Effective strategies for onboarding and integrating outstaffed teams
You’ll promote engagement, productivity, and long-term relationships by starting in the right manner, and in fact, research shows that employees who get a thorough, well-planned onboarding are 58% more likely to stay in the company for longer than three years.
We have invested a lot of time building effective solutions, and here I’ll break down why your onboarding process is crucial in integrating offshore teams, and what to consider when building them.
The consequences of ineffective onboarding
No two companies are the same. They all face different challenges at different times. Organisations that don’t take onboarding seriously, or fail to do it at all, will end up facing similar consequences.
There are some common issues that can be avoided by implementing a thorough process, including:
Higher recruiting and training costs
The cost of hiring and training new employees can be substantial, and it consumes significant time and effort. Losing employees because of ineffective onboarding only adds to these costs.
Increased staffing turnover
Hires who experience inadequate onboarding are more likely to leave the company within the first year of employment. They can be left feeling undervalued, unsupported, or just don’t fully understand their role and responsibilities.
Employee morale
Unsatisfied or disengaged employees can create a negative atmosphere for the people around them. Low morale can spread quickly and cause a reduction in productivity and compliance.
Companies often overlook the importance of onboarding
It isn’t uncommon for onboarding to be overlooked, and there can be a variety of reasons why it isn’t prioritized. Some might be familiar to you as many companies face the same scenarios, but here are the main ones we see:
Resources
It takes time and resources to design, implement, and maintain an onboarding program. Not all companies dedicate the required resources for an effective onboarding program.
Focus on productivity
In many cases, companies are recruiting due to immediate need. This means they may well prioritize productivity, and rush through any onboarding process they might have. This can result in a “tick box” approach, which frequently misses or skips through important steps.
Understanding
Some companies simply may not fully understand the important role onboarding plays in employee retention, team satisfaction, and long-term productivity.
Generic approach
Each employee is different, and by using the same onboarding structure for all new hires it can feel impersonal.
While these four are the most common barriers companies face, viewing onboarding as a process that delivers long-term results will be the first step in making these issues redundant.
What an effective onboarding program looks like
Your onboarding process’s primary purpose is to equip your new hires with essential information about their role. It is also the perfect opportunity to explain the organisation’s values and objectives and, perhaps most importantly, ensure they feel welcome and valued.
Building an effective, structured onboarding program that delivers consistent and relevant information also contributes to preserving your organization’s culture.
You can build a successful onboarding program, that delivers value to both your company and those that go through it, by considering these key milestones in the journey of a new hire:
- Pre-onboarding Before a new employee’s first day, provide them with any company policies, the company structure, and preliminary forms and important paperwork. Do your own internal preparation too. Have an onboarding checklist so that when a new employee starts they have a workstation set up, internal and external messaging logins, or any equipment they might need.
- Company orientation Conduct thorough orientation sessions to familiarize new employees with company values, mission, and culture. Additionally, provide them with the background history of the company and encourage them to interact and ask questions.
- Onboarding buddy Make sure new employees are assigned an experienced existing employee within the company who can act as an onboarding buddy. Personalized guidance through the onboarding process in a new company will speed up the integration process, and help the employee feel part of the team.
- Check-ins and feedback You can schedule regular check-ins with new employees to address any questions or concerns they may have. Checking in after the first week is proven to be effective, and again at 30-day intervals throughout their first few months. Have a process to register any feedback to improve their experience and aid the continuous development of your onboarding process.
- Support and resources Set up easy access to company support systems and resources. Accessible online learning platforms, development opportunities, and training plans can make new employees feel invested in from the very start.
Including these elements will form the basis of a thorough onboarding process for any level of new hire. Not only will it mean you project a professional impression of your company, but it will also save your organization significant time and cost.
Once you have a structured onboarding process in place, it will be far easier to then individualise it for each new employee who starts.
The benefits of having an effective onboarding strategy in your company
Every organisation will see positive results by implementing an effective onboarding process.
Some of the tangible benefits will include improvements on retention rates and productivity, as well as lower recruitment and training costs. The bigger picture benefits, that you might not see on your balance sheet, are positive team morale, engaged employees, and strong brand perception.
There are also very compelling statistics that support implementing a structured onboarding process:
- 82% better retention. Companies with a well-structured onboarding program perform significantly better in retaining new hires than those with basic or non-existent processes.
- 58% of new hires stay 2-3 years. A well-planned onboarding process that lasts up to or over a year contributes to longer-term employee retention.
- A well-structured onboarding program helps new hires reach full competency 70% faster than those with minimal or no onboarding.
- 57% better employee satisfaction. New hires who experience a well-structured onboarding program are far more satisfied by their employer.
- 60% of new hires are more likely to recommend their company to others after a positive onboarding process.
The impact an onboarding process for new hires can have, especially when taking on offshore teams, has a wider benefit than just statistics. You are hiring people, and the importance they have in maintaining and improving the culture within your organisation will have a knock-on effect to every other hire who goes through the process.
Integrating your out staffed team through onboarding
Effective onboarding isn’t only important when recruiting your permanent offshore team.
Nowadays, it is far more common for companies to out-source work than it ever has been. Outsourcing – or out-staffing – specific tasks or projects to external teams or individuals can offer more flexibility, scalability, and access to specialized skills.
It is equally important to have an onboarding process in place to integrate out-sourced teams. It is crucial they understand the workflow and culture to maximize their time with you and deliver projects successfully.
You can implement an onboarding process tailored to out-sourced team members. It should include the same elements as your core onboarding but make a conscious effort to avoid making them feel like they are out-sourced personnel.
Remember that outsourced teams contracted through a third-party provider or agency are likely to undergo an initial orientation with them. This additional onboarding process is likely to focus on the third-party company’s policies and expectations, but they might incorporate yours too.
It will be important to liaise with them to ensure your onboarding process assimilates with theirs. While the third party might offer to onboard as part of their service, you know your company and culture better than they do, so will be more effective at conducting onboarding.
Whether your business is building offshore teams, or outsourcing work to experts in their field, the benefits of creating and implementing a comprehensive onboarding program for your company cannot be underestimated.
The morale, productivity, and cost-saving you are likely to see, compared to organizations who don’t take time and care with new recruits is reason enough!
- We understand your business and identify your needs for skills.
After sharing your business needs with us, we work with you to determine your hiring needs and prepare detailed job profiles. Our recruitment specialists source potential candidates based on our offshore staffing experience. We present you with our recommended shortlist. Together, we will pick the right staff for you.
- Human first, resource after. This perspective is guiding our everyday decision-making. We care about the humans we work with and the humans we serve. We care about building relationships with our team members and strengthening partnerships with our clients based on trust.
- “Communication to a relationship is like oxygen to life.” No relationship will succeed without consistent, clear, and purposeful communication. This applies to the relationships to our partners as well as between our team members. We use communication as the oxygen – so Azendo will breathe and stay healthy!
- Our customers are our partners. We develop relationships that make a positive difference for our partners because we truly care about them. We help our partners grow their businesses to a new level of success. We don’t succeed if our partners don’t succeed. We bring our can-do attitude to understand our partners’ needs, challenges, and ambitions. And we take pride in delivering value to them in everything we do to help them grow.
Putting humans first doesn’t mean we don’t care about results and performance – we do – just not at the expense of people.
- Our specialists screen and hire the right talents
Our experienced team of specialists screens your customer service agents. We do the hard work required to identify potential candidates, including testing and assessing their skill levels when applying for a position.
- We manage daily operations and skill development
Azendo takes the hassle of employing a team member by covering all the setup requirements when onboarding new staff. Azendo handles payroll – including paying staff, income tax and social security payments, so you don’t have to worry about the fine print. Our experienced team of specialists will work hands-on with your offshore team on their skill development through training and coaching.