The most common time for employees to leave is within the first two weeks of employment. Why do people leave before they have had time to properly familiarise themselves with the job?
One of the reasons is that companies do not pay attention to the adaptation of employees in their new workplace. And the stress associated with a change of job is one of the strongest in a person’s life. And it is the first three days that determine how long an employee stays in your company.
If we are talking about foreign workers who come to another country, then here you can’t do without adaptation.
What is onboarding or adaptation?
Onboarding or adaptation is the process of integrating a new employee into the team, familiarising him or her with the company’s values, culture and internal regulations.
Proper onboarding is about having a positive experience. Successful onboarding increases the retention rate of a new employee in the company by 82%.
Adaptation can be:
- primary – oriented to those employees who have their first job;
- secondary – for those specialists who already have work experience.
What does the onboarding process involve?
Onboarding involves a range of activities aimed at maximising a person’s comfort in the team and depends on the specifics of the company.
For example, a person comes to work in Germany or Belgium. How should he or she adapt to the new place? Here is a rough list of tasks:
- Preparing for the onboarding process: medical examination, insurance, signing documents.
- Dealing with accommodation and logistics to the workplace.
- Handing over work tools. It is desirable that the recommendations for use should be in a language that the employee understands.
- Preparation of the workplace.
- Familiarisation with the real responsibilities, standards and corporate culture of the company. It is important to ensure quality translation of documents and instructions.
- Familiarisation with members of the team.
If you co-operate with personnel recruitment companies, a lot of adaptation work is taken on by personal managers who tell you about the peculiarities of working abroad, draw up all the documents, smooth out the problem of the language barrier.
Why is it profitable to adapt employees?
Companies in Europe have relatively recently started to focus on the adaptation process. This has become relevant due to many factors, namely:
- low unemployment rates in many sectors, such as construction or logistics;
- the increasing costs of finding new specialists;
- the entry into the labour market of a new generation that is not afraid of change, but perceives it as a challenge.
Through a successfully implemented onboarding programme, the following objectives are achieved:
- reducing the costs associated with the employee’s induction – the person understands more quickly what is required of him/her and starts to work fully;
- reducing the likelihood of rapid dismissal of personnel;
- saving time of other employees who do not have to teach a new colleague;
- increasing the level of confidence and comfort of the employee, who clearly understands the algorithm of actions in different situations (to whom and when to turn for help).
Proper adaptation significantly reduces staff turnover, improves the atmosphere in the team, and consequently – increases the efficiency of the entire company.
Are you planning to hire foreign employees and have already thought about their quick adaptation? VAV Synergy will help you to solve this problem.Contact our manager and get a free consultation on this subject!
