To enhance your employer brand, pay attention to onboarding!

Victor Delancray, Sales Director at Docoon: " The aim of establishing clear onboarding processes is to ensure that every new employee can acquire the necessary knowledge, foundations, and fundamentals to integrate successfully into your team (...). "

In a highly competitive job market, companies are engaged in fierce competition to attract and retain the best talent. As a result, companies are forced to rethink their employer brand in order to not only attract tomorrow's talent, but also retain their current employees.

In this context, the process of integrating new employees into the company has become crucial. Victor Delancray, Sales Director at Docoon, shares his insights on the best onboarding policies to adopt in a tight labor market.

What are the current changes in the job market?

Victor DELANCRAY: The year 2022 was marked by several phenomena in HR, painting a new post-pandemic picture for recruitment. First and foremost was "quiet quitting," referring to the loss of interest and commitment of certain employees toward their work, as well as the imbalance between supply and demand. At the same time, employee turnover within companies has doubled over^the last 20^years. In this context, recruitment processes, and onboarding in particular, have taken on a new dimension. Faced with employees who are more than ever in search of meaning and values, companies will have to go beyond the financial conditions of the job and ensure that they offer attentive listening and tailored support in order to sustain the company/employee partnership.

What factors should be taken into account when calculating turnover?

V.D.: Also known as staff turnover, employee turnover is the rate at which employees leave a company. It is important to monitor this figure, as it is an indicator that can be used to assess the working environment and adjust HR policy if necessary. High turnover can be a sign that a company is constantly looking for new talent... or unable to retain its employees. The result is often a drop in productivity. To reduce turnover, a company can take action on several factors, such as improving the social climate, recruitment policy, human resources management, employee compensation, etc.

Why has employer branding become such a crucial issue? 

V.D.: Faced with phenomena such as "quiet quitting," the rise in career changes, and declining demand relative to supply (particularly in the service sector), HR policies must redouble their efforts to attract talent and retain employees.

A new era has dawned, so it's important to be flexible and adapt quickly: the first priority is to (re)think and (re)define your employer brand. 

Today's new generations of candidates are looking to give meaning to their careers and play a role in the company's development. Your employer brand, communications, and job advertisementsare opportunities to highlight the aspirations of your current employees in order to attract tomorrow's candidates.

As such, candidates often aim not only to drive up the bidding, but also to choose the right project, with the right conditions and at the right price. This situation is prompting companies to refocus their attention on well-being at work and understand how to build long-lasting partnerships with their employees. These are particularly positive factors that contribute to enhancing the employer brand.

Why has onboarding become so important?

V.D.: Onboarding refers to all the practices and actions that will be implemented to improve the welcome and integration of new employees. The goal of establishing clear onboarding processes is to ensure that each new employee can acquire the necessary knowledge, foundations, and fundamentals to integrate well into your team, and that you, as an employer, can provide them with the best possible support. It also involves building loyalty among your new employees to turn them into objective ambassadors.

During the recruitment stage, it is important to provide a comprehensive overview of the company: its mindset and values, so that the employer and candidate are on the same page from the outset of the relationship. Once recruitment has been finalized, the onboarding process can begin...

While large corporations have fully grasped the importance of onboarding (with a well-oiled mechanism that can, however , lack a human touch and proximity), many SMEs neglect this essential aspect of their recruitment processes.

What are the key steps for successful onboarding in a sales department?

V.D.: Successful onboarding requires thorough preparation ahead of the new employee's arrival and must be planned in advance. Inviting them to an after-work event before their start date, for example, will allow them to get to know and bond with the team they will be joining.

To help them feel reassured and focused, dialogue must be established from the outset in order to foster a climate of trust. Showing confidence in new recruits and their ability to meet the company's expectations in their role is particularly appreciated and reassuring for new arrivals. It also facilitates dialogue and constructive exchange.

The onboarding period should last for a maximum of two to three months, divided into five phases, namely:

1 – Discovering the market, the company's history, its values, and learning about service rituals.

2- Learning about legal and regulatory aspects, services offered, pricing models, and factors that differentiate the company from its competitors.

3- Training in tools (ERP, CRM, inbound and outbound prospecting tools).

4- Role-playing with simulated appointments and participation in observation appointments.

5- Managing initial appointments (or other tasks) with partial then full autonomy.

To feel reassured and engaged, immersion must be total, and it is essential not to find yourself waiting to move forward. The disadvantage of this method may be the candidate's lack of autonomy during this phase. But there is nothing to prevent them from gradually gaining autonomy and becoming highly productive. It is better to proceed slowly but surely!

Is onboarding only beneficial for new employees?

V.D.: While onboarding is very important during the recruitment phase, it is also very important not to assume that your existing employees will not, at some point, need onboarding themselves: in the context of skills development, career progression, training, retraining, or reskilling, it may be necessary to implement internal onboarding processes to facilitate the integration of employees who are already known but who are moving into a new work environment.

Regardless of the onboarding context (internal promotion or external recruitment), you will need to give your new hire all the tools they need to get off to a good start in their new position, while encouraging constructive dialogue: because we know better what to do and how to behave when we know what the other person expects of us, both from the employee's and the employer's point of view.

¹ What are the highlights and trends for 2022? 01/08/22 – HR Tech