Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time

CHAPTER 3

Craft Your Time Line, Write a Recruiting Brief, and Align Your Stakeholders

Prepare

Unclear or misaligned expectations and resources are some of the main causes of new employee failure to deliver.

Plan Part A: Frame a Total Onboarding Program Time Line

To make onboarding run like clockwork for your prospects, candidates, recruiting partners, and the people in your organization, frame your process with a detailed time line. Time lines eliminate most of the inefficiencies and communications blunders that delay or prevent your getting the best new employees and bringing them up to speed quickly. The idea is to think through your whole plan in advance, document it, and get alignment around it from everyone involved in onboarding your new employee. Create a time line for each individual you onboard. You will slow the whole process if you attempt to batch or cohort groups of people.

We reference the time line frequently. Keep yours at hand while you work through onboarding. Tool 3.1 Total Onboarding Program Time Line coordinates with the chapters in this book. We recommend optimum timing and accountability for each action item, but you should customize your time line for your own onboarding situation. Recruiting and onboarding more senior leaders may take longer than indicated by our starting time line. Conversely, you may be able to shorten your time line substantially ...