Pre-Onboarding New Employees: How to Keep Hired Candidates Warm Before Their First Day at Work

You may feel like your job is now complete, but do not stop there. The time after the new hire signs the contract is critical. The Brandon Hall Group’s study affirms that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new-hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.

Pre-Onboarding Improves Employee Engagement

Radio silence before the first day at work does not sound good, does it?

The typical recruitment process ends with informing the hired candidate of the positive decision. Then, there is a waiting time that lasts from weeks to months before the new hire’s first day at the office. During that waiting time, a lot can happen. For instance, the hired candidate could find another position and reject your job offer.

If only there was a way to prevent that. Wait, there is!

Why delay the onboarding to the new hire’s first day at the office? Most onboarding tasks can be done before then.

Preventing the employee from leaving the company before the job starts is just one of the reasons why pre-onboarding matters. Check out the list below for other reasons and get convinced to start pre-onboarding in your organization:

• The new employee can start working efficiently straight from the beginning.
• You save time for the managers or HR personnel who are onboarding the employee.
• The employee gets to know the company culture beforehand and feels like they are part of the team faster.
• The new hire is not overwhelmed on their first day because they have already gained lots of information beforehand.
• You keep your candidate experience and employee experience consistent. If you promise to be an employer who cares, then this is how you deliver.

The New Way of Engaging Freshly Hired Employees

This new model can replace the old way of trying to squeeze all the onboarding information into the first day or week.

Pre-Onboarding

The goal for pre-onboarding is to make sure the new employee understands the company practices and culture. The agenda for pre-onboarding could be something like this:

• Get to know the company history, culture, and values
• Order tools and licenses
• Introduce the new team and colleagues
• Schedule lunch with the new team
• Get familiar with the onboarding material
• Learn the ways of working
• Get to know the benefits
• Collect any necessary information

First Day at the Office

The goal for the first day at the office it to welcome the employee to the new job. The agenda for the first day could be something like this:

• Get familiar with the workstation and tools
• Meet the team and new colleagues face to face
• Schedule training

Onboarding

The goal for onboarding is to enable the employee to start productive work. The agenda for onboarding could be something like this:

• Learn
• Set goals and KPIs
• Get to know the other teams and colleagues

Want to enhance your knowledge about modern recruitment? Check out our ultimate visual guide The Biggest Challenges in Recruitment and How to Solve Them. It will give you concrete ideas on how to enhance your recruitment process, provide a better candidate experience, and make sure you catch your ideal candidates, even the ones that are not actively looking for a career switch or that might get lost in the process due to unconscious bias.

HR Tech Enables an Efficient Pre-Onboarding Process

You can create a pre-onboarding track for new employees and share material in small, bite-sized chunks.

It is possible to gather the pre-onboarding materials in a digital format in your DropBox or Google Drive. However, the most efficient way is to use software dedicated to the task. In one study, 44% of HR managers said that their biggest onboarding challenge was inconsistent use within the company. Thus, pre-onboarding software can help you make the processes more systematic.

TalentAdore’s pre-onboarding module kickstarts new-hire pre-onboarding before the first day at work. You can create a pre-onboarding track for new employees and share material in small, bite-sized chunks.

By following these simple steps, you will ace your onboarding experience in no time.

1. Create Handbooks

• With our easy-to-use editor, you can create stunning and interactive handbooks for new employees.
• Combine different forms of storytelling, such as text, video, and any web content that you already have.
• Your online handbooks are always up-to-date, accessible, and readable on any device.

2. Share with New Employees

• Enroll your new hire in the pre-onboarding track so that they will have access to the handbooks designed for them.
• Your new hire will be reminded to return to the content as the first day approaches.
• You can easily create different pre-onboarding tracks for different teams.

3. Follow Progress

• From the admin panel, you can follow the progress of the new hires.
• You can also ask the new hire to confirm that they have read the different handbooks.
• On the first day, you will know exactly where to start training or productive work.

Do you want to learn more? Continue reading more about the biggest challenges in recruitment and dig deeper into different solutions!

Conclusion

Pre-onboarding is an efficient way for new employees to get to know their new workplace at their own pace. Employees are not overwhelmed on their first day, and they can reach productivity much faster. At the same time, you, as an employer, save valuable time and increase your employees’ engagement from the beginning.

Request a demo to learn more about TalentAdore’s pre-onboarding module. You can have it as a seamless part of your recruitment process with our modern, AI-assisted recruitment software.