Checklist: New Employee Onboarding

Hiring is just the first step in expanding your team. Are you ready for training employees?

We all know that hiring new employees is never convenient. Once you get to the point that you need to hire new workers, you don't really have the resources to onboard them. Knowing the best ways to get a new employee settled in is imperative in getting them started faster and contributing to your team.

Here's the catch: different people need different help when getting settled into a new job. Onboarding a workforce veteran is very different from hiring a fresh Gen Z employee.

So how do you set your new Gen Z employees up for success?

Step One: Let new employees know what to expect

Giving new employees a roadmap of training helps them feel more secure.

For many members of our newest generation to the workforce, this is their first job. The corporate world is a foreign concept--and quite different from the scholastic world they are accustomed to.

Gen Z is used to education that is more individual-based and attentive. It can be jarring to go to work and not be immediately told what to do and how to do it.

Before you even start training, let them know the overview of how training is going to go. Give them a checklist of projects you'll have them working on, a list of resources of places to go for more information, and an idea of what will be expected of them when.

Being clear about training will help your new employees feel secure about their new position, but more importantly, it will help them rise to your expectations. If they don't know what you want, they can't give it to you.

Additional resource: How to set clear expectations for employees.

Step two: Show new employees what is theirs

Getting employees comfortable with their surroundings creates a positive work environment.

There is nothing more disorienting than being in a new environment and not knowing what you are allowed to use.

Start off a contract with an employee with a tour of your work facility. Show them the break room, water cooler, what appliances they can use, where to find a copier or office supplies, and anything else they might need.

The goal is to make your employees feel comfortable in their new environment. Showing them around will help make them more comfortable with where they are and more likely to stay with your company.

Comfort often helps people to be happier, and when people are happy then they tend to work hard, which has a positive impact on workplace productivity. -Insights Success

Even better, an employee that is familiar with their surroundings is going to be more self-sufficient.

Step three: Get your team involved

Integrating someone into a team means having the team help train.

A workplace is a community--even a family. As soon as you have a new employee, get them involved with the rest of the team so that they integrate faster into the workforce.

What your new employee is doing might not directly pertain to every team member you have working for you--yet. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be involved with each other.

It's been said a million times, but it's worth saying again--Teamwork matters. Acquainting your employees with each other will help make that easier in the future because they'll know who they can go to if they need help.

At the end of the day, the most important part of employee onboarding is setting your new hire up for success.