How you handle and onboard newly hired opt candidates can make a world of difference between an engaged, productive workplace. Welcoming newly hired OPT candidates is an exciting process. A candidate's onboarding process can have a huge influence on their motivation, enthusiasm, and performance. An employee's opt resume gives the impression of his/her potential and helps the hiring manager to make decisions.
Similarly, the onboarding process of any company also mirrors the company's work culture, and reputation, and also triggers a lack of trust within the organization.
As an OPT employer, it's your paramount responsibility to make a meaningful first impression on the employees. Why? Because getting an OPT job in USA is an uphill task for every employee. A bad onboarding process can lower employee morale which eventually will affect their work performance.
Why does onboarding fail?
According to the new research by OPTnation, one in four employees would prefer to go to an awkward family gathering than attend a bad and time-consuming onboarding process for a new job. Also, 85% of researchers or study respondents found that the onboarding process is an important moment for employees at work. Unfortunately, some employees complained that they never received a clear onboarding, and some even reported that they had a truly bad experience.
Here are a few reasons why onboarding doesn't always deliver an expected experience to the employee and fails-
- Lack of management in the organization
- Lack of employee engagement
- Ignoring metrics, diverse needs, and accountability
- Assuming the newly hired OPT candidates will understand everything about their roles with the company without providing detailed information
- Expecting employee to deliver expected results in Day 1
Benefits of the good onboarding process
Your employee's first impression of the new workplace can set the tone for their entire experience with a company. Improving the onboarding process or making it more exciting can improve the performance of an employee in the long term. A good onboarding process encourages the employee to gel up immediately with the workplace, generating curiosity and excitement about their role. A good onboarding process is a remark of a high standard in the business world. It also improves the company's brand.
Onboarding best practices
Here are some best practices you can imbibe to make your onboarding process better-
1. Go extra mile for your employees
Do something special for your employee if you want them to feel they're lucky to be a part of this organization, but also make them realise that you're lucky to have them too. Gift them a personalised gift at home a week before their joining date. It will make them feel that the company is excited for them to be onboard. The best gift could be a chocolate box or bag or a bottle with the company's logo.
2. Ease first-day butterflies
First-day anxiety is common to have on the first day. There are several ways by which you can help to ease an employee's anxiety on day 1.
- Ask the receptionist to get your employee warmly, and escort them personally from the main door into the office
- Personally introduce them to the team members
- Share the company's roaster, so they know who is their point of contact
- Go out for lunch, and make them feel comfortable.
3. Address essential first
Before you start the job-specific training, make sure your new employee understands the basics of the workplace from scratch. Give them proper information such as where restrooms, cafeteria, or coffee machines are. Where to contact for the next tasks, and where's the cabin of an HR.
4. Have a fun time during the day
You need to be creative about how you deliver training information. Make your onboarding process feel like a celebration, or turn fundamental lessons into trivia games and scavenger hunts. Consider having new employees work together in teams to complete a challenge, then hand out prizes at the end. People often retain information more thoroughly when they have fun learning it.
5. Keep a planned schedule
Build a schedule for your new employees for the onboarding process. This schedule should have- training sessions, team lunches, shadowing opportunities or pre-scheduled meetings to get to know key coworkers. A nice-balanced schedule can have a positive impression on new employees- A sense of structure and purpose, allowing them opportunities to exercise their new knowledge with varying degrees of supervision.
6. Set clear expectations
Don't expect too much from them on Day 1, let them adapt to the environment, the team members, and how workflow happens. But also, you need to ensure that it's crystal clear and make sure of what you expect from them.
Closing thoughts:
We hope that you have gained some relevant insights from this post. If you want to improve your onboarding process and don’t want to lose out on the best and the brightest OPT Candidates, you have to make some fixes and modifications in your onboarding process.
