Onboarding is often misconstrued. Many companies see it as a one-day encounter with a Human Resources representative who overloads new hires with policies, standards, and procedures. In many cases, new employees are thrown directly into the line of fire without any onboarding initiative in place because, let’s face it, training people takes time, energy, and commitment.
Go to the heart of onboarding by following these steps:
1) Hire for Integrity and Character
Onboarding begins by selecting the best possible candidate. What we’ve discovered is that the best possible candidate out there is one who doesn’t know it yet. We seek passionate people who showcase integrity within the interview process, particularly those who display a growth mindset. They may not have all of the experience, but they’re hungry and willing to learn.
2) Establish a Dynamic Orientation
Do not call your orientation “New Hire Orientation”, unless you want your new hires to suffer from UD (Unoriginality Disease). At Reynolds Lake Oconee, we created a two-day themed program called EarthRock which challenges each new hire to discover their creative ingenuity and apply it to their new career.
We’ve made EarthRock an engaging program by having facilitators who manifest passion. Filled with success stories, customized games, and an interactive tour, EarthRock is a fully-immersive experience into Reynolds Lake Oconee. We take our staff on a boat ride of Lake Oconee, play golf at one of our award-winning courses, dine at one of our ten restaurants, and walk them through our Model Home Center to gain a greater sense of the lifestyle and culture we’ve created at Reynolds.
3) Tear Up your Training Manuals and Go Visual
Video is the new and improved training manual. At Reynolds we film, edit, and upload customized videos - or Visual Guides - to our content management platform. We require every new hire to go through a learning path of digital content that we can track before they can officially graduate from their department. This strategy makes learning the boring or mundane tasks fun while providing unlimited access to content. This archive of video content also allows our employees to constantly refresh their memory on our policies and procedures.
4) Remember Onboarding is Constant
Onboarding is not a one-time encounter. It is something that consistently takes place for your staff over their employment. Reynolds has a full year of learning and development programs that new hires are on track to take. Our managers also have several customized instructor-led sessions scheduled throughout the year as well as original e-learning content added every month.
On-boarding your employees with these strategies in mind will be the best way to start bringing your company culture to life. Learning is constant and continuous, and we embrace that mindset at Reynolds Lake Oconee.