, a great candidate will be able to provide specific examples or statistics showing they are a goal-setter and goal-achiever. Tying into the job description and organization’s values, the candidate will have data or documented progress to showcase their potential and relevance to the position at hand.

While you want your phone conversations and interviews to run smoothly, you can expect to receive some ‘pushback’ and hard questions when speaking with a quality candidate. If you are the only one driving conversation, it’s easy to assume the candidate has not given the position a lot of thought or is naturally reluctant in discussion.

Clear Communication & A Winning Personality

In coordinating various interviews, screenings, and monitoring job postings, hiring managers and recruiters are not keen to wasting time on incompetent job-seekers. When candidates respond quickly and professionally regarding a job opening, they provide a strong first impression to employers aiming to promptly work through the interview process. From job application to a final interview, receiving active and polite communication from a candidate reveals a strong level of interest and forecasts a responsive and alert employee.

When you can see energy in their body language and hear the passion in their voice, you know you’ve found a candidate worth pursuing. If you do not see positivity radiate off a candidate in conversation, it could be a red flag for what the future would hold. Aside from appearing disinterested in the role, employers should be wary of a lackluster personality, especially when rapidly approaching deadlines and internal/external business relationships are on the table. An optimistic employee is more likely to reenergize your team and take on new challenges.

You Weren’t Scared Away By Any ‘Red Flags’

In trusting your instincts, there is tremendous weight in evaluating a results-packed resume and a ‘culture fit,’ but don’t fall victim to placing all your eggs in one of these baskets. Every applicant will have their share of flaws, but only the best will acknowledge them in testimony. Finding the ‘right’ candidate does not always mean they will be the ‘perfect’ candidate. A suitable candidate will impress their interviewer with the openness and willingness to call out their weaknesses and share how they’ve corrected their mistakes. Being self-aware reveals the making of an honest and emotionally intelligent employee.

“I [trust] people who are so confident in their skills that they are openly and instantly humble about things they are not good at.” -Paul English, CEO at Lola.com

Their References Came Through

Aside from providing tangible evidence to their job performance, the best candidates will be able to have their skills and character endorsed through written and verbal testimonies. There is a strong level of comfortability that ensues with an applicant that is confident in the words their previous employers and colleagues have to say. In addition, evaluating an applicant’s social media platforms and what they choose to put out into the world will speak volumes to their character, morals, and professionalism.

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Statistics Employers Should Keep in Mind in 2021

As the job market continues to heal and the unemployment rate inches closer to the pre-COVID 3.5 percent, employers are working hard to become more marketable. With the increase of remote positions, inclusive workplaces, and upskilling, employers must finetune their brand and assure work-life balance is achievable for their team. 

Earlier this month, the team at Glassdoor For Employers pieced together 45 statistics employers need to review in order to shape a healthy recruitment model and attract top talent. We review a few of our favorites below:

COVID-19: Health & Safety

As companies continue to reopen offices and create hybrid positions, the wellness of employees cannot be taken lightly. Ensuring the proper health and safety protocols are in place is an essential piece to retaining your key employees and attracting new candidates. Beyond the tangible health and safety measures, employers must stay attuned to their responsibilities of their team’s mental health as well.

  • 86% of employees say they would prefer to continue working from home, at least in a hybrid role, when their office reopens.
  • 68% of hiring managers say remote work is working better than when they first started working remotely in 2020. Reasons included reduced non-essential meetings (70%) and increased schedule flexibility (60%).
  • The challenges of working from home: 20% cited they lack interactions and often feel isolated when working from home, and 16% don’t have a home office or dedicated space, so they feel distracted.
  • 70% agree that employees should be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to the office.

Employer Branding

Over 85% of job-seekers admit to searching a company’s reviews before choosing to interview. Whether it is on Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, or another social platform, responding to past or present employees plays an essential role in your future hires. A strong brand will not only help you attract top talent but will help you retain your top employees as well. 

  • 86% of HR professionals surveyed indicated recruitment is becoming more like marketing.
  • 75% of active job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand.
  • 92% of people would consider changing jobs if offered a role with a company with an excellent corporate reputation.
  • Employee voice is 3x more credible than the CEO’s when talking about working conditions in that company.

Diversity

How much does diversity matter to job seekers? 76% of job-seekers and employees reported a diverse workforce as a critical factor when evaluating companies and job offers. In addition to the expanded creativity and innovation that a more inclusive workforce provides, the McKinsey firm also found that ethnically diverse and gender-diverse companies have proven to be more profitable.

  • About 1 in 3 employees and job seekers (32%) would not apply for a job at a company with a lack of diversity among its workforce. 
  • 71% of employees would be more likely to share experiences and opinions on diversity & inclusion at their company if they could do so anonymously.
  • Nearly half of Black (47%) and Hispanic (49%) job seekers and employees have quit a job after witnessing or experiencing discrimination at work, significantly higher than white (38%) job seekers and employees.

Work-Life Balance

As the stress and fatigue behind the 40+ hour work weeks continue to be spotlighted, the value of a healthy work-life balance is becoming more fundamental. Enhanced by the remote work shift, the blurred lines between work life and home life are a gateway to career burnout that cannot be ignored.

  • 70% of employees said that their work defines their sense of purpose. Still, only 15% of frontline managers and frontline employees say they live their purpose at work, compared with 85% of executives and upper management.
  • Employees on average are working three more hours per day than before the pandemic.
  • 41% of workers feel ‘burnt out’ at work, and 45% feel emotionally drained.
  • A survey at Imperative found that people who engage in peer coaching are 65% more likely to feel fulfilled; 67% more likely to report being a top performer; 73% more likely to report feeling a sense of belonging; and 50% more likely to expect to stay in their job for more than five years.

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Employer Branding Strategy: Trends To Monitor in 2021

Employers: Does your brand effectively communicate the value your organization has to offer? Are you proud of your reputation in employee experience and employee satisfaction? It’s time you make the necessary adjustments to show your team how much you value their hard work, especially during the unpredictability of the pandemic. Furthermore, your acknowledgment and gratitude will often boost your team members’ mental well-being, thus improving productivity and encouraging them to show the validity of your kind words.

Many employers get wrapped up focusing on the consumer aspect of their brand, but there needs to be an equal focus on the viewpoint of employees and job-seekers. When a strong, healthy image is established through upheld core values, the quality and integrity within each employee will organically strengthen the company’s consumer brand. 

Through a well-structured employer branding strategy, companies can propel their talent acquisition to an upper echelon of job-seekers and improve employee retention. The current shift in today’s workforce calls employers to go beyond the traditional employer branding strategies, i.e., an appealing website, five-star testimonials, and detailed job postings. Here are three workplace trends today’s employers need to closely monitor and implement to stand out as a top place to work:

Increased Workplace Health & Safety Protocols

As the restrictions surrounding businesses returning to the office are beginning to lift, the health and safety protocols remain at large. You can find the CDC’s up-to-date COVID-19 Office Building guidelines and restrictions here. People want to feel safe right now, and if you decide to reopen your office, it is your ultimate responsibility to make sure the proper measures are in place. 

The necessary health and safety protocols go beyond in-office cleaning, sanitization, and social distancing. It is your responsibility to stay up to date with mental health trends by enhancing work-life balance benefits through flexible schedules, childcare assistance, and therapeutic resources. Showcase your call towards mental health awareness and wear it proudly. For the years ahead, establishing a supportive environment for your employees is crucial to retaining your top performers and attracting new ones. 

Integration of Remotely Operating Employees

While some companies near a return to their traditional in-office capacity, others remain in the preliminary stages of that transition. Regardless, the concept of remote employees and Zoom conducted meetings are here to stay. Since companies across the country are making these remote hires, competition for top talent is greatly heightened. If you can adjust your vacant positions to operating on a remote or semi-remote basis, you will open your company to 26% of job-seekers that admit requiring a work-from-home option (via Career Builder). 33% of job-seekers also revealed they apply to jobs outside their location with the expectation they would be able to work from home. 

As a result of the emphasis on remote-based positions, there is an increased value placed on company culture and reputation. Having a quick commute, provided lunches, or an office-with-a-view are much less valued with the hiring shift. The concerns of a remote employee surround topics such as lack of communication, flexibility in work hours, feelings of isolation, and the fear of office politics getting in the way of a promotion. As the employer, you must prioritize ensuring job stability and providing reassurance and fairness in performance reviews. 

An Emphasis on Diversity & Inclusion

Companies that emphasize diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as fair treatment, equal opportunity, and education, will experience immense growth because of the different perspectives and ideas they invite. Consider implementing some of your employees as brand advocates, sharing their positive experiences and excitement about their job online. Your use of social media is a great tool to showcase your responsibility in building a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Conversely, any sign of discrimination that reveals a mark of privilege or bias will be immediately put under the spotlight and have intense ramifications. 

In today’s contest for top talent, the career experts at Smarp stress the importance of attracting the right employees and looking beyond the traditional talent recruitment practices. Here are 10 of the top benefits Smarp lists as a result of diversity and inclusion in the workplace:

  • Accelerated Growth & Financial Performance
  • Boosted Innovation & Creativity
  • Improved Reputation
  • Improved Decision-Making
  • Higher Talent Attraction (67% of job seekers describe diversity as an important factor)
  • Increased Knowledge exchange
  • Increased Employee Engagement
  • Enhanced Employee Retention
  • Increased Employee Empowerment
  • Increased Employee Loyalty

*BONUS* Maintain Accurate Candidate Personas

With the high volume of job-seekers, it has become increasingly challenging to identify all-star candidates. By thoroughly defining your ideal candidate persona, you can more accurately compose your job description to align with your existing team members and culture. Analyze the resume of your current employees and inquire about the qualities that have made them successful. Take note of their demographics, educational and professional background, and any career goals they may have. Other critical questions include:

  • Adding to our three listed above, which job features were most important to them?
  • Were they passive or active job seekers?
  • What tools did they utilize to search for jobs?

Wrap Up

Don’t downplay the importance of focusing on your employer branding and how an effective strategy can impact your company for years to come. Like anything else, it takes hard work and intentionality, but establishing a new narrative through emphasized health and safety, remote integration, and diversity and inclusion will lead you to see your culture and employee output evolve over time. 

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Is Your Company’s Management Style Impacting Hiring and Retention?

Times are changing in the employment world—not to be confused with Bob Dylan’s hit from back in 1964. As more and more Millennials not only filter into organizations, but are being promoted and taking prominent roles, companies are finding themselves in a peculiar situation.

Gone are the days of conforming to the “old way” of work flow and structure. As CareerBuilder recently detailed in a post titled “7 Surefire Employee Morale Killers,” tactics like: Threatening jobs, Micromanaging, Holding employees back and much more are not only killing employee morale in the workplace, but they also do not hold the weight they once did when it comes to the manager “getting their way.”

When I was a kid, I always remember family members complaining about work and how their bosses treated them. When I asked why they put up with it, the simple response was always the same, “I need to keep food on the table.”

In 2016, that same threat will only work to an extent. CareerBuilder put it best in the aforementioned article, “Threatening your employees’ jobs in order to motivate them will almost always have the opposite effect. Rather than feeling driven to perform well, they will be distracted by feelings of fear, anxiety or resentfulness for being made to feel disposable. Not only will this take a toll on morale, it will hurt productivity and lessen the quality of their work.”

As time goes on, the line between enforcing old company rules and adapting to change in order to attract and retain top talent are crossing over more and more. This is not saying you need to change everything to suit your employees and throw all of your own policies and values out the door, but there are three areas you should consider making changes to if you want to stand out as an “employer to work for” in 2017.

Flexible Scheduling

One of the most common reported issues with employers today is the enforcement of the strict “9 to 5” work schedule. Work-life balance has been at the forefront of many employment conversations over the years, in fact, in an article written on INC.com late last year—an intriguing trend is emerging.

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 20 million Americans actively choose part-time work. They’re not working fewer hours because they can’t find a full-time position; rather, they’re engaging in a deliberate, careful work-life balance. For most, working part-time is a result of simply not being able to commit to 9-to-5 jobs.”

Offering the ability to work from home on a regular schedule helps productivity.

Offering the ability to work from home on a regular schedule helps productivity.

The article continued, “When coming to work is about more than showing up, things get done. As an employer, one great way to offer flexibility is to allow your employees to work remotely when you don’t need them at the office, or to work nontraditional hours. When the employer’s focus is on the work being done, the employees can focus on meeting deadlines and producing good work – not on watching the clock tick the seconds until it’s time to go home.”

As someone who has worked in both arenas (companies with flexible scheduling and companies without), flexible scheduling is the way to go.

A good example is a previous employer that allowed employees to flex their hours even if they were salaried employees. Most companies would just say, “Hey, you worked longer today that is on you.” Instead, this company made it a point to tell employees they appreciated their efforts to meet a deadline or to stay later one night by saying, “Report to your manager how many hours you worked late today, or if you took a shorter lunch, and find a good day to flex those hours.”

Working in data analytics and content analysis, the first week of the month was always filled with early mornings and late nights to get all of the metrics ready for the company to evaluate and the sales teams to sell with. This also meant my 8:30-4:30 hours turned into 8-6:30 or 7 p.m. on most nights. It would not be out of the question to look down at the time sheet at the end of the week and see a big old +10-20 hours next to my name.

Instead of burning myself out, my bosses would allow me to flex that time (start a little later, leave a little earlier) the rest of the month because it helped avoid burn out.

Offer Free Food and Snacks

USA Today conducted a study last year which yielded results all employers should know. According to the study, “While the majority, 56%, of full-time employees are “extremely” or “very” happy with their current job, that number jumps to 67% among those who have access to free food, the survey of more than 1,000 full-time office workers found. Though just 16% of employees said they get free snacks and treats at work.”

When it comes to Millennials, they are a leader in the “food at work” movement. The presence of food in the workplace is actually a selling point for recruiting top-tier talent to your work place, according to the article. “Snacks may even lure employees to new companies: 48% of respondents said that if they were looking for a new job, they would weigh company perks, including availability of snacks, in their decision.”

Tech companies have long been known as the leaders in this movement, but they are not the only ones. The article noted that companies like “…Ann Taylor, Tesla and Visa,” are making major investments in food for employees. These companies have teamed up with NatureBox, a company that provides a snack subscription service.

Google is well known for offering free food offerings to their employees.

Google is well known for offering free food offerings to their employees.

So, does the mean you need to start offering a full kitchen? Absolutely not—companies like Google are on a completely different level offering around the clock meals and free food for their employees.

What it does mean is that your company should consider becoming more progressive when it comes to food in the workplace, offer snacks to your employees—or at the very least allow them to bring their own snacks to munch on while doing their job. If an employee is spending time worrying about being hungry, they are likely spending less time worrying about doing their job while on the clock.

Better Bonus Structures

If you work in the sales world, commission and bonuses are a regular part of your vocabulary. You get the base salary for doing the “grunt work,” and then the reward comes when that contract is signed, sealed and delivered and your commission and bonus checks arrive the following month.

But what are you offering the rest of your employees who are executing the plans sold by the sales team?

This was something commonly stated by the digital and web team I worked on at a previous employer. The sales team would go out and land major advertising deals (which often included a lot of incentives) that the digital team would have to devote a lot of extra time to deliver. At the end of the month, the long hours put in to deliver these orders only did one thing for the digital team—overwork them.

As time went on and the sales team would see major bonuses and commissions, it was difficult to keep morale up on a digital team that was now tasked with finding ways to grow traffic more than they were expected to meet demand—with no incentive other than keeping their job. Something as simple as a small bonus structure for ensuring the sales team’s major oversell would have gone a long way—instead, over 50 percent of that team ended up moving on from the company.

What does this mean for your company? Find a way to allow all employees to share in the success. Continuing to receive a paycheck only goes so far, you need to show employees their efforts in executing and delivering are just as important as the efforts of those who are selling and getting those bonus checks.

Obviously money is known as the major motivator, but other rewards like giving them a half day on a Friday, free lunch and more could go a long way. I was not even in management at that old company, however, every time I went out and got pizza, cheezy bread and chicken dippers to share with the team as a surprise lunch after we crushed out a major digital deliverable, there was a noticeable uptick in team morale. Sometimes, it is the little things that keep employees happy, and could go a long way in helping you retain and attract top talent to your company.

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