Ontario Municipal Human Resources Association

Her alarm gently wakes her, and she remembers excitedly, today is her first day.

After a shower, and quick breakfast, she grabs her car keys and makes her way to the downtown core. The traffic is a bit heavier than what she anticipated, but she’s still on time. As she nears, butterflies in her stomach, she keeps her eye out for the designated employee parking lot the HR recruiter referenced in their last conversation. After circling the block, she finally locates it and approaches the entrance.

She quickly realizes that there’s a fob required to open the gate and that she doesn’t have one. She backs up, pulls out and navigates the block to the public parking, resigned to figure this out today. She exits her vehicle, noting she has five minutes.

She enters the main lobby and makes her way to the Security Desk. The Security Guard behind the counter politely asks, “do you have an appointment?”

“Yes, today’s my first day”. The Security Guard asks her for her department, checks the directory and confirms the spelling of her surname. The Security Guard checks the directory again. Shaking her head, she picks up the phone and asks her, “who’s your supervisor”? After a quick conversation with an employee on the other end, the Security Guard advises her Prachi will be there to greet her when she exits the elevator.

The Security Guard walks her to the elevator and uses her fob to select Floor #5. The doors open. She sees only whom she can assume is Prachi. Prachi seems flustered. She shares that she wasn’t expecting her for another 30 minutes, but asks her to follow, that she’ll help figure this out. She follows Prachi down a path that cuts through a bank of cubicles and hears her new colleagues whisper to one another, “who’s that?”

Finally, they reach the end, where presumably her new workspace is situated. After a quick peak Prachi mutters under her breath, “Great. They were supposed to have this set up”. Prachi asks her to have a seat while she tries to find someone.

The desk has a docking station and wires, but no monitor. As she sits for what seems like ten minutes, an Information Services technician with a name badge identifying “Steve” carrying a desktop computer comes by and confirms, “You’re working in the office five days per week, right?”. She shares that she has a hybrid arrangement — three days in the office one week, two days another. Steve shakes his head and comments that he’ll have to check as he doesn’t have any laptops available right now.

Steve leaves. Prachi returns with forms in hand and requests, “Can you fill these out right away? Otherwise you’re not going to get paid next week.” Prachi leaves again.

She hears a text notification on her phone. It’s her former colleague. “How’s your first day? Wish you were still here, please come back!” Right about now, she considers it.

The onboarding process is an integral part of your employee engagement and retention strategy and goes beyond the completion of forms, reviewing policies or just completing health and safety training. It is the process of integrating the new recruit into the organization and its culture and includes the activities that happen right after the employee formally accepts the offer of employment up until beyond the end of the probationary period.

What can an organization do to increase the effectiveness of the onboarding experience and increase the likelihood of retention?

The Onboarding Checklist

Plan and prepare a checklist detailing what and the persons responsible for the activities that need to be completed prior to the first day, first week, first month, or before the end of the probationary period including arranging:

• Welcome email to new recruit detailing the first day/first week, etc., with links to organizational information that helps them become more acquainted
• Advance return of information forms
• Name Badge/Fob
• Technology (hardware, software, access)
• Welcome Announcement to the Organization
• Parking permits
• Business Cards
• Organizational swag
• Introductions with Stakeholders
• Organizational Orientation Session
• Assignment of a Mentor for support throughout the process
• Mandatory Training/Self Directed Learning
• Scheduled check in meetings with supervisor throughout
• Mid and end of Probationary Review

Advance preparation, and a thoughtful and fulsome onboarding process captured in a checklist can improve a new employee’s first impressions, enhance their experience and increase employee retention.

Written by: Wanda Trottier, Director on OMHRA’s Board of Directors