Onboarding is the first real encounter new hires have with your organization. It sets the tone for the rest of their employment experience. From training about company values to using a checklist, there are a few important things you can do to ensure a smooth onboarding process. 

The Advantages of Onboarding 

As a small business, it’s important to improve your training and hiring procedures as much as possible. Through a good onboarding program, you can enjoy a number of important benefits. 

• Better worker retention
• Improved employee engagement
• Lower turnover 
• Higher productivity 

Plus, onboarding helps your employees connect to other workers and form bonds. They are able to understand their role in the organization and learn how they can help achieve the company’s mission statement. 

2024 HR Benchmark Report: How Fast-Growth Companies Excel at Onboarding

During Asure’s 2024 HR Benchmark Report, we looked at the way fast-growth and zero-growth companies differed on key HR processes. In the survey, we asked more than 1,000 small businesses how they handle eight different HR topics. 

As a part of our onboarding segment, we inquired about five important questions. 

• Do you have an onboarding checklist for new employees? 
• Do you have an employee handbook that’s been updated in the past 12 months?
• Do you have a new-hire packet (or e-paperwork)?
• Do new hires go through formal orientation to learn the company’s mission, vision, and values? 
• Are hiring managers and staff trained on how to complete I-9s compliantly? 

While some questions had similar responses, fast-growth companies were more likely to answer affirmatively to every single onboarding question. Although this merely shows correlation and not causation, the survey clearly indicates that fast-growth companies prioritize good HR practices. For companies that want to achieve faster growth, these onboarding best practices are a good place to start.

Do You Have an Onboarding Checklist for New Employees? 

First, we asked organizations if they use an onboarding checklist to onboard their new hires. We received the following results. 

• 76% of zero-growth companies had checklists. 
• 89% of fast-growth businesses had checklists. 

These results were striking, but the spread expanded from 13% to 15% when we looked at just organizations that had less than 25 employees. 

• 74% of zero-growth firms had checklists. 
• 89% of fast-growth enterprises had checklists. 

A checklist is a key part of the 2 C’s of onboarding: compliance and culture. These checklists can protect you if there’s a lawsuit or dispute in the future because they ensure that each compliance document is complete. Plus, the checklist gives you the documentation to prove it.

Even though an onboarding checklist tends to involve a lot of legalese, you don’t have to present it to your new hire as a bunch of boring paperwork to struggle through. 

In Mission to Grow’s recent podcast on “Employee Onboarding“, host Mike Vannoy talked about this topic. “Even if it’s a legalistic set of documents you’re taking someone through, and this checklist is there for nothing other than to protect you, the way in which you deliver it still matters a whole lot versus slapping a pen and some paper down on the desk.”

Instead of just telling an employee to fill it out and find you when they’re done, consider taking them out to lunch and completing it while you wait to eat. You could also give the employee company-branded gifts or a gift card at the same time, so the checklist and accompanying paperwork aren’t just another tedious requirement. 

Do You Have an Employee Handbook That’s Been Updated in the Past 12 Months?

Next, Asure asked small businesses if they’d updated their employee handbook during the last 12 months. 

• 63% of zero-growth businesses said yes. 
• 81% of fast-growth companies said yes. 

This is an important topic because your handbook includes compliance documents, benefits information, and legal disclosures. As such, it should be updated at least once a year. 

Unsurprisingly, fast-growth companies were much more likely to use an updated employee handbook. The spread jumped from 18% to a whopping 30% when we looked at only businesses that had under 25 workers.

• 50% of zero-growth businesses said yes.
• 80% of fast-growth firms said yes.

When making a handbook, remember a few key tips. 

• Hire outside eyes to create it: Professional HR companies can do it faster and more efficiently. More importantly, they know all of the latest legal requirements. 
• Never use artificial intelligence (AI): AI is known for making poor recommendations, and you don’t want to entrust your organization’s legal compliance to unverified AI recommendations.
• Review policies annually: Benefits, overtime, compliance measures, and key policies change over time and need to be updated.

Do You Have a New-Hire Packet (or E-Paperwork)?

New-hire packets are convenient for hiring and training managers. Additionally, they help you standardize your hiring process and streamline compliance. For your employees, hiring packets are important because they have information about benefits and their rights under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). 

When we asked small businesses about their new-hire packets, we found that fast-growth companies were more likely to use them. However, the qualitative difference is likely more significant than the quantitative difference. 

• 81% of zero-growth companies used new-hire packets.
• 85% of fast-growth businesses have new-hire packets.

For firms with under 25 workers, the spread between fast-growth and slow-growth companies jumps to 17%. 

When compiling your new-hire paperwork, consider incorporating the following documents. 

• Emergency contact forms 
• Direct deposit information
• Employment offer letter 
• Form I-9
• State withholding forms
• Confidentiality agreements
• Employment contracts
• Form W-4
• Benefits information
• Employee handbook acknowledgment

Do New Hires Go Through Formal Orientation to Learn the Company’s Mission, Vision, and Values? 

A formal orientation is a key way to convey your company’s culture. Other than teaching employees about your mission, vision, and values, formal orientation standardizes your onboarding and demonstrates your company’s professionalism. 

Although the difference between fast-growth and zero-growth companies was small, fast-growth businesses still came out ahead. Additionally, there is likely a qualitative difference going on that isn’t getting picked up in the hard numbers. 

• 71% of zero-growth firms convey mission, vision, and values in a formal orientation. 
• 75% of fast-growth businesses convey mission, vision, and values in a formal orientation.

While the variation between the two groups isn’t humongous, the difference is much higher if you look at companies that have less than 25 employees. Among these smaller businesses, the spread between zero-growth and fast-group companies is 11%. 

• 64% of zero-growth organizations convey mission, vision, and values in a formal orientation.
• 76% of fast-growth firms convey mission, vision, and values in a formal orientation.

Your mission, vision, and values are the guiding principles of your company. If you don’t teach them to your new hires, they won’t be able to incorporate these principles into all of the work they do as a part of your organization.

Are Hiring Managers and Staff Trained on How to Complete I-9s Compliantly? 

Finally, we asked companies if they trained their managers and staff to complete I-9s compliantly. 

• 67% of zero-growth businesses trained staff members on I-9 compliance.
• 93% of fast-growth companies trained staff members on I-9 compliance.

The 24% spread between zero-growth and fast-growth organizations was fairly remarkable. However, we know from experience that even fast-growth companies have issues during I-9 audits. 

One of the biggest problems we see during audits is with the documents used for establishing identification and employment authorization. Form I-9 lists many different options, and employees can choose which ones work best. However, you’re not allowed to tell workers which documents to bring in. If every worker has the exact same documents, it can look like potential discrimination and lead to an investigation from the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Employee Rights (IER) section. 

Additionally, it’s important to get I-9 forms filled out right away. Under the law, you have exactly three days from the employee’s first day of work to get Form I-9 completed. On the fourth day, you have to send workers home if they don’t have this document filled out. 

How Fast-Growth Companies Win at Compliance and Culture 

Ultimately, the biggest difference between fast-growth and slow-growth companies is that fast-growth organizations have better HR practices. They are more likely to train new hires on the company’s mission and teach managers about I-9 compliance. All of these HR practices add up to a more productive, professional workplace. 

Good onboarding focuses on compliance and culture. If you need help incorporating culture and compliance measures into your onboarding program, reach out to our small business HR and payroll experts today.