How to Make your New Hire Productive

And do so as quickly as possible

Welcome to the Optimistic Office

Hey there it's Harris! 

Every other Tuesday, I share insights and ideas to help you recruit, onboard, and retain your employees.

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Read time: 3 minutes

Customized New Hire Onboarding Guide

Do you have a new hire starting in a few weeks?

We have been working with Founders and Managers to create customized new hire onboarding guides so that their process can be simple, effective, and efficient.

The goal here is to give you everything you need, in one place, to save you time and decrease the time to productivity for your new hire. 

If you are interested in our team putting this together for you, please check out the website below or send us a note at [email protected].

In this newsletter, we highlight one thing we love, see as innovative, and find interesting within the workplace. 

  • LOVE: How to make your new hire productive as quickly as possible

  • INNOVATE: 6 HR innovations for 2023

  • INTEREST: Top HR tech trends

WHAT WE LOVE:

The longer you wait to get your new hire up to speed, the more it costs your organization.

Decreasing the time to productivity can have a massive impact on the bottom line of your business.

Here's how to do it:

  1. Reach out between acceptance and the start date

This is so often a missed opportunity. Mention how excited you are for them to join the team and a couple of the upcoming priorities.

  2. Welcome message to the team

Prepare the message you will send to the team welcoming this new hire. Ask the new hire for a quick bio that you can share with them. Nothing halts momentum like the new hire not feeling welcomed or valued.

  3. Identify interests outside of work

Use the interview time to build a genuine connection. A connection requires going beyond work and understanding their personal life and what they enjoy outside of work.

   4. Connect them with team members

There is still a lot of data out there about the importance of having friends at work. Utilize the early part of their employment to connect them with colleagues.

   5. Ensure IT is working

IT issues come up in half the onboarding conversations I have. Make sure that you are connected with the IT contact to serve as an escalation tactic if things aren't working.

   6. Be available on Day 1

It's important to block your morning if at all possible to welcome the new hire. It will be a poor signal if you are not available for them within the first few hours of their tenure.

   7. Check-in weekly on personal/professional aspects

Your job isn't done once they begin their onboarding process. Set a reminder to check in weekly with a quick phone call to see how they are doing.

   8. Create 30/60/90 day plans

These will help to keep the new hire focused.

30 days - focused on learning

60 days - focused on contributing

90 days - focused on owning tasks

If you need sample 30/60/90 day plans, you can find those here

WHERE WE SEE INNOVATION:

It has never been harder to recruit and retain talent which is why there are so many tools in the HR space to help you do so.

The big 6 this article outlines are:

  1. Recruitment Tools

  2. Employee Engagement Platform

  3. Corporate Wellness Platforms

  4. Gamification

  5. Peer-to-Peer Recognition (but make it genuine)

  6. Employee Survey Tools

WHAT INTERESTS US:

As the economy continues to shift, companies will have to continue to be strategic about how they recruit, engage, and retain their workforce.

Luckily, the world of HR tech is also changing at a rapid pace.

This article highlights 9 HR tech priorities for companies in 2023:

  1. Optimize ROI from Existing Technology Stacks

  2. Elevate Internal Talent Marketplaces

  3. Deploy Emerging (and Overlooked) Tech

  4. Support Hybrid Work

  5. Increase the Use of AI Applications

  6. Improve Management Skills to Address New Challenges

  7. Emphasize the Employee Experience

  8. Deploy Innovative Recruiting Tech

  9. L&D: Focus on Analytics, Personalization and VR

What I've Been Reading: 

If you want to be better, achieve more and become financially free,

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