The Importance of an Onboarding Process For Your New Engineering Hires – 4 Step Process
After all the hard work is done to get an offer accepted by your next great hire, its vital to have a good onboarding process which is proven to improve retention records in the early stages.
We are in a phase where its currently a candidate driven market and competition for engineers, such as process engineers, R&D Engineers, electrical engineers and manufacturing engineers are hard fought for. According to a recent report by Solas found that 46% of science, engineering and tech companies surveyed in Ireland struggled to fill engineer based roles, so loosing a hard to find employee early on can be a disaster.
The onboarding process is your opportunity to make another first impression after the interview and a chance to set the foundations for the rest of your new star hire’s experience with your company. Once the onboarding phase is completed your new engineering talent should have an in depth understanding of the organization’s culture and values.
Simple steps for the Onboarding Process.
Phase 1: Pre-Onboarding Process
The onboarding process can be broken down into four phases. The first phase is pre-on-boarding and should begin as soon as a verbal agreement of a job offer is accepted. Getting your onboarding preparation right is crucial as at this time as your candidates are most uncertain of what lies ahead.
Small miscommunications or a misunderstanding can make candidates doubt their decision to move into the engineering role and join the company. However, get this right early on in the onboarding stage and your candidates will start to feel excited about joining your company and contributing to the team.
Regular communication about any updates that are going on in within the firm will help the new engineering hire left feeling energised about starting the engineer job. During pre-onboarding the help, the new hire complete all the necessary paperwork such as contracts and payroll details.
Make sure to give the new starter time to finish up with their previous employer and finish exit tasks. If they are relocating to take up the new role check in with them to see if they need help finding accommodation.
A good idea is to send some content around the company in terms of the culture of the organisation what the building looks like inside and out and what their first day and week will look like.
Phase 2: Welcoming phase
The next phase is to welcome your new starter to the organisation and team. Providing an orientation will help new hires adapt to their new environment. Providing the new hire with a clear picture of the company will allow them to gain an understanding of how the company’s teams operate on an everyday basis.
The majority of new hires will be eager to prove themselves and will want to get started as soon as possible, for this reason it is recommended that the welcoming phase is kept to no longer than a week.
Their first day should be kept as simple as possible. Their orientation phase will help them gain an insight into the company’s culture and show them how work practices are aligned with the culture of the firm. Housekeeping items such as annual leave, attendance and HR policies should be discussed at this stage.
The orientation phase is an opportunity to show them eateries, parking spots, printing equipment and medical facilities etc. Introduction to their new work colleagues and other stake holders is part of the induction phase.
The welcoming phase incorporates the small mundane things that could get overlooked but it’s an important step to ensure your new hire settles in well.
Phase 3: Role Specific Training
This phase is one of the most important phases of onboarding and can be linked back to how successful your new hires will be in their engineering jobs. Your new hires may not know what it takes to thrive without formal training.
Dissatisfaction and frustration can develop can be a direct result of no training or poor training which in turn can lead to high turnover rates. According to Lorman
- Nearly 59% of employees claim they had no workplace training and that most of their skills were self-taught.
- 74% of workers are willing to learn new skills or re-train in order to remain employable.
- 87% of millennials believe learning and development in the workplace is important.
However, if a well drafted training plan is in place will help new starters feel welcome and shows that the company cares about their progress and development. Employees should not feel overwhelmed by the training in place.
Everybody learns differently and at different paces, provide different types of learning techniques such as blended learning and self-paced learning. All learning materials should be stored in readily available access point such as an intranet or other cloud storage solution.
Phase 4: Transition to their new role.
Your new hire is ready to leave the nest and get stuck into their new engineering job. The last phase is designed to set your new hires for success by setting out clear expectations for their new team members.
Set SMART goals for new starters which will help them visualise what success looks like. After six weeks a performance review is recommended so you can recognise their efforts while also providing feedback to help improve performance.
Onboarding ensures your new engineering star hire fits your team. The process helps your new team member understand the company’s values, culture, and work. It improves employee retention and also your employer brand.
Our Solutions
STEM Recruitment Partners specialises in the placement of candidates from Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics backgrounds into Manufacturing, Life Science, Supply Chain & Engineering Businesses nationwide.
Our leading engineering recruitment agency is based in Limerick & Cork, and we have excellent engineering, jobs in Ireland. Check out some of our roles in our job portal.
Reach out to the team in STEM Recruitment Partners for the best advice and support in building your engineering career, contact us today www.stemrp.ie
