Does your company’s on boarding process consist of stacks of paperwork and training videos?  If so, it may be time for an overhaul.

Onboarding should be more than just completing direct deposit paperwork.  It is an ongoing process of helping your new employee not only feel knowledgeable in their role, but also able to coach and support others, and excited about representing your company.

An onboarding process that aims to accomplish this is no easy task, but shouldn’t fall onto one person. In fact, it’s ideal when shared among different employees in different departments in the company.

What does this process look like for Premier?

Premier takes a companywide approach to onboarding.  After all, we have a lot of things to share with new hires. We want to introduce them to our product lines, explain how we sell those products, where the product’s going, and how we interact with customers.  To accomplish these items (and more), we invite the people who know the most about these things to teach new employees.

For instance, when training new employees on products, the research and development team who create those products provide hands on demonstrations.  When training new employees on how we interact with customers, the customer service department sits down with them to explain their process and even listen to customer calls.

These sessions help new hires learn more about the company and meet people from every department. It also encourages collaboration when both new hires and existing employees have a chance to connect, which can often be difficult for growing companies.

Upon completion of onboarding, the new employee has had training and shadowing in their specific department, but also in each and every department in the company. Not only do they know their place in the company, but they understand how the company functions.  They can greet employees in any department by name and collaborate with others.

At Premier, we have seen great success from this process.  As a growing company, this process allows us to still feel like a small company because so many people contribute to our onboarding process and get a chance to meet each new employee.

By viewing onboarding with an all-inclusive approach, companies can make new employees feel like a valued part of their company and improve the chances that their new hires become lifelong employees.