Onboarding production employees — 11 best practices

What is onboarding? According to the definition, it means all activities aimed at introducing a new employee to their job. The process is designed to effectively convey the most important information about how the company operates. Employee onboarding is not limited to the first day of work—it usually lasts at least three months. During this time, the new employee has time to prepare for effective work, while the employer can be sure that the employee has been properly integrated into the company’s structures. Employee onboarding in a manufacturing company involves considerable costs for the employer, so it is important to ensure that it is carried out in accordance with best practices. This will enable the employee to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve high productivity.

Proper implementation can make a new employee quickly feel like an integral and important part of the team, which will translate into employee efficiency and their willingness to stay with the company. It is therefore worth using best practices during onboarding. Here they are!

New employees should be effectively informed through official channels about the date and place of the meeting and the documents they should bring with them. It is a good idea to print or send the necessary forms—this will speed up onboarding and avoid mistakes.

Wandering through unfamiliar corridors can be quite stressful, so it is worth ensuring that the new employee is picked up from the agreed location by a designated person.

A welcome kit will help new employees feel like part of the company right from the start. One of the company’s gadgets could be a hard briefcase in which employees can safely store all the important documents they receive on their first day at work.

Health and safety training should cover all issues necessary for proper and safe conduct on the premises. These include rules for moving around the area, presentation of hazards and behavior in case of evacuation, explanation of vertical and horizontal signage, as well as standards for maintaining cleanliness and work organization, including the safe use of machines and tools.

The presentation of HR procedures should cover all issues that are most important from the point of view of the employee and the employer, such as work regulations, reward regulations, benefits, reporting vacations and other absences, shift work systems, contract termination rules, and other rights and obligations. It is also worth presenting the general structure of the company to new employees, including the hierarchy.

The onboarding of production employees must include the preparation of an appropriate set of work clothes and footwear. It is worth asking for size information in advance. At this point, the employee should also receive additional accessories, such as an ID card allowing them to move around the company premises.

One of the stages of onboarding should include presenting the most important places from the employee’s point of view, i.e., the assigned department, social areas (canteens, changing rooms), or the location of the HR and payroll department.

It is good practice to assign an experienced mentor to a new employee, who will be the first person they can turn to for help. This person will be responsible for introducing them to the new environment, describing the company’s structures, and presenting its processes.

On-the-job training allows you to prepare an employee for a new role. This stage includes introducing the workplace, available tools, demonstrating how to perform tasks correctly in accordance with health and safety rules and SOPs, as well as trial work by the new employee under the supervision of an instructor, followed by feedback.

Feedback is also a good onboarding practice. Encouraging feedback will ensure that the employee understands the specifics of their job and has the knowledge necessary to work independently. Valuable comments can also be useful in onboarding new employees.

Automating onboarding using functional applications is a helpful tool for new employees, providing them with constant access to accumulated information such as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), multimedia presentations, training courses, and tests.