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Staff Leasing Guest Post: Common New Hire Mistakes
The following blog post was originally featured on the Staff Leasing blog. Click here for the full post.
You have a new hire and you’re excited to see what fresh talent can bring to your team. Their success, however, depends on your ability to avoid new hire mistakes and get them off to a great start.Consider these stats from a 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics summary:
- 22% of the workforce has been at their job for less than a year
- Younger workers are more likely to have shorter job tenure: 74% of 16- to 19-year-olds have been at their job for fewer than 12 months. That applies to only 9% of workers age 55 to 64.
- In 2018, both wage and salaried workers were in their current jobs for a median of 4.2 years.
Employee turnover happens for lots of reasons, but issues related to the culture, engagement, and management styles can often be mitigated through effective and personalized on-boarding procedures.
If you don’t fine tune your on-boarding processes, it can cost your company in many different ways. It costs an average of $4,000 to hire a new employee, and a position can sit vacant for around 42 days, according to research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
When you add the hard costs of hiring with the opportunity cost of not having your team at full capacity, it can prove costly for companies. Many of us recognize what’s necessary for successful on-boarding that increases a new hire’s likelihood of succeeding in their role, but mistakes happen. Avoid these common slip-ups to keep new hires engaged and confident in their decision to join your team:
1. Not showing them a warm welcome
Your business rarely has downtime, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t slow down and show your new hire a proper welcome. They are taking a risk in joining new team. This is the best moment to plant the seed that they are now part of something positive and life-changing, and that their decision to accept the position was the right one.
Don’t keep them waiting in the lobby. Have the hiring manager or their boss greet them personally, if possible. Meet them at the door, show them around the office and introduce them to co-workers. It’s polite, and can ease their first-day jitters. Make sure they know where facilities, amenities and supplies are located. Don’t let them guess about things like parking, coat storage, or the best way to get a cup of coffee.
Remote workers should still get the red-carpet treatment. If it’s not practical to travel to meet in person, at least do a video call to check in and offer a friendly face.
2. Overwhelming them with training or paperwork
When onboarding an employee, there are certain administrative and regulatory requirements that should be taken care of on day one and others that can be spread out across their first week. On an employee’s first day, they must complete their W-4 and I-9 verification documents.
Then throughout the remainder of their first week, have the employee review the employee handbook.
Avoid the temptation of setting them in front of training videos or procedural manuals on their first day. While the red tape of a new hire needs to be handled, it is best to wait a day or two on the rest or until they become acclimated with their surroundings.
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For the full list of common new hire mistakes to avoid, visit the Staff Leasing blog.
