Button up your onboarding process to improve your candidate experience

Virtually every interview process touches on how good it is to work at the organization. The onboarding process, though, is the first official chance to prove it.

According to a Gallup State of the American Workplace study, many employers have room for improvement. Only 12% of surveyed employees strongly agree their organization does a great job of onboarding new employees.

Employees form opinions about their organizations every day. It starts with their experience as a candidate for your opportunity and continues through onboarding and their acclimation into the role. A poor onboarding experience could be the seed that leads a new hire to grow  into a disgruntled physician. Employees today are more apt to sign up for a certain experience. If a role doesn’t turn out to be what they understood from the interview process, they might look elsewhere for it.

On the other hand, a positive onboarding experience could be the first step toward the employee becoming an organization advocate who wants to stay onboard and even encourage colleagues to join them.

Here are three areas to evaluate as you consider how your onboarding process may be perceived:

1. Orientation

A new employee’s first day - and likely more - usually involves orientation meetings, paperwork and training on services and programs. Look for opportunities to shorten the time it takes to get them learning their actual role. Some possibilities may include:

• Handling paperwork and orientation meetings prior to the start date
• Setting up their computer with all necessary software so it’s ready when they arrive

In addition to organizational policies, procedures and benefits, orientation can be a time to reintroduce the organization’s mission and vision - and how you see the new physician helping advance them. Also think about any additional information that could be shared - like a marketing plan for them to review and help personalize, which shows you’re already thinking about how they can be set up to succeed.

2. Day One welcome

While orientation covers important information, don’t lose sight that it’s all about the people. Find a way to make your new physician feel appreciated and part of the team from the moment they arrive. Some ways to do this might include:

• A welcome letter signed by the full team given to the new employee on the first day
• An introductory tour and initial meet-and-greet for the physician to see their actual office and practice setting, and start meeting staff
• A workplace buddy system so there’s a designated resource to ask general questions about the facilities and employee guidelines
• A lunch with team members, key managers and leadership
• A company-paid dinner for the physician and their family sometime during the first week

3. Ramp-up plan

Establish a plan that monitors how your new physician is adapting and how quickly they’re learning their role and responsibilities. Work with their manager to set goals that help monitor their progress, and have check-ins with the employee to either encourage them to continue progressing or, if needed, to focus on certain areas as they acclimate.

For example:

• Initial meeting after one week to gauge how they’re feeling as the newness starts to wear off. See how quickly they’re meeting people and identify whether there’s any part of their onboarding that may need to be reprioritized.
• Supervisor-led meeting after 30 days to follow up on their progress, identify where they’re excelling, and direct where they may need to place more focus.
• Supervisor-led meeting after 60 days to continue to monitor onboarding.
• Supervisor-led meeting after 90 days to ensure they’ve properly ramped up into the role and feel confident in their position.
• Feedback meeting post-onboarding to get their feedback on the onboarding process. Their feedback today could lead to you having an even better onboarding process tomorrow.