Each year, nearly 25% of the working population undergoes some type of career transition. Turnover is expensive, so it’s important to support new employees with comprehensive onboarding to ensure their success. Onboarding is the process by which new hires get adjusted to the social and performance aspects of their jobs quickly and smoothly, and learn the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to function effectively within an organization. - See more at: http://www.shrm.org/about/foundation/products/pages/onboardingepg.aspx#sthash.kkMi3lfU.dpuf

An employee's first days and weeks on the job are a critical time to begin building a successful working relationship. This is your opportunity, as manager, to set goals and expectations, train your new employee on job-specific tasks, and introduce him to others who will play a role in his professional life in your unit and throughout the campus. In addition, everyone wants to feel like they are contributing at work; a good onboarding process can help new employees feel comfortable and ready to work much sooner than if there's no formal or well-planned process.

First, let’s start with what NOT to do.

We all can look at this video and say that the interactions are obviously terrible and would never lead to anything but the result shown: a new employee feeling lost, unwelcome, frustrated and wondering if she has made a mistake coming to work here. The irony is that we often end up with the same result we see in the video, even though we are not as uncommunicative or thoughtless as the unseen manager in the video.

It is easy for managers to become so inundated with the day-to-day tasks of running the unit that carving out time to onboard a new employee adequately seems nearly impossible—especially if there has been a vacancy in the unit and work has become back-logged.

So what do we do? The key word here is most definitely “TIME”. Good onboarding does take time, but studies and various business models show that good onboarding is worth the time it takes.

The following information, tools and resources will help you to understand the value of a good onboarding process. We will also help you come up with strategies and ideas to formulate your own excellent onboarding plan and techniques.