Improving Your Employee Onboarding Experience

Senior Care organizations are faced with an increasingly competitive labour market and many are struggling to fill positions across the care continuum. Recruiting, engaging and retaining qualified employees remains the most critical business challenges for providers.

So how can providers tackle this problem? One way to improve employee retention is by creating a smooth onboarding experience for new hires. This process begins from the moment they sign their offer and is essential to making sure that staff feel welcomed, supported and valued by the organization. 

In January 2019, PointClickCare launched the “OnPoint Program”, a new Onboarding Program that engages new hires and keeps them excited about their choice to join our team. To date, 49 new hires have graduated and 103 new hires currently moving through their OnPoint Journey. Since launching this program, 99% of hiring managers have indicated that this onboarding program helps improve new hire engagement, integration and performance!

A successful onboarding experience is critical in improving staff retention and making sure your relationship with your new employee starts off on the right foot. Here are some tips to create a smooth onboarding experience for new employees:

1. Engage With Employees in Advance of Their First Day

One of the main components of the Onboarding Program at PointClickCare is a pre-arrival portal, which allows us to engage with new hires prior to their first day on the job. The portal includes a welcome letter from our CEO and online learning modules to teach new hires about PointClickCare’s values, mission, and culture. Educating new hires about our culture was a key requirement in the design of our new program. This portal helps reinforce the company mission prior to a new employee’s first day.

2. Host a Day 1 Welcome Session

It’s important to make sure new hires feel important and welcomed as valued members of the organization from the moment they sign their offer. At PointClickCare, new employees are introduced to the organization with a Day 1 Welcome Session. This half-day session includes interactive activities that centre around networking and relationship building, a detailed walkthrough of the onboarding journey, and a tour of the company headquarters. This experience reinforces and deepens an understanding of the company’s story, mission and values.

3. Create Culture Connector Buddy Program

All new hires at PointClickCare are assigned a Culture Connector Buddy, who guides them through cultural integration, answers questions, and helps expand their network. The Buddy connects with their assigned new hire prior to their first day, sending a welcome letter to introduce themselves and explaining how they will support them. Culture Connector Buddies are expected to meet weekly with the new hire for 1 to 4 weeks. This program helps new employees become integrated into the organization and ensure a successful transition to the company. It also helps them navigate the company, learn about the resources available to them, and who to reach out to for help as they transition into their new role.

4. Encourage Participation from Hiring Managers

Hiring Managers play a critical role in ensuring new hires feel welcomed, valued, and are integrated into the company successfully. Managers at PointClickCare are given education modules and other resources through an online portal and social platform in order to create an onboarding community of practice.

5. Host a Check-In Session

Every new hire at PointClickCare attends a check-in session at the end of their first week. This session allows new staff to further network with other employees in various departments, and discuss their first week with the company. It also allows staff to check in with new hires and find out how their onboarding experience is going and answer any questions they may have.

In order to improve staff retention, Senior Care organizations should start their employees’ onboarding experience early. Understanding the causes of high employee turnover and how to tackle the problem is crucial to helping your organization grow. The PointClickCare Onboarding Program has just begun, but we are excited to watch this program grow and help our new employees become an integral part of our organization!