How to Onboard a New Retail Employee

Author:
Brian Harris
Published On:
Jan 19, 2015

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The recruiting process is extremely time consuming. You’ve sorted through applications, screened employees, interviewed them and confirmed offers. At this point, you and your employee are both eager to get started.

Why, then, is your onboarding process so tedious? There has to be a better way to get new employees situated.

Go paperless. Each time we say this, we urge you to have a process. A paperless system is worthless if you can’t easily analyze data and more importantly, gain actionable insights.

When onboarding a new employee, the actionable insight is making sure your new employee has completed all the necessary forms and received crucial information prior to actual training.

3 Tips For Onboarding A New Retail Employee

1. Convert your paper forms into electronic forms and make them accessible through a portal. Save paper and ink, and eliminate faxing sensitive information like social security numbers. Review and share forms in one central, secure location.

2. Create a digital checklist the employee will use to show his or her progress. For instance, have the employee check off when he/she has submitted forms or completed a safety module. If documents are missing, you’ll be able to pinpoint the issue.

3. Use a non-robotic welcome video. The key is to be human. If your new employee won’t be interacting with the executive team, why is there a guy in a suit talking at her? Try creating a custom message. Your regional manager can take a short video with his smartphone and upload it to the portal. The message can be simple:

“Hi, Mary. Welcome to [name of company]. I’m excited to have you on board, and I’m looking forward to meeting you on my next visit. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call.”

Don’t forget: Making a good impression works both ways. The human element is one of the greatest attributes of a customizable onboarding process. It lets employees know they’re valued members of your organization, and not gears in a corporate machine.

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