Page 224 - Successful Onboarding

208 • Successful Onboarding

logistics, educate the new hire about the firm, make a new hire feel wel-
come and connected, and outline what to expect on Day One and beyond.
Companies should conceive of the new hire portal as a core tool used
throughout the first year and transitioning into other development tools as
Year Two approaches. Although all portals will have a back-end interface
for system administrators, the most effective portals will have interfaces
(e.g., emails, alerts, planning and background tools, guides, etc.) for all
core participants of the onboarding program (e.g., hiring manager, facili-
ties, security, IT, mentors, etc.).
Upon offer acceptance, the portal needs to excite new hires by articu-
lating what is in store for them at the company. The portal should expose
new hires to all the development tools the company will provide. It should
also provide guidance as to how to hit the ground running and how to
increase chances for success. Positive as well as negative case study pro-
files really work well here. Cultural acclimation, perhaps in the form of
blogs or video addresses from the CEO, should appear, as well as social
networking features, initial training modules, and forms management.
Companies can also post helpful items such as schedules, important
phone numbers, and go-to resources.
Throughout Year One, intranet portals should provide links to all
resources for addressing new hire needs, including instruction on how to
resolve common problems and challenges encountered early in one’s
career, guidance on development planning and training curricula, and
reminders for key milestones and events. In other content areas, the
portal should conform closely to new hires’ interests. The portal should
cover professional and personal interests associated with joining the firm,
such as information about where to live, school systems, how to find
resources of interest, etc. Finally, the portal should express the brand of
the onboarding program, maintain an authentic voice, and instruct the
new hire on his or her responsibility for helping to assure the program’s
positive outcome.
In addition to content, firms should consider the messaging, rich media
elements, and functionality of portal sites for new hires. If the site is not
dynamic and if there is not value and a sense of activity and community,
it will likely not receive much traffic or attention beyond that which is nec-
essary to complete required paperwork and tasks.