Today’s employees are looking for growth and development opportunities in every position they take. You can improve your new hire retention by showing from the very beginning—during onboarding—that your organization supports its employees’ growth.
We recently released The Virtual Onboarding Handbook, a guide to the essential parts of a successful virtual onboarding program, including how to set your employees up for future growth and success.
The eBook includes a sample template of a virtual onboarding program, loosely based around a 30-60-90 day structure.
On the blog, we’ve been highlighting the 4 pillars of onboarding:
- My Company
- My Career
- My Team
- My Self
Check out the first three blogs, and to get all the details and the sample onboarding template, download the eBook.
Today we’re talking about the 4th pillar of onboarding: how you can support your employees’ personal and professional wellbeing.
PILLAR 4: MY SELF
Employee wellbeing is critical to career success. What you cover in your onboarding program can have a long-term effect on worker productivity, engagement, and wellness.
Worker Wellness
Give your employees the tools to stay well. This could include training on:
- How to create and maintain a work-life balance
- Manage stressful situations
- Tips to maintain a healthy lifestyle
Employees who work from home are often initially surprised by how little they move during the day. Having each department compete against each other to achieve the most steps as a team over one month is a great way to build camaraderie among remote employees and promote wellness.
If your company offers any perks like gym membership reimbursement or rewards for activity tracking through certain apps, be sure to highlight this information during onboarding.
Personal Feedback
According to a report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), successful onboarding improves job satisfaction and reduces stress.
Frequent feedback is critical to onboarding program success.
It’s said that people stay or leave based on their relationship with their manager. This relationship begins during onboarding. Use 1:1 manager touchpoints to facilitate this relationship.
Finally, find out what’s working for your new hire through periodic online surveys at each milestone of your onboarding program.
Soft Skills
Set your employees up for success by including essential soft skills training in your onboarding program. Soft skills like attention to detail, effective communication and critical thinking are some of the most in-demand skills today.
For remote teams, good communication skills are critical. You can easily incorporate soft skills training into the first month of onboarding by providing microlearning modules on your learning management platform that your new hires can access at any time.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
-Benjamin Franklin
Are you ready to kick off your virtual onboarding program?
Download The Virtual Onboarding Handbook now to get all our tips and sample virtual onboarding activities.
