The Importance of “Preboarding”: First Impressions Matter

First impressions count. When you hire a new person into your organization, there is a lot of work and effort that needs to go into ensuring a strong first impression if you hope to retain them for the long term. Scarily, research from Leena.ai shows that 67% of companies experience a drop-off rate of more than 10% between an employee signing their employment contract and their first day on the job, and research from Devlin Peck shows an additional 20% of new employees who quit within the first 45 days of their employment.

This can severely hamstring growth if you are constantly having to deal with this sort of turnover, not to mention the wasted time, money, and effort through the recruiting process. It’s for this reason that you have to think about onboarding well before a new employee actually starts. Research from Aberdeen shows that best-in-class companies are 53% more likely to begin their onboarding process before day one, and this is known as preboarding.

In this article, we’ll explore why preboarding is important and what makes it such an essential process for increasing loyalty, decreasing turnover, and scaling your company.

What is Preboarding?

Preboarding refers to the time between a new employee accepting a job offer and their first day in the office. This is a golden opportunity for companies to start bringing the employee up to speed, instilling company values, and providing contextual information that makes things easier to get started – yet so many companies ignore this opportunity or at least underutilize it.

What are the Differences Between Preboarding and Onboarding?

The process of onboarding is relatively well understood, and a lot has been written about how to maximize those first days and weeks for a new employee. Preboarding is different from this in three key ways:

• Timing. Preboarding happens before an employee’s actual starting date. The time between when they sign on the dotted line and when they start work is when preboarding can take place, so it requires different strategies and methods than would be used once the employee has actually started working with you.

• Goals. These will vary depending on your objectives and company setup, but typically, preboarding is focused on building loyalty, company culture, and overcoming growth hurdles that can sometimes lead to faster staff turnover. While it may have the objectives above, onboarding typically focuses on more of the administrative, technological, and logistical activities that are necessary for a new employee once they’re working with you.

• Duration. The amount of time you have for preboarding will vary dramatically based on how soon the employee’s start date has been agreed upon. This means that in some cases, you will have very little time for preboarding, which means that you will have to be flexible and handle each employee on a case-by-case basis. Onboarding can be more standardized because you will have full control over the duration and the way that it is run for each employee.

Both preboarding and onboarding play a very important role in integrating a new person into your team and in giving them the tools, mindset, and opportunities they need to hit the ground running.

Why is Preboarding so Important for Long-Term Success?

Having worked with a great many different types of companies here at The Renaissance Network, it has become clear that strong preboarding can be a tremendous competitive advantage for retaining and unleashing top talent that can push an organization to the next level. We think about this across three pillars:

• Talent. All the top companies are fighting to hire from a small pool of A-players, and you need to have differentiating factors that can make your company the obvious choice for these people. Preboarding is one of the tools that can make a difference here because when you show that you’re willing to invest in someone’s career from the first moment, even before they officially start working, it demonstrates a seriousness that appeals to top talent. It is also a barrier to entry for a competing offer that comes in before the new job start date. This notion of company commitment spreads and can enhance your company’s reputation, leading to higher-quality talent being attracted to your roles.

• Loyalty. In such a competitive space, with such strong generational dynamics, it’s becoming harder and harder to retain top talent for long periods of time. And while it might seem naïve to suggest that preboarding can impact long-term loyalty – it actually does. An employee’s first impression of the company they are moving to goes a long way to shaping their perception of the role and of how it fits into their long-term career mission. If you can use preboarding to elevate that mission and integrate it into the values that you care about, it gives you a much better chance to increase loyalty and create a feeling of belonging that lasts. 

• Turnover. Building on the point above, staff turnover decreases when you have a thorough preboarding process that works hand-in-hand with your onboarding. This is because new employees know exactly where they stand, they have context and history on the organization, and they have all the information they need to make a good impression when they arrive. The more effort you put in upfront in those first few interactions, the longer your staff are likely to stay with you – and we shouldn’t have to tell you how valuable a higher retention rate can be for growing your company and codifying institutional knowledge.

Hopefully, we have now convinced you of the need for preboarding. Let’s now get more practical and look at some of the key components that you should include in your own preboarding process.

14 Components of Successful Preboarding

Here are some of the key pieces of a successful preboarding process:

• A high-level roadmap. Setting early expectations for a new employee goes a long way to easing anxiety and laying out a clear set of steps that they can follow to maximize the first few weeks and months. Create a roadmap that guides their path and allows them to visualize the journey they are about to embark on. Bonus points if these are individualized for the role, person, and career path that they’re on.

• FAQ list. As you do more preboarding and onboarding, you’ll find that certain questions pop up again and again. Collect these and answer them in one place so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time they come up. Another benefit of this exercise is that it also helps you to identify gaps in your preboarding and onboarding processes where employees are confused, uncertain, or uninformed. Identify these and fix them for a smoother overall experience.

• Company culture. As you scale, it’s important to realize that you aren’t able to have as much direct influence on every new employee and how they fit into your culture. So, you should lay out your ideal culture and values in words and share that with every new employee so that they understand what kind of company they are coming to work for. For more impact, communicate this cultural description in a unique and compelling way, such as in print or video format. 

• Company handbook. This is similar to the company culture point, but more focused on the day-to-day operational aspects of the company. This can include policies and procedures, rules and guidelines, key contact information, benefits, and much more. Anything that might be useful for faster integration should be laid out in black and white for a new employee to read through and internalize.

• Administrative tasks. You can get a head start on some of the menial administrative tasks that usually take up a lot of the onboarding process by including some of them in preboarding. These could include key forms to fill out, benefits sign-up, and even a headshot for a company badge.  This can provide a significant efficiency boost and ensure that the new employee can start contributing quickly.

• Technological preparation. Similar to the point above, any technology setup that can be done in advance will make the entire process more seamless. This can be setting up laptops, phones, printers, monitors, and anything else that the new employee will need to use. Having these ready to use on day 1 makes everything else easier.

• Mentoring. Many companies employ a ‘buddy’ system where they pair a new employee with someone highly experienced with the company and who has relevant experience, allowing mentorship to genuinely happen in those first few months. By introducing a new employee to their mentor during preboarding, they will already have a friendly face and someone familiar to engage with by the time they get into the office.

• Pre-first-day email. Before the first day, send an email welcoming the new employee, celebrating their joining the company, and laying out what their first day is likely to look like. This helps ease any anxiety and gives the person a defined agenda for what they can achieve directly from the start.

• Company swag. Starting a new job is equally exciting and daunting, but one way to welcome them is by sending them company merchandise in the preboarding timeframe, such as hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and so on. It helps to give a sense of belonging, even before officially joining the team and gives them a company branding experience at their own home that they can share with friends and family. Here, a little goes a long way.

• CEO welcome video. It’s often unrealistic to expect the CEO to meet with every new hire immediately, but a good substitute is to send the employee a video from the CEO where they are welcomed to the company and given some encouragement about the new journey they’re about to start. If these can be personalized, that’s even better, but the objective is just to help put a face to a name and open the doors with senior management for a relationship to be built over the long term.

• Pre-schedule key meetings. Your onboarding process will likely include some standardized meetings with key personnel – and these can be pre-scheduled so that the new employee has them in their calendar. Be sure to be specific with time and location so that it’s as easy as possible for a new person to get to.

• Calls from the hiring manager. It is good practice for the hiring manager to have one or two calls with the new employee during preboarding to establish rapport and connection while answering any outstanding questions that they may have. The personal touch can make a big difference here.

• Draft the onboarding agenda. Internally, you should be using the preboarding period to draft the onboarding agenda and prepare any documentation, workflows, or information that will be required once the employee starts. This will be influenced by how preboarding is going so remember to be agile and adjust as needed depending on the person you’re preboarding.

• Inform the relevant teams. In advance of a new employee joining, you should communicate with any teams that will be impacted so that they understand who the new person is, how they will fit in, and how it changes the roles and responsibilities of your existing employees. This helps to make for a smoother integration process and avoids a new employee unknowingly stepping on toes because the expectations are unclear.  

This list is just a starting point, but it should give you a good sense of what preboarding should include. As you implement it, you’ll find that certain things are more and less relevant to your needs – so feel free to tweak it and find the right balance for your organization. As you improve it over time, you’ll see the benefits in terms of talent, loyalty, and reduced staff turnover.

TRN: Building World-Class Teams to Impact Education and Communities 

If you’re an Education or Impact company looking to bring more top talent into your organization, get in touch with The Renaissance Network today. We’re ready and waiting to help you implement these preboarding strategies and bring your new, top players up to speed as quickly as possible. We look forward to hearing from you!