Onboarding new industrial workers is a crucial step to employee satisfaction and retention. It’s not just another step that you need to take. In fact, 20 percent of your new hires might leave within the first 45 days after onboarding.¹ This is why employers must enhance the onboarding process to maximize retention and reduce turnover.
In this article, you’ll learn how to onboard industrial hires and the best practices required for a positive employee experience that boosts retention and cohesion.
Read more: Spring Back into Productivity: 16 Quick Hiring Strategies to Turn Around Last Year’s Turnover
The State of Onboarding Programs in the US
According to Gallup, only 12 percent of employees in the US experienced an effective onboarding process.² Out of these satisfied professionals, 70 percent stated that they had the best possible job. While these employees are 2.6 times more likely to be satisfied with their work, there’s still a huge gap between positive and negative employee onboarding programs in the US.
As an employer, it’s vital to focus your efforts toward a positive onboarding experience. After all, a positive experience leads to:
- Better work relationships
- More and better contributions
- Smooth transition to the company
Onboarding also extends to the perception of every new employee. It serves as the perfect time for them to evaluate whether they want to stay with the company or not. While there are many ways job applicants can learn about an organization, nothing beats first-hand experience. Regardless of whether you have a great company, if employees don’t feel “great” at the beginning of the engagement, you risk losing them.
Benefits of a Positive Onboarding Process
Here are some key benefits of implementing manufacturing onboarding best practices:
1. Improved Retention
Harvard Business Review tells a story about a fast-food chain that completely turned their turnover rates around using a continuous learning model.³ New hires would go through focused training programs and quizzes on important business topics every month. The result was a turnover rate of 29 percent for frontline workers – and the average in the industry is 86 percent.
This shows that focusing on your employees and ensuring they have access to the right resources enhances retention. With increased business knowledge, workers are well-equipped to perform their tasks and satisfied with their jobs.
2. Increased Productivity
When employees are engaged, especially at the beginning of their work, they become more productive. Every new staff member on board would be willing to put in the effort simply because they’re eager to contribute. As a result, you’ll have more productive teams.
3. Enhanced Company Culture
Culture is a critical component of a business. If employees begin their careers fully committed, it contributes to a culture of success. Imagine hiring new employees and leaving them to figure out how things work on their own, or spend time sifting through countless documents just to follow through. It’s not a very good experience. Instead, make sure to incorporate your new hires and enable them to contribute both to the company’s production and culture-building.
4. Clear Expectations
When you onboard employees, give them reasonable and clear expectations. This includes their responsibilities, how they can perform well in their jobs, how their tasks affect other teams, and how their overall contribution fulfills the company’s goals.
Having a clear understanding gives new hires a better perspective toward their work. It provides them with the right purpose and allows them to contribute meaningfully. Subsequently, make sure that their tasks align with their capabilities and expertise. While companies should be clear with their expectations, they should also be realistic and reasonable. Think SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.⁴
5. Better Workforce Engagement
If your employees are well-engaged, they become more connected with their colleagues. In a business, these things go hand-in-hand. A dissatisfied employee will only spread negativity in the workplace.
Imagine an undervalued member or someone who was passed up for a promotion. This employee may be disengaged and have reduced commitment to perform well in the organization. This one person’s experience can affect team morale and result in them leaving their job.
On the other hand, if an employee is well-recognized and properly engaged, it allows them to better contribute to the team. Your commitment to engagement is key to building the workforce you need.
How Do I Onboard New Employees the Right Way?
The light industrial field generally suffers from high turnover due to many reasons. It becomes difficult to retain even the best workers. Here is a manufacturing onboarding checklist you can incorporate into your onboarding process.
1. Be creative in your approach.
Building relationships shouldn’t be forced, especially in the office or production floor. Besides fulfilling your role as an engaging supervisor, make your interactions genuine and create opportunities for your workers to mingle with one another. Here are a few things to try:
- Introduce a coffee machine and relaxation lounge.
- Try Pizza Fridays or Margarita Thursdays.
- Establish a monthly get-together.
- Talk outside of work to encourage meaningful relationships and real friendships.
- Set an example as a leader. If you want to encourage mentorship, mentor your managers and supervisors.
Read more: Building Strong Relationships with New Hires: Effective Strategies for Onboarding and Retention
2. Create avenues for tenured employees to reach out to new hires.
One of the best ways to do this is to give your tenured workers the responsibility to engage and train new hires. It doesn’t have to be a formal or month-long engagement. The goal is to pass down knowledge so that your new hires can learn from the experts.
Another way is to assign a buddy or a mentor. Allow your new hires to shadow a tenured employee to learn more about the protocols and practices before engaging with the task themselves. This is important for safety as well, especially on the production floor.
3. Emphasize learning and continuous improvement.
Start with sharing your company’s overall mission, vision, and purpose. When employees fully grasp their responsibilities, they become more eager to contribute. After all, new hires are often excited to participate.
Then, make sure to provide engaging training programs. This should focus on role-specific training that enhances your new employees’ ability to perform their tasks. Start with the basics. Once they get the hang of it, move on to advanced topics.
It’s also important to upskill your employees. With the advancements in technology today, many roles, including manufacturing, are becoming more tech-reliant. This may include inventory management, automation, data analysis, quality control, and equipment maintenance.
Read more: Hiring Top Performers: 7 Traits of a High-Impact Light Industrial Workforce
4. Integrate new hires into the culture.
Many companies go straight to work specifics and productivity at the beginning of a new hire’s engagement. While these things are necessary to propel the business forward, they lack the basic experiences new hires need for that touch of motivation and inspiration.
Instead, let your new hires have a feel of your culture, especially at the beginning of their work journey. If you value communication, collaboration, and teamwork, create materials that showcase these values. Are there relevant events in the company that highlight these skills? Or are there notable awards and recognitions? The key is to bring out the best in your culture and ignite your new hires with a bigger purpose through the values you share in the organization.
Read more: Putting People First: Why Prioritizing the Employee Experience is Key to Long-Term Business Success
5. Prepare a warm welcome.
You can do simple things like creating a welcome note, introducing new hires to other members of the team, or showing them around the production floor. This creates an opportunity for them to relate with the organization and get a feel of the equipment they’ll be using.
6. Equip your managers to be actively involved with new hires.
Managers play a significant role in welcoming new hires. They must be present and involved in their journey. In fact, if a new hire has questions or concerns, their managers should be one of their first contacts.
As a business leader, equip your managers with skills in human relationships, team building, and communication. This will allow them to help new hires be immersed in your company’s culture and practices.
7. Utilize data and onboarding software.
At the end of the day, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, especially in a highly technical field like manufacturing. Make sure to analyze your employee onboarding programs through data analytics. Monitor your hiring metrics, time-to-hire, turnover, quality, and performance. This should help you adjust your process and commit to improving your approach as necessary.
Ready to onboard? Hire the right people with Horizon America.
With over 30 years of combined experience in the industry, Horizon America’s professional staffing experts know how to find talented workers for our employer partners. If you’re looking for talented individuals to start their career journey with you, look no further. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
References
- Pearson, Brent. “How to Add More Human Connection to Your Teams, Your Culture, and Your Business.” Harvard Business Review, 16 Mar. 2023, https://hbr.org/sponsored/2023/03/how-to-add-more-human-connection-to-your-teams-your-culture-and-your-business
- Wetherell, Emily and Nelson, Bailey. “8 Practical Tips for Leaders for a Better Onboarding Process.” Gallup, 21 Aug. 2021, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/353096/practical-tips-leaders-better-onboarding-process.aspx
- Phelan, Julia. “Onboarding New Employees — Without Overwhelming Them.” Harvard Business Review, 2 Apr. 2024, https://hbr.org/2024/04/onboarding-new-employees-without-overwhelming-them
- Herrity, Jennifer. “How To Write SMART Goals in 5 Steps (With Examples).” Indeed, 10 Apr. 2024, https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-smart-goals
