Leadership Essentials - Onboarding Best Practices - Retail
Languages: English
Media Editing: The video module(s) in this subject are editable under our Content Studio offering unless otherwise indicated. For more information about Content Studio, contact your CSM.
Description: Whether your new employees are full-time, part-time, or seasonal, it's important that they all receive a consistent, engaging, and effective onboarding experience. Onboarding is all about making sure new employees are equipped with the knowledge and relationships that will make them successful in their roles. While each employee brings their own skills and abilities with them, there are things they won't know, like your company's culture, brand, or internal processes. Not only do you want to make a good first impression on them, but you also want to make sure they're successful. In this subject, learners will be introduced to a variety of best practices for effectively onboarding full-time, part-time, and seasonal retail employees. Specifically, they're taught what to do before a new employee starts and what to do once they start.
Languages: English
Media Editing: The video module(s) in this subject are editable under our Content Studio offering unless otherwise indicated. For more information about Content Studio, contact your CSM.
Description: Whether your new employees are full-time, part-time, or seasonal, it's important that they all receive a consistent, engaging, and effective onboarding experience. Onboarding is all about making sure new employees are equipped with the knowledge and relationships that will make them successful in their roles. While each employee brings their own skills and abilities with them, there are things they won't know, like your company's culture, brand, or internal processes. Not only do you want to make a good first impression on them, but you also want to make sure they're successful. In this subject, learners will be introduced to a variety of best practices for effectively onboarding full-time, part-time, and seasonal retail employees. Specifically, they're taught what to do before a new employee starts and what to do once they start.
Languages: English
Media Editing: The video module(s) in this subject are editable under our Content Studio offering unless otherwise indicated. For more information about Content Studio, contact your CSM.
Description: Whether your new employees are full-time, part-time, or seasonal, it's important that they all receive a consistent, engaging, and effective onboarding experience. Onboarding is all about making sure new employees are equipped with the knowledge and relationships that will make them successful in their roles. While each employee brings their own skills and abilities with them, there are things they won't know, like your company's culture, brand, or internal processes. Not only do you want to make a good first impression on them, but you also want to make sure they're successful. In this subject, learners will be introduced to a variety of best practices for effectively onboarding full-time, part-time, and seasonal retail employees. Specifically, they're taught what to do before a new employee starts and what to do once they start.
Topics
Preboarding - What to do Before a New Retail Employee Starts
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Onboarding doesn’t just start on an employee’s first day at work. Preboarding is a term used to refer to all the activities that happen before a new employee even starts, whether they’re full-time, part-time, or seasonal. These activities help make sure you and your team are ready for the new employee’s arrival and give a positive first impression. In this topic, we’ll look at what preparations you should be making before an employee starts to help make them feel welcomed and confident that they’ve picked the right company to work for from their first day. Take this topic prior to taking “What to do When a New Retail Employee Starts”.
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Questions (level 1, 2, 3)
Video module
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This topic is currently available in English.
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Work with your team, and other departments if necessary, to create an onboarding plan for the role before the new employee starts. This way, you’ll be organized and everyone will know what their responsibilities are during the onboarding process.
Schedule onboarding for times of the day, week, or year when your store isn’t as busy, so new employees have time to learn, and you don’t put unnecessary stress on the more experienced employees.
Ask the new employee to complete and sign any new-hire forms or documents before their first day, either electronically or by hand, so they can read them on their own time and are not overwhelmed when they start.
If your company has an online onboarding tools or portal, give the new employee access to it, so they can fill in any necessary information and start viewing valuable and important content before they start.
Contact the employee personally before their first day. Congratulate them on joining the team, tell them what their next steps are, and give them information about their first day and what they can expect.
Before the employee starts, set up any space, supplies, and logins the new employee might need on their first day. This helps them feel welcomed and valued.
Create a schedule and checklist for the new employee to follow for their first few shifts, so they know what to do, when to do it, and can see how they’re progressing through the onboarding process. This will also help make sure the onboarding process is consistent for all new employees.
Create a welcome package for the new employee to give to them on their first day to show you value and appreciate them.
Let current employees know that you’ve hired a new employee and when they will be starting so that they’re prepared and are not surprised on the employee’s first day.
What to do When a New Retail Employee Starts
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While an employee’s first day can set them up for their success in the future with your company, onboarding is not a single day event. It’s a continuous process that can sometimes last up to a year. The goal of onboarding is to make sure the employee is well equipped to perform their duties and help them feel like they belong at the company. In this topic, you’ll learn a variety of onboarding best practices for an employee’s first day and beyond. All the practices apply to full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees. Everyone should receive the same onboarding experience to be successful. Take this topic after “Preboarding: What to do Before a New Retail Employee Starts”.
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Questions (level 1, 2, 3)
Video module
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This topic is currently available in English.
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Be available to greet the new employee on their first day to help make them feel welcome.
Clearly communicate the responsibilities, expectations, and goals you have for the role to the new employee on their first day, so they know what is expected of them and how their success will be determined.
On their first day, introduce the new employee to their co-workers, particularly those they will be working closely with, so they can start to get to know them and feel like part of the team.
Communicate your company’s brand, values, and culture through formal training on the new employee’s first day and reinforce it through your actions, so new employees understand how they’re expected to behave.
Don’t overwhelm the new employee with too much information on their first day. Spread it out over their first few shifts so it’s more manageable and to improve their chances of remembering it.
Assign a current employee in the new employee’s role to be their mentor or someone they can follow and observe. This way they can learn from them and if they have questions or need support, they know who they can go to for answers.
Review your company’s policies, like compliance, safety, and work hours, with the new employee, preferably on their first day, to make sure they know what is expected of them and what your company offers, like benefits, discounts, incentives, bonuses, etc.
Give the new employee a tour of your workplace, including important areas like the bathroom, breakroom, where certain departments are, etc., so they begin to become familiar with their new surroundings.
During their first few shifts, introduce the new employee to other managers and team members. This helps them learn more about the company structure and find contacts in other areas of the store/company.
During their first few shifts, schedule training sessions for any internal processes, software, procedures, or terminology that the new employee will need to understand to be successful. The sooner they understand these, the sooner they can begin meaningful work.
Make sure all onboarding information and resources are easily accessible online, so employees can refer back to them later as needed.
Check in with new employees at important milestones like one week, one month, two months, three months, six months, and one year. Use this time to talk with them about how their work is going, if they need extra resources or support, check on their goal progress, and solve any issues.
Ask new employees for feedback on your company’s onboarding process during regular check-ins or a survey at various points during the onboarding process. This shows you how you can improve it for future employees.
