The Importance of Onboarding for Employee Satisfaction
Every new employee who joins a company is unaware of the organisational culture, people, policies, and rules. In order to make this transition easier for an employee, companies take active initiatives. The best way to make an employee feel belonging to a company is through onboarding.
A well-planned onboarding can help increase satisfaction levels and decrease employee turnover. This makes it easier to know their job roles and makes employees feel safe.
In this article, we are diving deep to understand why onboarding is important for employee satisfaction.
What is Onboarding?
When it comes to onboarding, every organisation has a different approach. Many companies complete this process in a few days, while others may take weeks. This includes offering office tours, providing team meetings, and formal introductions. This HR term is sometimes also known as “organisational socialisation.”
During this process, a new employee can ask questions about their job roles and day-to-day duties. It is a good opportunity to familiarise employees with the company culture and what employees can expect by working with them.
Importance of Onboarding for Employee Satisfaction
A successful onboarding process can help in providing long-term success, improving employee life cycles, and making them feel safe. The following are some important aspects of onboarding:
Increases Employee Engagement
Every company benefits from employee engagement, especially if they are new hires. A well-planned onboarding process can help employees break the ice and learn about their superiors and team members. When a company opens up to a new employee, it urges them to perform their best from day one.
This is because they feel a part of the team and share the common goal and mission. By acknowledging employee sentiments, a healthy onboarding process leads to motivation and preparedness for role-related expectations.
Offers Role-Based Training
No matter the past experience, every new employee requires formal training to perform the job. Onboarding ensures role-related training that includes hands-on aspects for proper clarity. Starting from the basics helps employees in gaining confidence and ensuring expected deliverables. It also encourages job satisfaction as training develops their skills.
A Welcoming Work Environment
A company can thrive by offering an employee-centric work environment. Systematic onboarding is the first step in making your employees feel welcome in the organisation. This creates an empathetic image of the company that cares for its employees.
Many companies offer welcome kits, including branded bottles, pens, notepads, etc. It can make employees feel valued and offer motivation to contribute to their new organisation.
Quick Acquaintance With Work Culture
Easy and quick understanding of company culture leads to happy employees. Onboarding ensures that new hires can slowly grasp the nitty-gritty of the company with the guidance of their leaders. It ensures employees are not overwhelmed with tasks that they do not fully understand. A well-planned onboarding provides a systematic breakdown of company goals, vision, philosophies, and procedures.
Increased Job Clarity and Satisfaction
Employees need realistic expectations to set achievable goals for their new jobs. Onboarding offers clarity and signifies job responsibilities and expectations. This answers their questions about what they can expect from the company and what is expected from them. Clarity of their roles helps in avoiding confusion and unnecessary early-stage work stress. It improves employee productivity and builds job satisfaction.
Reduces Employee Turnover
Ineffective onboarding diminishes employee satisfaction, which can increase employee turnover. New employees use the first couple of months to test if the job is the right fit for them.
Onboarding is a critical period in establishing a strong relationship with your employees. This is why communication and management support must be provided during the onboarding period.
Process of Onboarding
Most UAE-based companies follow a thorough onboarding process to ensure employee satisfaction and reduce turnover. The following is a step-by-step onboarding process:
Onboarding for Employee Satisfaction: Employment Contract and Offer Letter
An offer letter is the first step of the onboarding process. It outlines the terms and conditions of employment. Once the new employee accepts this letter, a contract is shared with the employee, which is a legally binding agreement.
Both parties need to sign and agree to this contract, which entails provisions of the UAE labour law. However, it is important to provide complete details about leaves, working hours, additional perks, compensation, and other aspects.
Work Permit and Visa
Another important part of onboarding is to ensure that employees meet the work permit and visa requirements. UAE companies sponsor and initiate this process by submitting the relevant documents to the authorities.
Employees must submit an employment contract, passport copies, medical test results, and passport-sized photographs. This ensures job security and decreases the chances of any legal problems due to non-compliance with immigration regulations.
Onboarding for Employee Satisfaction: Medical Examination and Emirates ID
An important part of the visa application process is to provide a medical examination. Its main objective is to test if the employees are fit to work as per the health requirements of the UAE authorities. This usually includes blood tests, chest X-rays, and basic health checkups.
Once the visa is issued, can apply for an Emirates ID card. This identification document is used for financial transactions, banking, healthcare, and government services.
Orientation
The most important part of onboarding is the induction and orientation process. It is the core activity where new hires are introduced to the company culture, work environment, company achievements, and procedures. This is a good opportunity to prepare employees for their roles and ensure they can ask relevant queries to their superiors.
Onboarding for Employee Satisfaction: Probationary Term
The probationary period is a testing time for both the employer and the new employee. During this period, both parties can assess the suitability of this employment.
Effective training is given during this period, which lasts from 3 to 6 months as per UAE labour law. The terms of probation are clearly defined in the employment contract, which includes evaluation criteria, specific requirements and performance expectations.
A superior can use this period to offer valuable advice and constructive feedback that improves the employee. Some goals are set for the employee, which act as a quality measure to map their skills and efforts. Employees can also use this time to ask work-related queries and establish regular communication for transitioning into full-time employment.
Ongoing Employee Support
Ongoing employee support is very important for long-term business success and reducing employee turnover. This can include regular training, encouraging activities, performance evaluations, and offering timely rewards. This avoids employee satisfaction concerns and improves organisational culture. Efforts like employee wellness initiatives and interactive group building exercises can also enhance employee satisfaction and retention.
Concluding Remarks
By now, it’s clear that onboarding is essential to ensure that employees feel safe, motivated, and valued in an organisation. This initial experience dictates their long-term success with the company and fuels team spirit. For further help, you can assign a teammate or buddy to your new hires to make it easier for them to settle into the company. Such thoughtful onboarding strategies can offer a positive relationship between a company and its new employees.
Sources for Onboarding for Employee Satisfaction : https://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/media-center/awareness-and-guidance/work-bundle.aspx
