Outsource Insurance Professionals (OIP) American owned Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) company, is a reputable organization with extensive experience in the insurance field. We provide a variety of back office services to our clients in the USA and UK and are always striving to meet our clients’ unique needs by providing cutting-edge and quality insurance solutions.
We employ highly educated young professionals with a passion for excellence and thirst for knowledge. Training and development are fundamental to our core values, and we know we’re not alone. Continued education is essential, especially in our industry where underwriting integrity improves risk selection, loss ratio, and profit-sharing.
We’ve seen the effects of leaders who invest in their employees’ education and onboarding, versus those that don’t. This is why we’ve made it our mission to develop subject matter experts through our American Insurance Academy (AIA).
Building a great team that delivers success while being a trustworthy partner is one of the OIP’s main values and leading ideas.
What is Onboarding?
Onboarding, as an HR term, is the process of introducing a newly hired employee to an organization, and specifically integrating the newcomers with the company’s culture, expectations, business and behaviors. In essence, everything that happens after the selection process and until the end of the onboarding.
Here in OIP, we invest in knowledge from day one through our AIA and we make sure that our future employees feel welcome even before that official work day.
When the onboarding is done right, it will positively impact the overall process and company’s mission, and at the same time strengthen the loyalty and relationships. It should be a strategic process that is structured, planned, well-communicated but at the same time flexible and welcoming.
Why is it important?
Remember those first days in each company you worked at? Most likely they were full of new information, overwhelming, sometimes even confusing. All this can lead to employee dissatisfaction, low performance and thinking towards changing the job.
Onboarding can effectively improve your company’s employee retention and avoid huge loss of the expensive re-hiring process that must be repeated if the employee decides to resign in early stages. When employers choose to take off the weight of the initial stress by providing all the information that their new hires need to fulfill in their roles, onboarding steps can help reduce that overall anxiety.
With defined onboarding you also have a chance to make sure that all steps have been taken in order to prepare and implement a successful training period. Onboarding allows new employees to be productive quickly, as they have all schedules, trackers, resources, support system etc.
And lastly, onboarding can cultivate teamwork, enrich organizational culture, and help HR stay on top of all the legal and workforce compliance documentation.
How long does it last?
Typically you would hear 30, 60 or 90 days, when in practice the company’s goal should be for the onboarding to last as long as possible. Since first experiences affect the employee retention period and build that overall company’s picture, it is crucial to make sure the process is long enough so your employees develop new skillset, demonstrate commitment, dive into its culture and are ready to share meaningful feedback.
OIP onboarding process starts right after the selection process and continues through employees’ first year in the company. In some of our stages more key stakeholders are involved, such as introductory week, Academy training period, and performance check points, however there are also stages when employees are having an opportunity to feel the culture and how we function on their own.
Keep in mind that even though you are dealing with a structured process, individual approach is essential, and with that being said, every company will need a strong support system.
Support System
Newcomers can come to the most engaging and welcoming culture but still feel uncomfortable and affected by everything that is going on during the first month of their onboarding. Therefore, a strong and empathic support system is what ultimately creates a safety net but also a chance for better results and successful performance.
Make sure to prepare all the parties that are involved in the onboarding process: the management, team, trainers, IT, administration etc. Make the procedure and checklist available and hold the parties accountable.
Apart from the official talks and training, the new employee always has questions about the culture, or location, and simply how the team functions. Choose a person from the team that is communicative and supportive. The Buddy introduction turned out to be a great practice in OIP.
Team defines that one person that is ready to be a friend and encouraging party to a newcomer and is there to simply help get oriented, feeling welcomed and understand the communication channels.
Checklist
How to make the onboarding process even more effective and make sure not to miss any important step? Checklist is your way to go.
Since the onboarding process starts even before the employee comes to the office, it is important to take on all the preparatory steps: Inform IT team to prepare the equipment and employee account, tell office staff to arrange the seating, make sure to go through needed documentation and also think of the nice welcome gift that would make that first day very special.
No matter the business you are in, your plan and checklist should note initial training about the company culture and procedures, as well as training that is needed for the position itself.
Don’t forget to support your training and meetings with an email to employees that will list all needed documents and information. In addition, put a checkbox for the email to be sent to all the staff informing them of your company family growing.
Employers often forget later processes, and also to ask for feedback, therefore in our checklist we also list our semi-annual and annual employee meetings, as well as a final survey when employees can share their answers and experience about the overall onboarding process in a simple form.
Onboarding During Remote Work
And now what? You think you have it all covered by defining the procedure and ensuring the onboarding checklist is made, but then an unexpected pandemic hits every single country in this world.
We learned that an effective and somewhat flexible process is even more imperative when
you’re onboarding during times of remote or semi-remote environments. The connection to your colleagues is not the same, procedures and rules are being changed, and you have additional roles and responsibilities.
The reality is that the onboarding we had is not applicable anymore. It has to be enhanced, steps to be re-defined and approaches adjusted. New hires’ expectations are even higher and the cravings for belonging and connection are far more important.
Our words to you would be to stay flexible, listen actively and share the knowledge and your findings with main stakeholders in order to embrace the changes and work successfully in the “new normal” age!
Sources:
Onboarding Process and Checklist @oip
