Onboarding Engagement Ideas For Your Tenured Staff
The onboarding process involves many ups and downs that hiring managers have come to expect. For this process to go smoothly, companies need all hands on deck. Seasoned employees that have been part of your company for more than a few years have had to observe multiple inductions throughout their tenure. Ensuring those employees stay motivated and do their best to aid in the onboarding process is paramount. To make this necessary process enjoyable for every team member, we have compiled some fun onboarding engagement ideas that encourage tenured employees to participate in this sometimes challenging journey.
Why Seasoned Employee Engagement Matters
Employee engagement is always important but, when it comes to tenured staff, it's a must. Staffers who have been with your company the longest have become the cornerstone of your successful operations. They need to know how their loyalty, performance, and work ethic have made each business year successful. By re-motivating and re-energizing your experienced staff, you recognize them as company assets and emphasize their value within your teams. In addition, providing engagement opportunities cultivates a collaborative work environment and nurtures an open space of communication where mutual help thrives. Paying attention to your most trusted team members through targeted initiatives also highlights that your organization cares about their contribution and acts on it.
Lastly, participation in onboarding provides new challenges for staffers who have learned to operate within a specific routine for a long period of time. It offers a change of scenery from the typical day-to-day duties and gives way to more creative, out-of-the-box thinking. Participating in different initiatives, such as the onboarding of a new hire, allows tenured employees to solve problems, generate new ideas, and put company values into action. Onboarding engagement for seasoned employees is valuable because it enriches the onboarding experience for new hires. It's a win-win.
6 Fun Onboarding Engagement Ideas
To give you a better idea of the possibilities, we have compiled six onboarding engagement ideas that make the induction phase fly by. These activities can boost engagement rates with your more knowledgeable employees, or act as inspiration so you can brainstorm and implement your own ideas, according to your business needs.
1. Personal Introductions
No one really enjoys introducing themselves to a group; more often than not, it's extremely awkward, even for extroverted people. To make this necessary evil less unpleasant, forgo the group welcome and opt to allow for more personal and casual introductions. Instead of having a large group of spectators for the new hire to introduce themselves and their work to, initiating more casual, one-on-one meet and greets between new and older employees can make this awkward process less overbearing. Yes, it might be more time-consuming, but considering the benefits of building strong connections from the very first day, any downsides can be forgiven.
2. Training For Training
Many may feel that they aren't the right people to train new entries to the team. Show them that they are by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in their training. Providing training on how to train others properly instills confidence. Your staff can be reassured that they have exactly what it takes to offer job-specific training to their new team members successfully. It's also a great way to help them utilize their strengths more effectively when the training begins, as they are up-to-date on what they need to cover and what's the best way to do so. Not to mention, training promotes a growth mindset, cultivates high-demand skill sets, and establishes a culture of continuous learning within your company.
3. Leaderboards
Leaderboards are well-known in gamification initiatives, but they can also be quite useful in onboarding engagement activities for seasoned staff. As many tenured employees secretly wish to step away from their routine briefly, using leaderboards can bring a fun element to their day-to-day. In an onboarding context, leaderboards can be used to track and rank the performance of your experienced employees in the basic onboarding tasks that require their participation. People love competitions, especially when they're conducted in an equitable and respectful manner. Additionally, leaderboards provide opportunities for social interaction and can help to establish friendlier connections between older and newer hires.
4. Mentorship Programs
Launching a mentorship program boosts seasoned employees' self-confidence and allows them to utilize their strengths by sharing their expertise and experience. Mentoring is a valuable practice that has become extremely popular in corporate contexts. If you want to stay on top of the game, start devising your mentorship initiative by consulting your HR department, Subject Matter Experts, and your own people. It's a great way to boost onboarding engagement starting from orientation. Plus, it helps you establish a welcoming environment so that new hires recognize how much your company cares about their growth.
5. Company Culture Presentation
This usually falls under the purview of the HR department, but it can be a fun activity to engage all team members. It can be organized as a separate presentation from the typical orientation meeting and conducted much more casually. Long-time employees are able to detail how they individually and collectively actualize the company's culture and provide examples from their day-to-day. For new hires, experiencing how tenured members view the company culture can greatly help them adapt to their new environment more quickly.
6. Team-Wide Onboarding Plan
Employee engagement mistakes are bound to happen, despite the best of intentions. The onboarding process is a stressful journey in itself, as it involves planning, resources, and different perspectives. To streamline this challenging process, get your tenured staff involved when it's time to devise the onboarding plan. Seasoned employees were once fresh-faced hires who had to follow the company's then-standard policies. But times do change, and processes require constant reevaluations; your tenured team can offer a unique perspective on effectively forming a practical onboarding plan. Not only did they go through the induction phase themselves, but they've also watched for years as new hires have been welcomed into the team. Devising a brand new onboarding plan can go a lot more smoothly if there are multiple viewpoints.
Conclusion
How can you ensure that your more experienced staff remains productive and engaged? After many a year under your employment, tenured employees have learned to work with a specific routine, and participating in onboarding gives them a break from the norm. The abovementioned onboarding engagement tips highlight the importance of fostering collaboration, promoting creativity, and making the typically-stressful induction phase stress-free. You can also check out this list of Top Content Providers For Employee Onboarding to help you devise a need-specific plan.