
Article
by Susan Jeffery   14 Apr 2019
3 Crucial ways to meet the onboarding needs of the modern workforce
Managing talent over the next five years will be completely different than how it has been done over the past 20. By 2025, millennials will make up 75% of the workforce and technology is going to play a large role in how you attract and retain that talent pool.
So how do employers meet the changing expectations of their employees? In the past, the relationship was motivated mostly by finances. So, as long as the employer was providing adequate compensation, the employee was mostly satisfied. These days, other factors are playing a larger role, such as training and career development through learning opportunities to increase the employee’s skill set.
Here are three crucial aspects your company will need to take to meet the needs of today’s workforce:

Make it flexible
Managing today’s talent requires flexibility because your employees are working under more flexible arrangements when it comes to location. With more people working remote from their homes, or out in the field, geographic boundaries are no longer a barrier to productivity and collaboration.
This means you’re going to have to adapt to the needs of remote employees, and that includes onboarding. Leverage the technology that’s available so you can save your company the money from having to fly out a new hire to your headquarters for their onboarding. If 10% of your workforce is remote, that’s can lead to some serious savings.
Also recognize how important continuous onboarding would be for a remote employee so they can feel like they’re a part of the organization, rather than detached.

Take a balanced approach by adopting the 4 C’s of Onboarding
It’s by no means an original concept, but it should be considered best practice for you to implement the four C’s of onboarding: Compliance, Clarification, Culture and Connection. It’s important to note that a lot of companies pay too much attention to Compliance at the expense of the other three. To best serve your employees, balance all four of the C’s and you’ll find that your employees will be much more engaged and productive
You need to be sure you have moved from a transaction-focused onboarding process to one that is more people-focused. It’s been estimated that about $37 billion is wasted every year by US and UK companies because new employees don’t fully understand their job when they first come on to the team. Your new hires will be much more productive after going through an onboarding process that is enriched with learning and socialization, instead of just concentrating on forms and compliance

Improve engagement by setting up continuous onboarding throughout the first year
When’s the best time for your organization to start the onboarding process? How about right after the offer is accepted. It might seem early, but this will keep the communication flowing between you and your new hire. It will make them feel welcome and that they are already part of the organization and the team they’ll be joining. Don’t be afraid to immerse them in your culture right away
What other types of activities could you do throughout the year? Many companies that operate best-in-class onboarding platforms make sure to include performance goal-setting, enrollment into learning, training, and development programs and an assessment to determine their development track.
This also applies to employees that transfer to another location within the company, or in the case of an M&A. Many of those employees have a fair amount of uncertainty about what life will be like, either in their new local community, or at a completely new company after a merger or acquisition. A formal onboarding process can help alleviate many of those concerns and help retain the talent you have acquired.