Onboarding in Manufacturing: How to Really Nail It

Morgane Lança
September 19 2022
Stories

We all know that onboarding cannot happen in just a few days

However, the day-to-day operations of manufacturing companies leave little time for proper employee integration

How can we solve this situation and optimize the onboarding process in the manufacturing industry?

Here are all the tips you need to provide the best employee onboarding to your staff, including an onboarding checklist for manufacturers!

1) The Importance of Efficient Onboarding Processes


Warmly welcoming a new recruit properly seems natural, but what are the stakes and concrete benefits of an effective onboarding process for your manufacturing company?

Benefits of Good Onboarding Practices


  • Improved productivity and employee engagement from the very first day;
  • Strong corporate culture and employer brand for better attractiveness; 
  • Communication and healthy relationship between managers and employees from the get-go;
  • Optimization of employee retention and lower turnover costs.

In short, more productive and engaged teams!

Onboarding Challenges in Manufacturing


All organizations, especially SMBs, face challenges related to employee onboarding. These issues are even more important in manufacturing, where the daily efficiency of operations is paramount: 

  • How do you speed up the onboarding process without decreasing its value? 
  • How do you balance efficient manufacturing operations with comprehensive employee management? 
  • How do you make onboarding more fun and flexible in the industry? 

These questions can quickly become organizational headaches, especially when you have to welcome several employees in a row (or at the same time!) 

Fortunately, our tips will help you save time and avoid oversights while ensuring a quality onboarding for your hire.

2) Successful Onboarding in Manufacturing: The Essentials

Manufacturing Onboarding Checklist


Onboarding is not a two-day process: it is essential to follow the different phases of the process and avoid oversights. Use our dedicated checklist to avoid getting lost!

  • Onboarding email sent before the first day
  • Communication with the HR department
  • Completed onboarding documents
  • Appointment of onboarding mentor
  • Certificates added to the new employee’s profile
  • Distribution of the employee guide
  • Sharing the company policy
  • Distribution of training materials
  • Introduction to the workplace and coworkers
  • Creation of personal accounts and passwords
  • Company and workplace tour
  • Definition of expectations related to the role with an onboarding plan
  • Presentation of company culture
  • Organization of first team building activities
  • Safety training and compliance training
  • Extensive training for the job and first individual tasks
  • Analysis of future training needs
  • Performance evaluation at the end of the probationary period

With Folks HR, you can enter all onboarding tasks directly into your platform and assign them to the people in charge. In addition, all reminders are automated!

Psst… Here’s a free onboarding checklist to use whenever you need it!

Time-savings and Efficiency


Our advice for avoiding time-consuming onboarding tasks while remaining efficient: anticipation, organization and dematerialization! These notions are even more crucial in the manufacturing sector. 

Read our articles on the benefits of centralizing HR information and digital transition to learn more!

Ongoing Training: Anticipate Future Needs for the Job


Manufacturers must ensure that their new hires are properly trained for their position at the end of their probationary period. Maintaining well-trained teams prevents professional accidents, absenteeism, and loss of productivity and engagement. Therefore, a large part of the onboarding period should be dedicated to learning tasks specific to the position and identifying future training needs. By anticipating the development of skills to be planned in the coming months, we can avoid drops in performance and loss of time!

Did you know that training hours can be detailed in Folks HR? Save time on calculating training costs and safely store training documents!

3) Tips for Providing the Best Onboarding Program All-year Long

Automating Your Processes


Manual and repetitive processes are undoubtedly a source of errors and oversights. Unfortunately, this is also the case in HR! 

There’s no better way to optimize your onboarding processes than with HR software

  • Creation of onboarding plans and management of tasks and schedules
  • Automated reminders to avoid delays
  • Employee self-service to update information at any time
  • Time-savings for the HR department, managers and employees 
  • More time and energy dedicated to employees and operations 
  • Complete certificate management to ensure productivity throughout the entire employee lifecycle 
  • Centralized processes on a single platform = more efficiency every day! 

Folks HR offers all these features and more! Interested? Feel free to download our free HR software handbook!

Involving Your Employees


  • Efficient Communication

Don’t forget to communicate with the new hire throughout the onboarding and integration process. Remember to introduce them to their future colleagues to get the whole team involved from the start! The introduction can start via email before the first day and detail the newcomer’s passions and personality.

 

  • Surveys and Evaluations

To make sure you’re adopting the most relevant onboarding practices, ask the people involved! Your new hires and employees are in the best position to share ideas for improvement. 

You can do this by asking questions (or providing a questionnaire) to your new employee during the probationary evaluation. It will help you determine what worked and what didn’t during the onboarding period.

You can even take it a step further with engagement surveys! They are the best way to measure employee satisfaction and implement relevant engagement strategies over the long term. In addition, by involving your employees throughout the process, you will be sure to build an onboarding plan that THEY will love!

In Conclusion: Use the Right Tools and Continuously Improve Your Practices!


Your onboarding and integration processes can – and should – be continuously improved to better adapt to your company’s growth and each employee’s reality. 

By following all our tips and using your checklist adapted to the manufacturing industry, you will improve your practices, and your recruits, as well as your current employees, will appreciate your efforts!

From remote onboarding to onboarding manufacturing managers, you will find everything you need to optimize your processes on our blog!

Share

related articles

Stories
How to Convince Your Boss You Need an HRIS
Read more
Case studies
How an HR Software Helped an SMB Save $175,000 in One Year
Read more
Stories
Top 5 Job Seekers’ Expectations in 2023
Read more
Stories
50 Employee Recognition Phrases You Should Use
Read more
Stories
The Ultimate Employee Onboarding Guide (in 10 Easy Steps)
Read more
Stories
18 Signs You Need HR Software
Read more
Human Resources Today