Settling into any new role takes time. Even employees with years of experience in similar engineering industry roles can struggle when faced with new processes, workplace requirements and team dynamics. That’s why business leaders and managers must invest in effective onboarding processes to streamline the path to productivity.
Implementing the right strategy for an employee’s first 90 days in your organisation doesn’t only ensure you get the most value out of your new hire as quickly as possible, but it’s also crucial to retaining top talent in a competitive job market.
A well-structured onboarding process that focuses on training, cultural integration, and development during the first three months helps to forge the foundations of a positive relationship between employees and the companies they support.
Here’s how you can set your new employee up for success during their first 90 days with your company.
The Importance of Employee Onboarding and Development
Studies show up to 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days of a new hire joining the team. This makes the initial stages of welcoming an employee into your team crucial for talent retention. 69% of employees say they’re more likely to stay with a company for three years or more if they receive an excellent initial onboarding experience.
In a skills-short engineering space, employees are likelier to abandon roles that don’t meet their expectations. Companies could waste time and resources recruiting and training staff who may leave their roles within a few months.
Rapid turnover can significantly impact team morale and overall company culture, reducing productivity and performance. A robust onboarding process, particularly focusing on the first 90 days, sets the tone for a valuable long-term relationship between your company and your new hires.
It allows staff to build strong foundations in your business, provides them with rapid access to essential skills, and helps them forge relationships with other team members. You will reduce your risk of early turnover for new talent and streamline each team member’s path to success within your organization.
The First 90 Days: Building Your Onboarding Roadmap
The exact elements of a successful onboarding strategy will always vary depending on the engineering role you’re filling and the unique requirements of your new hire. However, the following blueprint will give you a helpful starting point when designing your onboarding strategy.
- Pre-Arrival Preparation (Days -30 to 0)
A powerful onboarding experience starts before your new staff member arrives for their first day at your business location. When an employee accepts your job offer, you should prepare to welcome them into the team.
Create a comprehensive and personalised onboarding plan for each new team member that outlines the required training schedule, objectives, and milestones. This will give your new starter an insight into what to expect ahead of their start date.
Prepare any hardware and equipment your employees will need, such as a computer, desk space, and any software they’ll need access to, so it’s ready for them when they walk through the door.
Assigning a mentor or buddy to each new team member is a helpful way to give them a go-to resource if they have questions about their role, tasks or the company. Arrange this ahead of time. Additionally, consider setting up meet-and-greet sessions with the key team members your employee will work with.
Communicate with your new employee before their start date, sending them a welcome email with essential information about their role and the organisation.
- The First Week (Days 1-7)
The first week in a new engineering role can be chaotic and nerve-wracking for a new team member. Ensuring your employee feels supported and informed during this time is crucial.
On the first day, focus on welcoming the hire into the team, introducing them to team members, and showing them around the office. Ensure they know where to find everything, from meeting rooms to bathrooms and lunch or break spaces.
Set expectations with your new team member immediately, but ensure you’re realistic about expected accomplishments. Remind your new staff member of the critical elements of your company’s culture and values, and ask them if they have any questions about their role.
Additionally, during the first week, scheduling initial training sessions covering the software your employees will be using or any essential processes they’ll need to follow is helpful. Plus, make sure you have a few regular check-ins scheduled with a manager or team leader so you can monitor your new hire’s progress.
- Weeks 2-4 (Days 8-30)
After the first week, you can dive into more role-specific training sessions for your new hire, focusing on developing core skills and overcoming potential weaknesses. Introduce the key projects your team member will work on and assign new responsibilities.
For the first month, avoid overwhelming your employees with complex tasks. Instead, ensure they have access to the resources they need to learn more about their roles and functions and build new relationships with valuable team members.
Consider introducing team-building exercises or arranging informal lunches to foster the development of positive connections and enable collaboration.
At the end of the first month, schedule your first formal feedback session, ensuring you both provide helpful guidance and collect insights from your new employee about their experience in the workplace.
- Month 2 (Days 31-60)
When they enter their second month with your business, your new engineering hire should start feeling more confident in their role. Start giving your staff members more autonomy and responsibility, ensuring they still have someone to turn to if they have any questions.
Help them set short-term goals and objectives based on their ambitions and your company’s broader goals. Additionally, ensure your staff member can access continued learning and development opportunities, such as training sessions and workshops.
At this point, infusing your new employee deeper into your business operations is essential. Encourage them to actively participate in team meetings and projects and ask them to share their thoughts and opinions regularly.
At the end of the second month, arrange another review and feedback session to assess progress and provide constructive feedback.
- Month 3 (Days 61-90)
In the third month of the onboarding process, your new hire should feel fully integrated into the business. You can begin to assign them more complex tasks and projects and ask them to take more initiative in their role. Begin looking for more specific opportunities for growth and development based on what you’ve learned about your hire’s strengths and weaknesses so far.
Arrange another meeting during which your new engineering team member can tell you about their long-term career aspirations, and you and your colleague can begin to build a personal development plan for them.
At the end of the third month, invite your employee to a comprehensive 90-day review. During this meeting, you can discuss the employee’s goals and achievements and collaboratively identify areas for improvement. You should also begin to discuss long-term development plans and set clear goals for the staff member’s next 90 days in their role.
At this stage, you can also ask your employees for feedback about what they’ve liked and disliked about the onboarding experience. This will help you optimise and improve future onboarding strategies.
The First 90 Days: Best Practice
Developing an onboarding strategy for your new hire’s first 90 days within their new role is crucial to integrating them into your company culture and setting the foundations for future success. Some experts say an employee’s experience within the first 90 days in a role will significantly impact their long-term performance and contribution to a company.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind throughout the process:
Maintain Open Communication
Communication is key to strengthening the relationship between your new employee and your business. Ensure managers regularly check in with new team members to clarify expectations, offer feedback, and quickly address any concerns or challenges.
Personalise the Onboarding Experience
Every new engineering hire will have requirements and specific challenges to overcome when starting a role with a company. Make sure you personalise the onboarding experience based on the employee’s role, background, and individual learning style.
Leverage Technology
Taking advantage of technology can significantly improve the onboarding experience. Digital scheduling tools, learning management software, and communication solutions can automate and streamline processes throughout the onboarding journey.
Gathering and Acting on Feedback
Gather feedback from your new staff members during and after onboarding to determine what works well for them and what can be improved. This will show employees that you value their input and help continuously refine the onboarding experience.
Master the 90-Day Onboarding Process
An effective onboarding strategy ensures that your new employee thrives in your organisation. Retaining crucial talent, enhancing your company culture, and building an effective team is important.
Follow the steps above to design your 90-day onboarding strategy. Remember to constantly optimise and improve the experience based on feedback from each new team member.
All the best
Steve
At Coalesce we have been partnering with engineering businesses for over 28 years; if you would like our input into effective onboarding for engineering employees, then give us a call on 07512 821708 or email us here.