Building a compelling employee experience is one of the key factors of a successful business which lays the foundations for increased loyalty and higher retention rates. However, it is essential to keep in mind that the experience of an employee actually begins far earlier than the day of joining. Thus, from the time they accept your job offer, you need to ensure that you create a great experience for them.

An efficient pre-onboarding and onboarding process helps HR to improve employee retention rates. It also increases productivity and the organization’s reputation.

In this article, we will discuss what is pre-onboarding, its advantages, and the steps to be included in your pre-onboarding process. As a result, your new employees get a warm and pleasant welcome even before their joining. This sets the stage for them to become highly valuable and productive contributors to the company.

What is Employee Pre-onboarding?

Pre-onboarding of employees is the time phase between a candidate accepting your job offer letter till the day of their joining. It is also sometimes referred to as preboarding. This duration could last for a few days, or even months in cases where new hires have long notice periods to serve.

The goal of pre-onboarding is to utilize this period in making new hires familiar with their job position and firm so that they are ready to begin from the first day. As a result, they will feel welcome and engaged which will make them eager to join the team. It’s also a wonderful chance to complete all the necessary administrative work before their joining day so that the onboarding phase can be more engrossed in the induction program and introductions with new colleagues.

Advantages of Employee Pre-onboarding

Previously pre-onboarding used to be a relatively inactive time for new employees. After accepting the job offer, a candidate would eagerly await their joining day to get introduced to the business. However, nowadays many organizations understand the advantages of involving new employees from the moment they are hired.

Some of its Major Advantages are as Follows

Introduce them with Company Goals

Before a new hire joins the team, you have the chance to introduce them to your purpose, vision, values, and workplace culture through preboarding. This facilitates the early collaboration of new hires with your company.

Complete Documentation Before Onboarding

Preboarding also gives a chance to complete all administrative tasks beforehand. So that the new employee can concentrate on other important work on their first day rather than spending hours filling out non-disclosure forms. This enhances the experience of new hires.

Improve Team Engagement

Making a strong impact on new hires immediately is another excellent strategy. Before their first day, the employee can start forming bonds and become attached emotionally. As a result, this enhances team engagement and reduces the time taken by the new hires to be productive.

Steps in the Employees’ Pre-onboarding Process

The pre-onboarding experience sets the bar for the employees on what they can expect in their entire journey with the organization. It’s basically the first genuine impression a new hire will have about you. Thus, it can greatly influence their decision to stay with your business for longer. So, creating a structured pre-onboarding procedure is essential if you want to provide new hires with the greatest possible start in their work journey.

In order for you to incorporate all of the crucial elements in your pre-onboarding process, we have created a pre-onboarding step-by-step guide for you

Warm Welcoming of New Employee

The pre-onboarding procedure begins with welcoming your new employee into the team. Even though it may seem simple, a casual email or phone call might make your new hire feel welcome and engaged. This will perhaps ease their first-day nervousness and make them realise that you are available to assist them with anything they need before they start working.

Completing all Administrative Work

Preboarding is an excellent opportunity to do any tedious administrative work before a new hire’s first day. By doing so, employees can spend their time getting to know their new coworkers and learning about the corporate culture rather than wasting it filling out forms and opening accounts.

Documents that are included in the onboarding process are tax papers, contracts, and nondisclosure agreements. Also, the onboarding process includes opening corporate accounts, confirming personal information, entering personal data into payroll software, and completing government employment documents. For a smooth documentation process, HR can send an invitation link to new hires through an automated onboarding software where employees can be able to self-upload the documents. It will save their time and enhance the employee experience even more.

Conveying the Company’s Policies

Provide new hires with the company’s handbook so that they can go through it before their joining day. For a better understanding, you can prepare a FAQ sheet for them, mentioning commonly asked questions with their answers. Share the details about HR policies like the code of conduct, working hours, leave policy, etc.

By going through the company’s guidelines they will better understand what type of behaviour the company expects from them. In case of any doubt about the workplace policy, they can clear it in the onboarding process.

Notifying the Team About their New Member

Now, it’s time to introduce the new hire to their team. For an introduction, you can send an email to everyone in the team about the new employee with their short bio. You can even ask the new hire to introduce themselves through personalized mail. It looks simple, but your small gestures can make your new employee feel happy and engaged. Additionally, it’s a great method to incite excitement within the department and foster bonds between them.

Inviting them to the Organization’s Event

If your organization is hosting an event, utilize this time and ask your new hires to be a part of it. If your company is working remotely, organize some events online so the employees will get to know each other in an informal setting. By doing this, they will get a chance to initiate communication with the other employees, and seeing a familiar face on their first day will make them less nervous.

Conclusion

Giving new hires great pre-onboarding makes their experience better with the company from day one. By giving them a great welcome, clear communication, and prompt support, companies can create a good first impression and lay the groundwork for a successful long-term relationship with their new hires. For your reference, this blog has provided a step-by-step pre-boarding guide, which will help you to increase your company’s employee retention rates, engagement, and productivity.