10 challenges and solutions for employee onboarding
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 8:51 am
Studies show that first impressions can really convince new hires to stay (or not) with your organization for the long term.
An effective employee onboarding process speaks volumes about the organization and management, and sets the tone for the days, months, and years ahead. It shows that you care about your new employees and want them to thrive. After all, today's new employees are tomorrow's stars.
But when onboarding happens on a large scale, some inevitable challenges arise. As an HR manager or hiring manager, you must combat obstacles and maintain consistency in onboarding.
And we are here to help you identify those challenges and offer possible solutions.
10 Challenges and Solutions for Onboarding
Let’s dive into 10 onboarding challenges companies face and ways to address them.
1. Inadequate job description
The biggest mistake in onboarding is benin number data one that can be nipped in the bud: posting vague job descriptions. Rehashing old job postings is not a good idea because chances are a lot has changed since the last hire.
If there is not enough clarity about what the role entails, the skills and qualifications required, and the remuneration, you may attract the wrong talent pool. In such cases, you will have to restart the recruitment process from scratch, which is expensive and time-consuming.
Solution
Collaborate with senior management: HR managers or hiring managers can work with department heads to outline what the company is looking for in a potential hire and craft a job description accordingly.
Include all relevant information: Make sure the job listing includes the following: a clear title, responsibilities and expectations, required and desirable skills, qualifications, salary and benefits, working style, and a brief introduction to the company.
Update documents: If you have to use an old job description, thoroughly update it to fit the organization's current vision and needs.
2. Excessive manual paperwork
When a new employee joins, the standard onboarding program familiarizes him or her with the company's systems, regulations, tools, legal documentation, working methods and benefits.
It often involves too much manual paperwork, which leads to a poor onboarding experience. Because, let’s face it, no one likes being bombarded with piles of paperwork on their first day at work – it’s overwhelming and puts unnecessary pressure on the employee.
Solution
Go paperless: Reduce cluttered paperwork and digitize employee onboarding software for both remote and on-site roles. Compile all onboarding documents in a secure, centralized repository and share them with new employees when needed.
Start early: Don't wait for onboarding day - send the necessary onboarding documents a day or two beforehand as part of the welcome package. The new employee will have time to review the documents, better understand their role, and clarify any queries beforehand.
**Instead of sharing the entire list of documents during onboarding, provide only the relevant information (such as department-specific tools, training modules, SOPs, and team structure) to keep things organized from the start and create a positive employee onboarding experience.
Netflix is a good example of this. Cecili Reid, who joined Netflix as a software engineer, shares her onboarding process in a Medium article titled personal :
When I opened my email on the first day, I received an onboarding plan from my onboarding buddy. An onboarding buddy is a person on my team who teaches new hires how the onboarding process works. The onboarding plan was customized for my team and me, and included material I needed to read or things I needed to do to set up my credentials and environment, or suggestions to make onboarding go more smoothly. I worked on the plan in my spare time, between team meetings or onboarding sessions, and I met daily with my onboarding buddy.
My partner and the plan were instrumental in helping me decide what I really needed to focus on when I joined."
3. Not explaining your onboarding software
Their employee onboarding software unifies the many moving pieces of the onboarding process. It eliminates the “first-day jitters” an employee may face, helps them adjust to their new role, and allows hiring managers to track their progress.
An effective employee onboarding process speaks volumes about the organization and management, and sets the tone for the days, months, and years ahead. It shows that you care about your new employees and want them to thrive. After all, today's new employees are tomorrow's stars.
But when onboarding happens on a large scale, some inevitable challenges arise. As an HR manager or hiring manager, you must combat obstacles and maintain consistency in onboarding.
And we are here to help you identify those challenges and offer possible solutions.
10 Challenges and Solutions for Onboarding
Let’s dive into 10 onboarding challenges companies face and ways to address them.
1. Inadequate job description
The biggest mistake in onboarding is benin number data one that can be nipped in the bud: posting vague job descriptions. Rehashing old job postings is not a good idea because chances are a lot has changed since the last hire.
If there is not enough clarity about what the role entails, the skills and qualifications required, and the remuneration, you may attract the wrong talent pool. In such cases, you will have to restart the recruitment process from scratch, which is expensive and time-consuming.
Solution
Collaborate with senior management: HR managers or hiring managers can work with department heads to outline what the company is looking for in a potential hire and craft a job description accordingly.
Include all relevant information: Make sure the job listing includes the following: a clear title, responsibilities and expectations, required and desirable skills, qualifications, salary and benefits, working style, and a brief introduction to the company.
Update documents: If you have to use an old job description, thoroughly update it to fit the organization's current vision and needs.
2. Excessive manual paperwork
When a new employee joins, the standard onboarding program familiarizes him or her with the company's systems, regulations, tools, legal documentation, working methods and benefits.
It often involves too much manual paperwork, which leads to a poor onboarding experience. Because, let’s face it, no one likes being bombarded with piles of paperwork on their first day at work – it’s overwhelming and puts unnecessary pressure on the employee.
Solution
Go paperless: Reduce cluttered paperwork and digitize employee onboarding software for both remote and on-site roles. Compile all onboarding documents in a secure, centralized repository and share them with new employees when needed.
Start early: Don't wait for onboarding day - send the necessary onboarding documents a day or two beforehand as part of the welcome package. The new employee will have time to review the documents, better understand their role, and clarify any queries beforehand.
**Instead of sharing the entire list of documents during onboarding, provide only the relevant information (such as department-specific tools, training modules, SOPs, and team structure) to keep things organized from the start and create a positive employee onboarding experience.
Netflix is a good example of this. Cecili Reid, who joined Netflix as a software engineer, shares her onboarding process in a Medium article titled personal :
When I opened my email on the first day, I received an onboarding plan from my onboarding buddy. An onboarding buddy is a person on my team who teaches new hires how the onboarding process works. The onboarding plan was customized for my team and me, and included material I needed to read or things I needed to do to set up my credentials and environment, or suggestions to make onboarding go more smoothly. I worked on the plan in my spare time, between team meetings or onboarding sessions, and I met daily with my onboarding buddy.
My partner and the plan were instrumental in helping me decide what I really needed to focus on when I joined."
3. Not explaining your onboarding software
Their employee onboarding software unifies the many moving pieces of the onboarding process. It eliminates the “first-day jitters” an employee may face, helps them adjust to their new role, and allows hiring managers to track their progress.