Attracting, hiring and keeping talented employees in the competitive market that characterizes today’s workforce, can be quite the challenge. This article dives into the importance of an emotional connection and how to secure it in the onboarding process.
Create a Good Experience With an Onboarding Program
When a new employee is hired, both the candidate and the recruiters feel a sense of excitement and relief. However, this same excitement can quickly turn into a sense of disappointment.
One could say that onboarding is where company loyalty begins because employees continue to evaluate a company after they sign the contract. Employees share thoughts about their decision during their first couple of weeks, months and even years of employment
Don't disappoint your employees
A study by Gallup reveals that only 12% of employees think their company is doing a good job of onboarding new employees. This means that there's a general feeling of disappointment among employees after the recruitment phase is over.
For this particular reason, companies should proactively provide onboarding experiences in line with the brand promises they made during the hiring process. This creates a best practice mindset and continuously boosting of excitement for their jobs.
That One Important Emotional Connection
When trying to find and hire talented employees, recruiters typically try to attract new candidates by appealing to their rational side of decision making by selling the company in their best way and tempting candidates with practical benefits.
However, employers may be overlooking one crucial part in the onboarding process which is appealing to emotions to attract potential new rock star employees. Although rationality can play a role in the decision-making process, experiences and emotional connections to the company are key to millennials who are currently dominating the workforce.
Employees want to feel connected
Make your employees feel connected to your company on a higher level because today’s employees demand more; They want something that might be difficult to convey in a job posting and during technical onboarding.
This means that employers need to establish an emotional connection during the onboarding experiences, not just the practical benefits, that align with and support the brand promises.
You need to find a way to make your new hires feel connected to the company and that their contribution is important to the company. Providing a strong relationship with your new employee is based on feelings, not only practical tangible assets.
Get the Best of Your Employees’ Emotions
In order to do so, the key to successfully onboarding and keeping talented employees connected to the company is to create a sense of purpose and an emotional sense of belonging to the company during onboarding.
We've listed 3 essential questions your company should consider during the onboarding of a new employee:
- Are you aware of a new candidate’s personal, unique and emotional needs?
- Is your company giving new employees a proper idea of how working for you, can help the new candidate excel and shine by achieving both personal and professional goals?
- Is your organization doing what it takes to make sure that new hires are aligned with your business’ purpose, mission, vision and values during onboarding?
Onboarding Turns Your Employees into Company Ambassadors
If your company is able to make a personal and emotional connection between new candidates and the company during onboarding their emotions will get the best of them.
When employees are emotionally invested in the company, they become company ambassadors and they are more likely to remain loyal to the company throughout their employment.
