Employee Engagement For Dummies

Chapter 14

All Aboard! Onboarding Techniques to Foster Engagement

In This Chapter

Recognizing the importance of onboarding

Seeing things from the new hire's point of view

Knowing what to do before a new hire starts, on the first day, and in the first week

Establishing performance expectations

You're super excited to start your new job — so excited, in fact, that you arrive early on your first day. When you do, however, you're locked out of the building, because you don't yet have a key card or badge. That means you're stuck waiting in the snow until a “real” employee comes along and lets you in (after you convince her you're not an ax murderer, of course).

Then what? You stand awkwardly by the receptionist's desk, waiting for someone to greet you. After what feels like an interminable wait, that someone finally arrives, and you're relegated to a back room, where you fill out what feels like hundreds of documents and review a staggering number of company policies. Hours later, your new boss ushers you to your workspace and tells you to get to work.

This would never happen, right? ...