As many as 69 percent of employees say they are more likely to stay with a company for three years or longer if they experienced a stellar onboarding experience during the hiring process. If your business struggles to keep employees long-term, then you could be dropping the ball when onboarding a new employee.

Review these tips to determine what you need to do to improve your onboarding process.

Start Early

When hiring a new employee, don’t wait for the employee’s first day of work to start the onboarding process. It takes minimal effort to send a welcome email that gets the process started. A friendly welcome email makes the new employee feel embraced, establishing a positive relationship early on.

Tell a Story

Share the company story with your new employee. Establish an emotional and personal connection with the employee by giving them insight into the company background. While a paycheck is a good motivator, it only goes so far.

Convey the Purpose

Humans want to have a purpose, so give your employees a purpose during the onboarding process. Tell them about the company goals and how they fit into them.

It can be helpful to take things a step further and explain how the company plans to reach its goals. This could be current or planned projects.

Give a Cultural Introduction

If you want to set your employees up for success, become a cultural ambassador. Share with them what the culture is like and what they can expect. Employee hiring is about more than finding someone who can do the job; they also need to fit into the company culture.

Share with your new employees what a typical routine or day looks like. For example, perhaps your employees take turns buying coffee, or maybe everyone goes out to lunch on Fridays. Sharing these small tidbits can help a new employee feel more comfortable and integrate into the office culture faster.

Use Visuals

Not everyone learns the same way. Keep this in mind when creating your new employee onboarding program. Emailing a massive PDF full of text, also known as an employee handbook, won’t work for everyone. Add visuals to your onboarding program to help employees understand the big picture and how they fit into it.

Don’t Forget the Documents

Everyone dreads one part of the onboarding process, the paperwork. However, it’s one of the most important because it’s what keeps your business legal. Create a packet containing all of the required documents to ensure you never forget something.

Your documents should include state and federal tax paperwork, safety regulations, labor laws, and paycheck accounts. Give them the option of setting up direct deposit to a checking account, paper paycheck, or a paycard.

Onboarding a New Employee

When onboarding a new employee, you need to set them up for success. Work your way through the different facets of the position and the company to give them a clear picture of everything related to their new position.

Check out our other business articles for more helpful guidance on managing your business.