That all you need is to identify the challenges in the onboarding program and follow the right tips to overcome them. In this article, we’ll be looking at the often faced challenges surrounding the design of your employee onboarding program, and the ways to eliminate them.

5 challenges in an onboarding program that you should avoid

Over the years, many organizations have been organizing onboarding programs to help their new hires become productive quickly. The program helps new employees to improve their engagement, retention ability, and overall employee experience.

However, research has it that only a few organizations are recording success in their onboarding programs. With only 12% of new employees agreeing that their organizations are delivering useful onboarding program, there’s a need for proper incorporation of the program.

That’ll help to reduce the rate at which new hires quit their jobs for others. So, to incorporate an effective employee onboarding program, you need to know the problems associated with it.

A good onboarding program can help to boost your business growth and increase your bottom line. Here are a few challenges that you can face while designing your onboarding program and how to avoid them.

Challenge 1: overloading information on the first day

No doubt, many new hires are always nervous on their first day of work. That could be as a result of several reasons, including meeting new faces, learning new challenging processes, and filling out different work documents.

Although some of the reasons can be unavoidable, some can still get avoided through proper planning. For instance, the issue of being nervous on the first day because of filling out different paperwork can get avoided.

Instead of employers making it compulsory for new hires to bring all their hardcopy documents, an online platform can get created to tackle the issue. How? You can create an electronic platform and enable your new hires to submit all their paperwork.

You need not worry about storage as the paperwork will properly get secured in the cloud. That’ll prevent employees from getting nervous and contribute to the success of your onboarding program.

Challenge 2: roles clarity

Gone are the days when a list of tasks and responsibilities is enough to give new hires a robust understanding of specific organizational roles. You need to enlighten them about their job roles and responsibilities, not just listing them out.

Since the orientation program is an essential part of your employee onboarding program, you can take the opportunity and make them understand their roles.

That’ll help to build confidence in them while trying to adjust to the new job processes. Another way to build confidence and enhance your new employees’ clarity is by incorporating both formal and informal training in your onboarding program.

Challenge 3: not clearly expressing your organization’s culture

Let’s face it: Listing out your organization’s core values on a PowerPoint slide is not enough to tell what makes your company a better place to work.

Your new hires want more than that as they need an assurance that they belong with you. They are interested in knowing how things get done differently in your organization.

So, to ensure you convey your organization’s core values, you can provide them with immersive training. That’ll enable your new hires to have a feel of your values, not just seeing it.

For instance, if part of your culture preaches safety, you can provide them with an immersive experience. You can also bring in executives who can tell stories about tough calls and how to prevent risks.

Challenge 4: having no idea that your onboarding program is failing

One of the challenges in the onboarding program is that most employers have no idea their onboarding program is failing until they begin to lose their employees.

Well, it doesn’t have to come to losing your new hires. You can use pulse surveys throughout your onboarding program to know if your new employees are failing to connect with your organization.

Besides, you can connect your organization’s onboarding data and make it connect with your other performance metrics, including engagement and exit data.

Challenge 5: not prioritizing your employee’s onboarding program

I’m sure you’ll agree with me that first impressions are lasting impressions. Your onboarding program can determine if your new hires will stay or leave your organization.

So, to ensure a lasting impression, you need to prioritize the program. By so doing, you create a good picture in their minds and make them see reasons to stay in your organization.

The purpose of designing your onboarding program is to create a smooth transition into new roles for your employees.

Try as much as possible to avoid the different challenges in the onboarding program to ensure your new employees become productive for your organization.