SUPERVISORS
Did you know?
Research supports the importance of effective onboarding. The Brandon Hall Group found that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70% (10 Employee Onboarding Statistics You Must Know in 2022).
Supervisors play the most important role in the onboarding journey. Your role in effectively onboarding employees has a significant influence on employee performance, engagement, and retention:
The extent to which new employees feel supported by their supervisor impacts role clarity, job satisfaction, retention, and engagement.
Your new employee will look to you first for guidance and support.
Investing in onboarding helps new employees to contribute to achieving goals more quickly and efficiently.
You have the greatest understanding of the role, what needs to be accomplished, the skills, knowledge, and resources required, and what success looks like.
Role + Responsibilities
Ultimately accountable for onboarding staff
Completes or delegates onboarding activities and administrative tasks
Creates a 90 day plan for the employee and regularly reviews with the employee
Identifies training and development needs for the first 90 days
Meets regularly with onboarding employee, and provides feedback and guidance
Supports employee to apply onboarding and training materials to the role and faculty/department
See the HRHSE website for more information about managing employees
Tools + Resources for Supervisors
Supervisor's Cheat Sheet to Onboarding.pdfSetting Up Onboarding + Supporting the Onboarding Journey
Onboarding Checklist and Resource Guide
Identifying an Onboarding Colleague Guide
Welcome Email and Conversation Guide
90-Day Plan Guide and Template
Milestone Conversation Guide for Supervisors
Good to Know
U of A Employee Orientation Course: Module Overview
Copy of Automated Supervisor Email
Learn about how to craft a 90-day plan that sets clear expectations, and supports employee success and productivity.
Learn about how to conduct 1:1 conversations that support employee success and productivity.
Create a Great Onboarding Experience
Questions to Consider
1. What impression do you want new employees to have after their first day? First week? First year?
2. How can I accelerate this employee’s learning so they will be able to meet their goals and team priorities as quickly as possible?
3. How can I help this employee to build effective collaborative working relationships with other team members?
4. How can I help this employee get some early "wins” that will help them build confidence and credibility?
5. What does this employee need to know about the culture and work environment, both from the broad perspective of the university and at a team level?
Onboarding Leaders
Support Leaders
“According to a global survey of 588 senior executives who had recently transitioned into new roles, organizational culture and politics, not lack of competence or managerial skills were the primary reason for failure” (Byford, et al, 2017).
Onboarding leaders into their new role requires additional care and involves more than bringing them “safety on deck” (Byford, et al. 2017). New leaders who are not only onboarded, but are integrated into the organization and their role are able to build momentum earlier. The average time “to reach full performance (making critical decisions with the right information in hand and having the right people in place to help execute) can be reduced by a third, from six months to four” when leaders are well integrated into their new role (Byford, et al. 2017).
When Onboarding Leaders:
List and discuss key colleagues, including who should be prioritized for early meetings, and how to best approach the individuals based on context. This will assist the onboarding leader to build relationship capital and to create connections with key people who will help them move their strategic priorities forward.
Encourage senior leaders to prepare their key messages or “elevator speech” before beginning their new role that summarizes why they have accepted the role and what they hope to contribute. This will help them communicate their intentions with their team(s) more quickly and will work towards establishing their credibility.
Focus on onboarding characterized by integration into the culture and the people they lead, not merely logistical set up.
Help them understand the values, norms, and guiding assumptions that shape the organizational culture. (Adapted from Byford, et al. 2017)
Help them understand how the changes to the U of A's organization structure and focus on service culture is a shift for units, teams, and individuals.
Did You Know?
“In a global survey, 198 HR executives assess their organizations’ onboarding efforts. . . . only about half said their organizations were effective at facilitating alignment between leaders and their teams, and few than a third said they actively helped executives adapt to the cultural and political climate “ (Byford, et al. 2017).