New jobs can be intimidating. And, let’s face it, so can new bosses. A training program conducted solely by authority figures can set an unnecessarily formal tone. A mentoring program for new employees as part of the onboarding process can relieve this stress and lead to other far-reaching benefits.
Introducing your fresh hires to their peers during the onboarding process can get rid of some of the anxiety that comes along with a new environment. At the same time, a mentor can deliver information with a more hands-on approach. Your new employee will learn faster and have a more pleasant onboarding experience.
Here are a few other benefits that show the importance of mentoring in new employee onboarding:
Encourage Team Building
With a traditional onboarding process, your incoming hire might not meet their new coworkers until well into the process. As a result, this second stage of introductions becomes more difficult. It gets mired down by awkward social interactions and get-to-know-you uneasiness.
A mentoring program can solve this. The coworker introductions get started right as your fresh hire enters the organization. Bonds are forming from the beginning, allowing everyone to accelerate the team-building process.
Get a Jumpstart on Culture
Culture represents one of the hardest things to impart during the onboarding process. In general, you have to live in a culture to understand it. A peer mentor can jumpstart this introduction.
A mentor will give your incoming hire a sense of what it’s like to work for the company. They can provide a lived-in perspective, offering details that wouldn’t appear in employee handbooks and other formalized materials.
Open Up Your Schedule
You’ve handed over part of the onboarding program to your employees. They can mentor the incoming hires and handle some of the duties you used to perform.
Guess what? You just opened up some time in your schedule.
By reducing your onboarding duties, you free up time for other activities. You can devote more resources to higher-level tasks, like strategic thinking and long-term planning.
Empower Your Veteran Employees
A mentoring program doesn’t just help the people getting mentored. The mentors themselves benefit as well. By turning over part of the onboarding process to your veteran employees, you give them a sense of empowerment.
By including them as mentors, your employees can shape the next generation of team members. This lets them put their stamp on the office and shows them that you appreciate this input. As a result, you’re likely to see more engagement and better retention rates.
A strong onboarding process can complement your recruiting efforts and optimize your team-building potential. Of course, you still need to get the most out of that recruiting process. A strong staffing agency, like Recruiting in Motion, can help.
Contact Recruiting In Motion today to find the perfect match for all of your open positions.
