How Mentoring Programmes Benefit Employee Onboarding

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Mentoring programmes are used for several reasons within organisations, from leadership development to skill sharing. But did you know that one of the most common reasons organisations want mentoring programmes is for onboarding?

Effectively onboarding employees is crucial for not only new starters but for overall organisational success. Due to this, more and more organisations are recognising the need for a structured onboarding process to significantly enhance the experience for new hires and drive long-term success.

Keep reading to discover the importance of effectively onboarding employees and how mentoring programmes can help.

The Importance of Effective Onboarding

Effectively onboarding new starters, significantly influences their journey with your organisation, acting as a first impression, helping set role expectations and greatly impacting their performance. The results speak for themselves, with recent studies showing that employees with a good onboarding experience are 2.6 times more likely to be satisfied at work, with a further 89% of employees reporting that they are engaged at work following an effective onboarding experience.

Here are 5 key reasons your organisation needs to prioritise onboarding

1. Improved Employee Retention

With the ever-changing needs and demands of employees, over the last few years, we’re seeing that retention is becoming a significant challenge for organisations across the globe. High turnover rates lead to low morale and increased training costs, something all organisations aim to avoid. However, if you effectively onboard your employees from the start, it can not only strengthen employee engagement but also create a connection between the employee and your organisation, something that is key for retention. You should view onboarding as an investment that helps lay the foundation for success and growth, both for your employees and the organisation.

2. Improved Job Satisfaction

When you have an effective onboarding programme, you’re setting your employees up for success by instilling confidence in them to go forward. When your employees receive the right support, are introduced correctly to the company culture and have a better understanding of it, they are more likely to have a positive experience in the workplace. Onboarding isn’t just training employees for their roles but setting them up for successful collaboration and teamwork. Job satisfaction is linked to performance, which is why when your employees feel satisfied at work they are more likely to be motivated, engaged and productive in their roles.

3. Establishes Clear Expectations

When you effectively onboard new hires, you’re helping them establish clear expectations. This includes things such as their responsibilities and the performance KPIs used at your organisation. When you define these things early on, it helps combat any feelings of confusion that the new starter may feel, helping them step into their role without uncertainty going forward. Being transparent about the expectations they face, will help new starters effectively prioritise their tasks and align their goals with those of the organisation.

4. Increased Organisational Awareness

As mentioned, onboarding isn’t just about training but if you have an effective onboarding programme in place, it helps educate and bring awareness to the organisation's structure, policies and procedures. This will help your new starters better navigate the workplace, helping reduce miscommunication or misunderstanding. When you properly familiarise new employees with the resources available in your organisations, the tools and systems, you enhance their productivity and enable them to perform their roles more effectively.

5. Enhances Your Reputation

It’s a competitive job market and if you want to make sure your organisation stands out and attracts top talent, then onboarding needs to be a top priority for you. If your organisation prioritises onboarding and has an effective programme in place, you help project a positive image of yourselves, helping position yourself as an employer of choice. Having a strong onboarding process in place reflects your commitment to ensuring your employees are satisfied and have room to develop within their roles. Not only will this enhance your organisation's reputation externally due to positive reviews and recommendations but also boost it internally for existing employees.

Benefits of Mentoring Programmes for Onboarding

Now that you know why onboarding is so important, let’s take a look at how mentoring can improve the onboarding experience for your new starters.

Here are 5 benefits of mentoring programmes for onboarding:

1. Effective Feedback

Feedback is a crucial part of both personal and professional career development and is something that can greatly improve the effectiveness of the onboarding process. If you have a mentoring programme in place, it’s a great way for your participants to receive constructive feedback to help them in their career journey. A mentor can offer your new starter feedback on their strengths, but also areas for improvement, which will give the mentee better insight into where they should prioritise their time. Doing so will help aid their development, enhance their performance and make them feel their development is valued at your organisation.

2. Networking Opportunities

One of the most daunting parts of starting a new role isn’t the job itself but being introduced to new people and a new culture. Establishing connections within the workplace is crucial for both career growth and satisfaction. If the new starter is paired with a mentor, that’s their first connection sorted. The mentor can then introduce the new hire to key individuals within your organisation, helping them better understand the landscape and build relationships with others.

3. Clearer Expectations and Goals

As discussed above in this article, a good onboarding experience can help the new employee establish clear expectations and have a better understanding of the responsibilities they have in their role. Mentoring can play an important role in helping the new starter to clarify any expectations and help them set realistic goals that align with the ones the organisation as a whole wants to accomplish. By having these conversations with a mentor, the mentee will have a roadmap for success.

4. Skill Development and Knowledge Transfer

Mentoring is a highly effective way of facilitating knowledge transfer within an organisation. When someone joins an organisation, there is a lot of information that they need to get started in their role. When your new hire is in a mentoring relationship, the mentor can share all of the information and tools needed so that the mentee has a clear understanding of what they need to get started. Mentors can also share things such as the latest industry insights, best practices and help the mentee gain new skills that allow them to flourish in their role.

5. Effective Support System

We all need support, no matter where we are in our careers. Support, however, is particularly important when someone starts a new role at a new organisation. Mentoring does just this. Mentoring relationships are all about building a supportive environment where participants can thrive, with the mentee acting as a trusted advisor and soundboard for their mentee. Being paired in a mentoring relationship during the onboarding process will help the new hire to foster a sense of belonging, leading to improved engagement and job satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

The onboarding experience needs to be a priority for all organisations if they want to keep their employees engaged, happy and improve retention rates. Mentoring programmes are a great tool for helping enhance the onboarding experience for employees, providing support and accelerating learning. Organisations that integrate mentorship into their onboarding processes, will see a huge difference in the effectiveness of their onboarding activity.

To learn more about mentoring for onboarding, schedule your free demo with PushFar today.