Onboarding Mistakes

When you implement the new hire onboarding training correctly, you'll see a massive difference in how your new team members pick up your company's processes. Rather than waiting for the initial three months probationary period to be over, expect your new employees to settle in faster after you've realized how beneficial effective onboarding training can be.

Please don't become a statistic as a whopping 1 in 25 employees leave their job because of a terrible onboarding experience. Instead, let's help you turn it around so that you'll become the workplace hero in no time. You never know; other stakeholders might take note and start implementing your new onboarding training process too!

While you need to check out our 17 Best Employee Onboarding Process Steps guide, here are some of the common mistakes many managers make when going through new hire onboarding training.

What is onboarding training?

We're just going to break it down so you understand what onboarding training is. The onboarding meaning is the process in which new hires will gain adequate training to understand the company's policies, procedures, and company culture. This will help them integrate into the business as quickly as possible.

There are four main steps for onboarding: pre-onboarding, which starts as soon as the new hire accepts the role, welcoming your new hires to the company, specific training for their position, and setting clear job tasks to ease them into becoming full members of the team. Our free Onboarding Checklist Template breaks all those steps down, while enabling you to seamlessly edit the course for your own onboarding training.

The onboarding training program should last up to six months to ensure you can retain excellent staff who won't leave because of inadequate training.

14 New Hire Onboarding Training Mistakes To Avoid!

1. Don't leave it all to HR

It's true! Many managers leave new hire onboarding training to the HR team. You know your team better than HR does, and while they can lend a hand with new hire orientation ideas or the interview process, you need to make sure you dedicate time to organizing the best onboarding program to help get the most out of your new employee.

Whatever you do, don't be disorganized! You're going to need to spend a fair bit of time making sure you perfect the employee onboarding checklist so you can update it as and when required.

2. Don't post a misleading job ad

Be careful with the recruitment and selection process, and make sure you don't post a misleading job ad! Although there will be hundreds of potential candidates capable of doing the job, make sure you explain why the company stands out amongst the rest. What makes the position different, and why should someone apply?

One of the most prominent things managers forget to mention in the job description is the company culture. You want to make sure you hire someone who will get on well with the rest of the team and other business stakeholders. Let's make sure you're clear about the type of people they'll be working with so you don't waste anyone's time.

3. Don't forget the pre-onboarding process

While many managers assume the onboarding training starts and finishes at the recruitment and selection process, the truth is, it's not even begun yet!

The best thing you can do is start early with pre-onboarding by sending your new hire any relevant information required before they start. While it's common to organize hardware and a few forms filled out before the employee starts, help them feel organized before Day 1, so they know what to expect.

No one wants an information overload on their first day that they end up feeling overwhelmed rather than prepared. Send them the onboarding schedule so they can see what will be expected in their first week.

Set your new hire up with the relevant communication apps to check the Slack channels (for example), have an idea of how your team communicates, and get updated with what they've been working on.

4. Don't leave your new hires to figure it out!

One of the worst things you can do as a manager is spend an hour or so of your time with your new employee and expect them to simply get on with it. Just because you've hired top talent doesn't mean they won't need training. Instead, put together an excellent onboarding program to spend their first day going through it and understand any critical information they need to know instantly.

Unsure how to build an awesome onboarding program? No problem. Check out our library of free onboarding course templates for inspiration. Using those templates as a guide, you'll be able to put together a professional-looking onboarding course that will make you look like you paid someone to do it for you!

Turn those random documents you have floating around on your computer into a concise and engaging course, and you'll make your company look so modern and forward-thinking, you'll make your new hire feel very excited about working with you.

You'll also be able to add in cool lesson screen templates like quizzes and interactive elements that will transform any content into an engaging onboarding process.

5. Don't forget to spend time going over the onboarding process

While you'll have a fantastic onboarding document to share with your new hires once you've realized what Coassemble can do for you, you'll need to spend time going over the entire onboarding process.

Many managers assume they need to hand over an onboarding course, and that's the end of the training. In actual fact, you'll need to go over what is involved in the onboarding training with your new hire because good onboarding tends to last over a six-month period. It might sound long, but you'll need to make sure the new hire onboarding is perfected, and you'll retain your staff for the long term.

6. Don't put in back to back meetings

Everyone has spent their first week feeling totally exhausted in a new job because their manager has filled their time with back-to-back meetings to meet the rest of the team and other stakeholders in the business. This is not only unproductive but also very overwhelming for any new hire.

Instead, book in the relevant meetings but leave gaps in between. You might like to start the morning filled with a few key meetings, then stagnate them throughout the rest of the day with one-hour breaks in between so the new hire can look over the notes they have made and gain a good understanding of the meetings they have just had. This will help keep the momentum during the first week, so they stay focused and are unlikely to feel overwhelmed.

7. Don't give poor first impressions

You don't want to turn off your new employee with terrible first impressions. Be organized and ready to give them an action-packed but thoughtful first few weeks, and you'll gain credit and respect instantly. When you uncover proper onboarding training, new employees will always be productive quickly and respect direct managers immediately.

8. Don't forget to organize the first-day lunch

Make the new employee feel valued as you don't leave them left to ask a teammate where to buy lunch on their first day. Instead, get the employee experience off to a bang and organize a team lunch to get to know the rest of the team in a social environment. This thoughtful touch will make all the difference that will help any new employees feel settled quickly.

9. Don't forget about the rest of your team

During the hiring process, make sure you don't forget about the rest of your team. Let them know who will be joining the team, so everyone is fully prepared for the transition.

10. Don't forget to pair them with a buddy or mentor

Your new employee onboarding program should include teaming up with a buddy or mentor who will help guide your new hire during their first week or two. This will help them feel valued and will help them connect with other employees quickly. When you're organizing the new employee orientation week, it will help you by having a mentor or buddy to guide them as best they can.

11. Don't treat onboarding as a one week process

Effective employee onboarding should last up to six months to ensure employee engagement when proper training is implemented. While it might seem like a long time to commit to onboarding activities, the company vision will become a clearer reality when your new hires are being productive. It might also be useful to check out our article on 30, 60, and 90 onboarding plans.

12. Don't set unclear goals or expectations

Don't get too ahead of yourself and assume that having a hire training program in place will mean you can set unclear goals or expectations. Set achievable goals within the first three months, then assess, and you'll be able to make better decisions with your new hires' plans for the following three months ahead. No matter how confident they were in the interview, you want to make sure you can build your new employees' confidence when working for the company.

13. Don't micro-manage

Be careful not to micro-manage your new employees. While it's important to check in with them every week during the onboarding process, try to make sure you're giving them the autonomy to get on with it and produce excellent results. Let them know you're here to help and support them when needed and help them flourish in their new role.

14. Don't forget to adapt onboarding training for every new hire

Once you've built excellent onboarding and training programs for your new colleagues, you'll need to adapt and tweak it for every new hire. Try and understand your new employee's learning methods and adjust the onboarding course for them. For example, will they process learning by taking part in quizzes the most? Or would they process it best by watching videos? Make sure you know how they learn best before shaping your new hire onboarding training around them, and you'll see jaw-dropping results fast!

Need more onboarding inspiration?

You might like to check out our library of free course templates to help you train team members anywhere in the world with online training.

Some of our most popular templates include:

• Company Onboarding
• Intern Onboarding
• Onboarding Checklist
• Employee Handbook