Onboarding: 7 Steps to a Successful Welcome

Employee onboarding is essential to the success of a company's integration process. Implementing a structured process helps reduce turnover and accelerate the skills development of new arrivals.

A recent study showed that a good onboarding program can increase employee productivity by 82% and retention by 70%.

So it's crucial to create an effective and engaging onboarding journey by following the 7 essential steps.

1. Prepare the employee's arrival before his or her first day on the job

Successful onboarding begins long before the employee's first day.

This preparatory phase is crucial to creating the conditions for an optimal welcome. It is essential to prepare the arrival of the new employee by providing all the necessary information about the company and the position.

What's more, you need to make sure that the work tools are ready and functional from day one, so that the employee can feel fully operational.

The first week on the job is an essential stage in the integration of a new employee, so it's important to give them a warm welcome and provide them with the support they need to adapt quickly to their new environment.

Concrete actions for new employees :

• Personalized welcome email outlining the first week's activities
• Workstation preparation and computer access configuration
• Communication with the team regarding the arrival of the new employee
• Preparation of a welcome kit including essential information and company goodies

OuiLive Tip: Create a digital pre-integration challenge that new employees can complete before they arrive, to discover the company in a fun and interactive way.

2 - First day as an employer: the importance of first impressions

The first day is decisive in the employee's perception of your company.

This day must be perfectly orchestrated to reassure and enthuse the newcomer.

The essentials :

• Personal welcome by the manager and introduction to the team
• Guided tour of the premises to help employees find their way around
• Team lunch to promote social integration
• Introduction to the company, its history, values and culture

Tip: Use a gamified itinerary on the OuiLive platform to turn the discovery of the premises into an interactive treasure hunt, making the experience memorable.

3. Structure a customized onboarding program

An effective onboarding program is essential to ensure the successful integration of new employees into the company. Indeed, each job has its own specific requirements, so it's important to tailor training to individual needs.

However, it is also crucial to provide all employees with key information to help them fully understand the company's culture, values and internal processes.

Well thought-out onboarding reduces the real cost of poor integration for new employees, and effectively addresses their need to be up and running quickly and to feel at home in the organization.

Key components :

• A clear timetable for the first 30, 60 and 90 days
• Progressive, realistic learning objectives
• A balance between formal training and hands-on learning
• Regular milestones to assess progress

Case in point: Natixis Assurances set up an integration program with OuiLive that accelerated the employee integration process by 70%, with 2,000 participants at the finish line.

4. Involving the various stakeholders

Onboarding employees is a crucial step in their integration into the company.

This is not simply a human resources task, but rather a collaborative process that involves everyone in the company. Managers, colleagues and even external partners all have a role to play in welcoming and integrating new arrivals.

It's essential that everyone takes part in this process to ensure a successful transition and a strong sense of belonging among new employees.

By working together, we can optimize employee onboarding and help build a strong, committed team.

Stakeholders to mobilize :

• The direct manager, guaranteeing operational integration
• A buddy or mentor, for day-to-day support
• Industry experts for technical training
• HR, for overall monitoring of the process

Customer testimonial: "Thanks to the collaborative approach proposed by OuiLive, we were able to easily involve all departments in our onboarding process, thus creating a genuine onboarding culture" - HR Manager of a CAC 40 company.

5. Communicate corporate culture and values

In addition to the technical aspects of the job, onboarding must enable new employees to immerse themselves in the company's culture.

How to transmit corporate culture effectively :

• Sharing stories and anecdotes illustrating values in action
• Presentation of company rituals (team meetings, recurring events)
• Highlighting emblematic successes that have shaped the organization's identity
• Clarification of expected and valued behaviors

OuiLive solution: Our Welcome challenges convey your corporate culture in a fun and engaging way, while encouraging adherence to core values.

6. Technical and business skills training

Successful onboarding must enable employees to quickly acquire the skills they need for their new position.

Effective methods for accelerating skills development :

• Microlearning: short sequences focusing on specific skills
• Learning by doing: progressive application of acquired knowledge
• Continuous feedback: regular feedback to adjust and improve practice
• Accessible resources: creation of an easily searchable document database

Case study: A company in the banking sector used the OuiLive platform to create a gamified technical training course, reducing by 45% the time needed for new advisors to master the business tools.

7. Measure and optimize the onboarding process

Like all HR processes, onboarding needs to be continuously evaluated and improved to maximize its effectiveness.

Key indicators to monitor :

• New employee satisfaction rate (via surveys at 30, 60 and 90 days)
• Time needed to reach optimum productivity
• Retention rates at 6 months and 1 year
• Level of commitment of new employees

OuiLive functionality: Our platform integrates analytical dashboards to monitor employee engagement in the onboarding process in real time, and identify areas for improvement.

Common mistakes to avoid when onboarding employees

To maximize your onboarding program's chances of success, here are the main pitfalls to avoid:

• Information overload: Don't overwhelm your new employees in the first few days.
• Lack of structure: Improvised onboarding generates anxiety and confusion
• Lack of follow-up: Onboarding is not a one-off event but an ongoing process
• Neglect of social integration: Group membership is a key retention factor
• Unrealistic expectations: Set progressive, attainable goals

Conclusion: Onboarding, a strategic investment

A well-designed onboarding program represents a profitable investment for the company.

The statistics speak for themselves: organizations with a formalized onboarding process experience a 50% improvement in new employee productivity and a 60% reduction in turnover.

At OuiLive, we support over 250 companies in digitizing and gamifying their onboarding processes. Our platform of connected challenges enables us to create engaging onboarding paths that accelerate adoption of the corporate culture and skills development.

Among our success stories, Natixis Assurances was able to engage 7 countries in its integration challenge in the very first week, with over 2,000 participants and a 70% acceleration of the integration process.

Ready to turn your onboarding into a memorable experience for your new employees?

Ask for a personalized demonstration of our solution and find out how OuiLive can help you design an integration program to match your ambitions.