With most of us working from home NGO Recruitment has created a best practice guide for how to successfully on board your new hires. We give our tips for how to get well prepared before the start date and how to build a strong relationship with your new recruit.
Get well prepared before the start date
- Get offer letters and contracts out quickly as well as emailing the necessary forms for tax, super and payroll.
- Provide a working from home checklist and ask that your team member completes it and returns it ahead of time so that you can organise additional equipment if necessary.
- Provide a remote working guide.
- Get all IT hardware, software and access sorted.
- Post a welcome pack which includes stationary, brochures and other marketing collateral, organisational merchandise (if you have it – it’s a great way to help drive that sense of belonging), hand sanitiser (show you care), a small first aid kit and some goodies such as chocolates, tea and coffee.
- Prepare an onboarding plan for the first three months.
- Select and brief an onboarding buddy.
- Make phone contact before the start date to check in and confirm arrangements for Day 1.
Week 1 – Day 1 – The most important day
- Onboarding is as much about investing in the relationship with your new recruit as it is about training them how to do the job. Don’t skimp on this bit and dedicate several hours.
- Go through your normal onboarding routine around checking contracts, payroll paperwork, reporting for work, work hours and so on.
- Do a thorough IT orientation – explain the software / apps you use for communication and meetings and check that your employee knows how to use them.
- Clearly explain how to ‘arrive’ at work, how to indicate when they are on a break, and how to sign off at the end of the day.
- Clearly explain your COVID-19 plan especially as regards employee disclosure of illness, external meetings and domestic travel for work.
- Check home office set up to ensure workplace health and safety matters are sorted.
- Go through the onboarding plan.
- Introduce the immediate team.
- Introduce their onboarding buddy.
Week 1 – Days 2 to 5
- Check in at least 3 times a day.
- Be available to answer questions and be clear about your availability.
- Step your new team member through the online learning materials.
- Introduce your team member to other teams progressively.
- Have a structured team ‘e-coffee’ meeting at the end of the week to socialise – no shop talk!
After week 1 and for the next 11 weeks
- Check in twice daily – start and end of day, as a minimum.
- Provide access to online onboarding materials, policies, procedures, webinars or videos.
- Make sure e-meetings with relevant staff are happening – working at home can be lonely so these are even more important at the moment.
- Be diligent about team meetings as these opportunities to create team bonds are essential.
- Allocate small projects so that the team member can feel a sense of achievement quickly.
- Each week, check progress against the onboarding plan.
- Conduct one formal probationary conversation to recap on the first 3 months, provide feedback and support.
NGO Recruitment is here to support you with your onboarding, human resource issues as well as providing all of your recruitment needs including temporary and contract staff for these changing times. Please contact us via the Sydney head office number: +61 (0) 2 8243 0570.
Author: Carol Lewis, Associate of NGO Recruitment
Carol Lewis, our dedicated HR consultant, is a senior human resources practitioner with over 15 years of consulting and organisational development experience. Her qualifications include a Masters in Business (Employment Relations) from the University of Technology in Sydney. She also holds a Cert IV in Workplace Training & Assessment, is an accredited user of the Californian Psychological Index (CPI), the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Carol is also a member of the Australian Human Resources Institute, the Career Development Association of Australia and The Australian Workplace Practitioners Network.