The Unexpected Value of Human Resource Management

There are a number of things that the human resource management team must take care of in a company. Their jobs entail taking care of the company’s most valuable resource, the employees. Only a company with an efficient and effective labor force can function well enough to progress by leaps and bounds. The best way in paving the way for optimal profit. It is the person in charge of human resources to make sure that the employees of the company are happy and as productive as possible, creating new and unexpected value of human resource management.

HR managers perform a plethora of tasks. Starting with recruiting the best employees possible. Then it’s off to learn employee needs, having contingencies to deal with employee shortage. Negotiating with non-company employee organizations such as unions. Controlling employee performance, managing salaries, and benefits. It’s all about ensuring maximum productivity within the least amount of costs.

These are some of the major tasks of an HR consultant. Each of them has a lot more under its umbrella. It is safe to say that a good HR manager has a huge positive impact on a company.

The planning starts from the very first day of employment, to make sure value is created for both the company and the employee.
Especially the first few days, these are the deal-makers of the productivity. These will become the norm during their entire employment period. Hence, it is necessary that efforts were made in advance to ensure a lasting impression.

What is employee onboarding?

As an HR manager or consultant, you may receive many questions about new hires coming in. Especially in regards to making the employees feel comfortable and motivated in the workplace.

Amongst HR specialists, there is a term for the process of familiarizing and motivating new employees: “employee onboarding.”

According to The SHRM blog, onboarding is a comprehensive process to get the new employee fitted in the team and company: “Onboarding is not a one-day, one-week or one-month event. It is an ongoing process that starts with the decision to hire an employee and continues until the new hire is a productive member of the team.

Why is employee onboarding important?

We’ve already discussed how important a company’s human resources are for its progress and well-being. New employees are the new blood of the company. It is imperative that we make the process of their entry as accommodating as possible.

A company cannot afford to lose valuable new additions to its workforce. Especially when it’s because of ineffective employee onboarding processes. You need a great system to keep the employees happy and wring out the greatest productivity from them.

Employee Onboarding Plan

Companies or management organizations cannot expect to come up with employee onboarding behaviors on the spot while dealing with new employees.

A lot of planning and consideration must go into forming a viable employee onboarding framework. This is where the HR manager of the company comes in – for example using onboarding software.

Here are some factors you need to keep in mind when building an employee onboarding plan, focusing on adding the value of human resource management.

The first day

Out of all the days, your employee will be working at your company, the first day is the most significant. It is important that you do not botch it up.

Remember that first impression is the last impression, especially from a business point of view. It is best to have someone show the new initiates the ropes on the first day.

Make sure that the instructions given to the new initiate are distinct, so that you can avoid mishaps on the new employee’s behalf.

Someone helping out the employee will have two significant outcomes. First, the employee will feel at ease knowing what exactly is expected of them and will not be fumbling around. They will not be feeling disheartened on their first day. They will feel like they belong to the organization. Having talked with a member will help them ease into the community of workers.

Keeping up

Although the first day is important, the days following it are no less so. The employee must not be left to their own devices after the introductory help on the first day. You need to keep checking up on them for the first few weeks to make sure they have adjusted to the environment and work.

This establishes a relationship. One where the employee does not feel hesitant to clear their confusions. Feeling like they matter to the organization enough for its management to keep tabs on their well-being.

Once you feel that the employee has begun getting comfortable, you can stop checking in on them. Additionally, it is best to keep your probing as subtle as possible.

You do not want the employee to feel overwhelmed. Neither do you want them to perceive your concern as nagging. It is important to keep them as motivated as possible.

Prepare everything

Make sure there are no shortcoming of preparation on your end. The employee’s workstation must be equipped with all the stationary, devices, and other pieces they need. They should not have to worry about asking around for the essentials.

Giving the employee a map of the company. Include all the details such as the name of the employee and their objectives. Goals of the company is also a must, and anything else to familiarize the employee. Hard copy is a good way to start. A brief description of the organization’s culture can also be given to make the employee feel at home.

As HR managers, we realize that we have a duty to make sure the new employees are always at their best. While taking care of older employees is not an insignificant task either, it cannot be denied that the new ones require more attention than the ones who are already used to their role in the organization.

Employee onboarding processes. Designed to make the transition from a stranger to an important resource of the organization as smooth as possible, and will also stop employees from leaving.

But, you must not go overboard with this facilitation because you do not want to coddle the new employees. You want them to be responsible and productive as well as loyal to the company’s objective.

You cannot buy that loyalty with a high pay package – you need to accommodate the employee and garner their satisfaction. Using these methods will ensure the maximum value of human resource management.

Marketing Manager at Valker.io

10 Things To Improve New Employee Engagement

First impressions are everything. This is true for people as well as companies. When you focus on improving new employee engagement, the company as a whole must leave a good first impression. Often that first positive glimpse into the culture of the organization will stick with a new employee for a long time.

 

 

When onboarding a new employee the focus is usually on the mundane stuff. For example getting all the paperwork in order, showing a person their desk and giving a tour of the office.

Those things are important, but what is often overlooked is a way of making sure a new employee feels at home. Employee engagement is essential, work will be their new home away from home, a place where they will spend a large part of their day.

Research has shown that a happy and loyal employee is more valuable to the company. Here are ten things to improve new employee engagement:

 

Make sure the logistics are ready

A workplace, a badge, even a stapler. Not having these simple things ready for the first day might make someone feel unwelcome.

A company should prepare for a new employee. There is no reason to roll out the red carpet. But having a computer that works, a connected phone and access to the software. All things needed to get started have to be on a list, to keep track. It is important to show a new employee that the company is on top of things.

 

Share helpful documents

Starting at a new company can be overwhelming. The first days are packed with information that is important to remember, but easy to forget. Things like the number of the front desk, how to contact IT and who is their boss.

Having a document of all those helpful things will take away a lot of first-day day stress. Ask long working employees what they think should in it and create a FAQ. Make a contact list so the new employee knows who they can approach for help with certain things.

 

Create visuals

Speaking of things that are easy to forget, on the first day a new employee will meet a lot of new people. They will hear a lot of names and will forget some of them again by the end of the day. This doesn’t mean the employee isn’t interested in meeting their new co-workers. Research says that our brains are wired to recognize faces, not names.

An easy way to remedy this and to put a human face on the company is to use a service that can help with this.

 

Assign a mentor

Assigning a mentor to help and support a new employee is paramount to a good onboarding process. They can answer questions and give guidance. They are the gatekeeper to the company and can help make a new person feel welcome and a part of the team.

With a mentor, the new employee will have someone they can rely on. Someone they can bombard with those important first-day questions if they want to, helping employee engagement.

Be sure to select a good mentor, because just as management a bad choice can ruin an experience.

 

Break the ice

There are almost no jobs left where teamwork isn’t an important part of the work. Fitting in with the team is always crucial to employee retention.

The team has to know who is going to be joining them and they must be involved in making their new co-worker feel welcome.

Introduce a new employee to the team and get them involved right away. Grab some lunch together, take a team picture, get drinks after work, in short, have fun together. Nobody is asking the team to become best buddies right away, but a little socializing goes a long way.

 

The tour

Then, of course, there is the tour. No matter how big or small the company, a new employee must get acquainted with their new workspace. As smooth as possible, this stimulates new employee engagement in the long run. So show them where the bathroom is, where the copiers are, which coffee machine likes to make a mess. Don’t skimp on the details – they are equally as important as the big location inside the location.

But don’t stop with the company itself, are there great restaurants nearby? A coffee shop with the best lattes in town? Help them get their bearings and find a way in their new place.

If they are from another country, city or they do not know the surrounding it’s important to give them some more tips to travel around.

 

Share fun things

If there are fun and social activities around the workplace, make sure to include the new employee.

Whether this is a company sports team, a volunteering project or a weekly food run, get them involved. Getting along with co-workers improves employee engagement with the company.

Getting them motivated and excited beyond the company role is very important.

 

Debrief after the first few meetings

Meetings have their own dynamics, rules and often contain a lot of jargon. It is going to be difficult to explain what is going to happen before you step into one. Take a few moments after a meeting has ended to debrief a new employee. to explain some of the happenings and answer some questions they might have.

This will help with new employee engagement and the new staff member to understand how it all works.

 

Keep them busy

You have to make your new employees pleasantly exhausted at the end of the first day. Don’t bury them with work on the first few days, but don’t give them a chance to be bored either.

The solution is giving them small tasks, not busywork. Little things that will contribute to the work and will help the new employee  build their confidence.

 

Ask for feedback

And finally, the best way of finding out what a new employee needs and wants is to just ask them.

Do it at the end of the first day or the first week, their input is invaluable to improving your employee onboarding process.

They can tell you what tools they need in the future and what things they can do without.

If you keep an open line of communication with him or her among the many months to come, their engagement will surely improve.

All these things will help you with making new employee engagement progress a huge success.

It’s also a great idea to do the onboarding for a big part online, to save time and money.

A great tool for this is Valker, early access is now for a select few members so make sure to register!

 

Request Early Access to Valker

Please wait...

 

Marketing Manager at Valker.io

5 Great Methods For Improving Employee Motivation

Improving employee motivation is more than a paycheck. Especially with the next generation of workers. 
What motivates one employee can be different from what motivates another.

Find the best methods and keep it personalized. Everyone has something else they need for personal motivation.

It may look easy to motivate people by throwing money at them, but that doesn’t always work – here are some great alternatives.

 

Reduce red tape

Some great companies still have the red tape running through them like it’s 1980. Having rules is important, but once you go overboard you destroy employee motivation.

Excessive bureaucracy is a known killer of motivation. From the smallest startups to the biggest companies it is important to reduce it as much as possible.

The more you let your employees perform actions without second-guessing them, the more they feel valued. Improving motivation by providing value is a two birds one stone situation.

A good example of reducing red tape is the use of an “open door” policy. Reducing the effort it takes for employees to talk to higher ups. This proven method helps in improving job relationships.

 

Great onboarding process

Motivation for the job starts well before the very first day.

From the moment they write their signature you can do a lot to start building employee motivation.

Streamline the process to get them up and running as efficient as possible. An effective onboarding process will ensure that the new employee feels ready and motivated.

A great onboarding process will save your company a lot of hassle in the future. But the most important thing is that it will help the new employees. By covering all the bases you will make sure they have a great start.

“It’s a valuable tool for any company to get happier and more productive employees.”

You can use onboarding service such as Valker to get the new employees motivated and excited for the first day, improving employee motivation.

Request early access to Valker

Request Early Access to Valker

Please wait...

 

Effective reinforcement

Giving a compliment in a public setting such as a company meeting will go a long way. Focus on what they accomplished and what it does for the company.

Become a positive presence for the employees. Especially when they come to you looking for reinforcement.

Let struggling employees know how much they mean for the company. Losing faith in ones ability to perform is a slippery slope. One slope which you can help rebuild by reinforcement.

But reinforcement goes the other way too. If there are disappointments, let them know. You are expecting the best performance but always keep focus on the positive. It’s important to not drag employees through the mud.

The indirect approach is great, make employees learn from mistakes. No one likes direct critique, this only reduces employee motivation.

Try to have specific feedback. Focus more on the smaller accomplishments. It will be far more effective to compliment someone on very specific skills than a general “you did great”.

Remain a positive influence and employees will respond in kind. Especially when it’s from higher-ranking managers.

 

Career development

As a manager, you need to keep an eye on employee ambition.

The greatest ambition comes from possibility, especially in a corporate setting.

Support your team with career coaching, give them opportunities to improve. It’s a good idea to make a personalized development plan for each employee. This makes them feel valued in the organization.

Keep your company objectives in mind when mapping out an employee development plan. Consider the long-term goals and try to plan with that in mind to get a hand in improving employee motivation.

“Creating a career path and demonstrating advancement and promotion opportunities through development can help you retain your top talent.”

says Lynne Klein, human resource advisor at Insperity.

Team building

There are almost no jobs left where teamwork isn’t an important part of the work.

Organizing group activities for your team will have a great effect. It doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of time. Smaller team building exercises are effective as well.

The important thing is doing. Start by getting the ball rolling.

For example trivia, an escape room, charades or a good old-fashioned office party. Get employees involved and ask for ideas.

Team building sports are great as well, but for every company or group, there are certain things that will work and plenty that don’t. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different activities.

Combine certain groups of the office that never work together, go across departments and make everyone interact.

This enforces the working relationships by socializing, increasing productivity. It also improves the morale in the office, in turn improving employee motivation.

Communication is a great reason to use team building. Working comfortable with your co-workers needs good communication. Because who doesn’t love an office where everyone enjoys talking to each other.

Team building increases the trust between your employees. Removing the space between the leadership team and employees.

Give leadership the opportunity to interact as a colleague rather than a boss.

 

 

Marketing Manager at Valker.io

6 Ways You Can Dominate New Employee Orientation

Most employers get it wrong from the get-go when they make new employee orientation about the company. These programs are much more successful geared towards the new employee.

This is your typical employee orientation:
– Bring them to the boardroom.
– Bore them stiff with the history of the company.
– Then after that give them a proper tour of all departments.
– You will introduce them to the relevant department heads, and then you will break for coffee.

Sounds boring right

All along, the message you are sending is: “Welcome onboard your newest adventure. Find a way to fit in and absorb yourself into this culture. You are lucky to have made the cut.” After that, they will become a part of the firm.

While this has been the norm in corporate affairs all through, it’s far from perfect or interesting.

You can improve on it, make the experience more welcoming and include more information. Helping new employees embrace their new environs and prepare them for a great time at the company.

By helping the new employees get used to the internal office culture, you will help them feeling welcome and improving their company loyalty.

Regardless of Size, Orientate

First, let’s discuss size. You may think that your organization is too small to warrant new employee orientation. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Regardless of the size of your firm, you will need to take the new employee through the system. Break the ice so that the rest of the team gets to know about the new member.

Failure to do this will leave the new employee in a maze of confusion. No one has it easy introducing themselves to new people and trying to figure out where the printer is. If they are going to be productive, then they will need a proper introduction process.

Embrace Individualism

One of the reasons for companies hiring outside the existing talent is to bring in new blood and ideas. Unfortunately, when you ask them to get with the program, there will be no space for creativity and change.

When orienting the new employee, you can allow them to give you a better idea on how they can do their job.

New ideas could boost productivity, add valuable information and get rid of monotony.

This is not in any way to mean that you should get rid of what has worked for you all the years, but you could be more open to change.

If they have a better idea of graphic designs, you could look at them and give it thought. You never know what injection of new ideas and a few tweaks could do to the company.

One On One

If you can (and you have more than one new employee), conduct the new employee orientation on an individual basis. This way, you target each of them and get to know more about their individual prowess.

If done in a group, a few will always shine, leaving the rest feeling more like followers than leaders.

It does not have to take the entire day, and you can also do it online to save time. The reason why exclusive tours are important is that they focus on the individual and their role.

If all your new employees are going to be working in the same department, or for the same manager, the group approach would be okay.

A combination of a personal touch and the ability to have everything digital is also a great idea, you don’t need to ask them to fill out every form in person.

By using a service such as Valker for your new employee orientation, you can take a lot of strain from the HR rep.

Ask For Feedback

Your older workers were once new, and they needed orientation. Ask them about their experience and use the feedback to make this round better for the new group.

You could put out a questionnaire or ask them to write down what they feel would have been beneficial when they joined the organization.

Learning from your mistakes will help you get a better understanding of how to approach new employees.

Mentorship

Everybody wants value added to them, and they want to add value back. Before you bring in the new lot, you could assign them mentors from your existing pool of superiors and managers.

One of the hardest things that happen with new employee orientation (especially on their first job) is the feeling of novelty.

They have no friends or accomplices, and so it would help their progress a lot more if they had a buddy showing them around and making them feel at home.

Continue this relationship for at least 30 days until they are fully absorbed into the company, after this period they are more used to the culture.

Make it Fun!

Encourage your new employees to mingle with the staff as soon as they can. During the orientation, you can ask them to get signatures from various associates. Hand them a list and whoever gets the most signatures wins.

What will this do? It will help the new employees practice their people skills, and break the ice with colleagues. They will need to be creative to get the busy associate to sign their sheets.

After this small encounter, the team will get to know their surroundings a little better.

Make your own rules as long as they get you results. Nothing is cast on stone, new employee orientation requires some trial and error.

Request Early Access to Valker

Please wait...

 

Marketing Manager at Valker.io

Stop New Hires From Leaving Using Employee Onboarding

Onboarding is necessary for new employees, with the fast moving digital age and startups coming up left and right, now more than ever.

With studies explaining a direct correlation between the employee onboarding process and retention. Why is it so hard to find a good experience?

Let’s first take it back to that very first day. When we’re talking about stressful situations, going to a job interview ranks pretty high on the list of things that make our palms sweat

You want to present yourself in the best possible way. You want to get a good look at the company that might become your future employer.

So now you survived the interview. You have a new job. You’d think the worst part is over. But depending on the company that hired you, you could be very wrong.

Because the next nerve wrecking step in this process is about to come.

The first day

From personal experience, I can say that at the end of the first day you can either be exhausted but relieved or exhausted and dismayed.

It all depends on the company that hired you and how well they have fine tuned their onboarding process. One of my first real jobs was at a call center that worked for a pretty famous charity.

Coming in I had little experience with telemarketing but I didn’t follow or support the charity in question.

I was going in blind.

Despite the fact that I knew nothing of the charity, they hired me.

The recruiter from the first interview and the manager from the second interview had told me experience didn’t matter.

I would be receiving on the job training.

The training turned out to be a fifteen-minute orientation video. Made in the early nineties, it was nothing more than a long commercial for the charity.

No real explanation of what I was going to do. After that, I got to sit next to one of my colleagues to listen in on her calls and see how the systems worked.

Half an hour later I was already calling people myself and feeling completely miserable because I was not prepared.

It’s safe to say that I didn’t stick around very long.

This is one of the dangers of a bad onboarding experience. Not only will the employee be miserable, but it leads to a high turnover of new employees.

Companies spend copious amounts of money and effort on recruiters and hiring managers.

Only for it all to go to waste because they haven’t invested in what comes after employee onboarding.

Benefits of Employee Onboarding

Onboarding benefits both parties, it prepares an employee for the work at hand and makes them feel welcome in a new environment.

It also helps them to become an effective and productive team member that is a valuable asset to the company.

A company has to make that first-day count. And keeping up with all the days until a new employee is completely integrated into the company.

First of all, employers need to stop thinking a new employee can hit the ground running. Even seasoned professionals need some time to start up.

To get comfortable and to figure out how things are run in any given company.

Let them get familiar with what it is they to do, with the systems and even with the jargon that is used in a company.

This should all be done before you set them to work.

It’s hard enough to remember all those little things that need to be ready before an employee walks in through the door on that first day. Things like badges, computers, and paperwork.

For example at one job I had to walk around with a visitor pass for a week

My manager had forgotten to get one for me in advance. It might not be the end of the world, but these things don’t make a company look good.

To make sure that the new employee has a good sense of what is expected.

What they can expect from the company in the days to come, preparation is required.

Few things worse than uncertainty, when your employee is already trying to find their way in a new situation.

Great onboarding can be done digital, using a service like Valker for example.

How to fix it

The company can use services like this it to check the progress of the new employee and guide them to desired results.

Employee onboarding a necessity, a way to reduce the first-day stress of a new employee.

It’s a valuable tool for any company to get happier and more productive employees.

Because of employee onboarding they will stick around longer.

Becoming full-fledged team members eager to stay.

Marketing Manager at Valker.io

Pin It on Pinterest