Onboarding costs your company both time and money, so it only stands to reason that you want your onboarding processes to be incredibly effective at both welcoming and instilling your culture in new hires.
If your company culture is strong, chances are you’ll be able to retain these employees past the first three months when your onboarding practices are consistent.
Some of the common mistakes that can lead to early turnover include failing to provide any structure, overwhelming them with too much information on the first day or not helping them integrate with the larger team.
Define Clear Expectations
The last thing you want your new hire to feel on the first day is completely lost and uncertain of their responsibilities. Don’t simply tell them to load up with a crew and let them figure things out on their own.
Regardless of their experience, talk to them about what their day typically looks like as well as what to expect throughout a month. Outline a basic 90-day plan for the new employee so they know what they’ll be doing versus simply wondering.
On the flipside, don’t drop every bit of knowledge on a new employee during the first day. While you want to get them up and running quickly, cramming everything they need to know in a single workday can leave them feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.
Break down the information over a couple of days including safety demonstrations, technical training and going over your various processes. When training, don’t overlook the importance of explaining the why behind certain tasks. When people understand the thought behind it, it makes it much more intuitive.
Use the Buddy System
Establishing a connection early on with fellow coworkers can play a major factor in whether a new employee stays on long-term. One way to help them integrate faster is to assign a buddy or mentor whom the new hire can feel comfortable going to with general questions they might not want to ask their direct supervisor.
This buddy/mentor can also show the new employee around and introduce them to people, giving them a familiar face and aid in getting to know everyone.
You can also combat the sense of isolation by hosting a welcome lunch for your new employees during their first week. Ground Works Land Design creates a video introducing their new hires to the rest of the team by highlighting the person’s interests.
Share Feedback and Appreciation
Lawn care and landscaping is demanding work, and those unfamiliar with the field work can become easily discouraged and feel undervalued.
This is why it’s important to have regular check-ins with your new hires and see how they’re doing. You can do these as frequently as every week or every month; just make sure you’re doing these intentionally.
Ask questions such as ‘What can we do better?’ ‘How can we make you feel more comfortable?’ and ‘What has been your biggest challenge so far?’
Also, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box with different methods to express your gratitude early on for them joining your company. This could be anything from giving them a goodie bag of their favorite treats to a gift card for dinner to celebrate their new job.
“We’ll send a little card with the flowers that’s at least $100,” says Jason New, principal of McFarlin Stanford. “It’s bigger than what they’ll ever buy themselves. It’s a way of saying thank you and welcoming the family. We believe that’s a big part of making people culturally feel welcomed to the team that they made the right decision.”
Incentivize Staying Long-Term
Another tool to encourage employees to stay on long term is to highlight your career ladder so they know that their position is more than just a job. Discuss with them what steps they can take to progress to the next level and how long that would typically take them to reach it.
If you have employee referral bonuses, opting to pay these out over a period of time can also incentivize new hires to stick around. Hopefully, over this amount of time, they will get bought into your company culture and feel connected to the team before the final payout.
A similar incentive is if you provide profit sharing, you can use this as motivation for them to see the year through. Typically, being able to reap the reward of their commitment and hard work can create buy-in for your organization as well.
Also, offering these types of benefits can help new hires feel valued by the company from day one, making it likely for them to stick around for the long haul.
