WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Team Building : Five Tips for Successful Onboarding
First impressions matter and your onboarding process is your opportunity to give your new hires a great first impression of your company . Not only that , but it also helps ensure they are properly prepared to work at your company long-term and understand the career possibilities .
If you ’ re struggling to get new employees to stay past the first few days , weeks or months , consider implementing or improving some of the methods listed below .
As part of MLP ’ s ongoing focus on workforce development , this column features tips , tools , and topics designed to help members successfully recruit , effectively onboard , and consistently retain qualified employees .
“ In that first week , if that new person hasn ’ t connected with someone and it doesn ’ t seem like they have either that buddy or that person that they ’ re talking to , it would be cause for concern from my standpoint ,” says Gail Reinhart , people and talent director for Five Seasons Landscape Management . “ It ’ s very easy for them to just walk away .”
Even if you don ’ t have a specifically assigned mentor , having new hires wear a different-colored vest can let the rest of the team know to keep an eye on new employees out working in the field . Clean Scapes Landscaping does this for at least two weeks as a safety precaution .
Make Them Feel Welcome The most obvious aspect of onboarding is making your new team members feel welcome . You want them to feel like they belong with your company . How you go about doing so can vary . Jason New , principal of McFarlin Stanford , advises having a pre-start checklist of things to have taken care of before the new team member ’ s first day , such as the right uniform sizes and business cards .
Kyle Narsavage , president of GreenSweep LLC , has new hires fill out a questionnaire with their favorite things , so they provide a goodie bag of these favorite items on their first day . He says they also make a point to have team members share their responsibilities with new hires so they have a better understanding of operations from the start .
A simple gesture that Blades of Green does is mailing $ 20 Dominos gift cards to their new hires so they can have dinner with their family to celebrate . While it doesn ’ t cost much , it makes a lasting impression on their new hires .
Pair Them with a Mentor While you should conduct training with your new hires , pairing them with a mentor provides an employee with an additional person they can learn from and direct their questions to .
“ A mentor doesn ’ t have to be their direct boss ,” says Chris Psencik , vice president of McFarlin Stanford . “ It can be a colleague at the same level , but I think having a mutual accountability partner there to go to with general questions that you may not want to go to your supervisor with is really good .”
Providing a mentor can also help build a greater connection to the company for the employee .
Photo : Eileen M . Escarda
Encourage Camaraderie Aside from connecting with one person on staff , encouraging camaraderie helps new employees feel like they are a part of something bigger and get to know those who they don ’ t work with on a regular basis .
At Mullin , the company has a budget for company culture-related expenses . They will plan monthly activities to do together with the office and field staff .
“ People that come that are new or come from different companies they ’ re like , ‘ Wow , you guys really do so much stuff for us ,’” says Nubia Gutierrez , human resources manager for Mullin . “ It doesn ’ t always come at a low cost for us , but at the end with the return on investment , it all works out . Having happier employees at the end works out better for everyone . The production is better . The culture is better .”
( continued on p . 18 ) MLP Newsline | Spring 2023 17