Businesses: onboarding or the art of successfully integrating a new employee

If welcoming new employees has always existed, large groups are increasingly structuring this sensitive stage, to retain the loyalty of new employees. We call it onboarding.

“Onboard” in English means getting on board. This word has entered the human resources jargon of large companies for around ten years. With the idea that integrating a new employee cannot be improvised at the last moment, it must be fluid, it must leave a good memory, and it must be organized at all levels. In some groups, onboarding begins well before the day of arrival. In this case, we call it preboarding.

franceinfo: onboarding begins at the end of recruitment?

Sarah Lemoine: Exactly. The objective is to establish a strong link with the person recruited between their promise of employment and the signing of their contract. This is the strategy adopted by the National Old Age Insurance Fund (CNAV) and the Edenred group, after the first confinement.

Both have opted for a fully digitalized system, which allows both the collection of administrative documents to prepare the contract – it saves time – and above all it allows communication about the history of the company, its values, its missions etc. “It’s fun, that can last three months, explains Nathalie Liebert, HR Director of Edenred France. We bring in slowly the person in the culture of the box”, says Jérôme Friteau, HR director of CNAV. Sometimes the person is invited to meet their future team.

And on D-day?

With the tradition of the “welcome pack”, the pen, the mug, even a sweatshirt with the name of the company, the presentation of the badge, the computer, the discovery of the workstation. Later, there will be the very careful integration day, where the new hires will meet general management. This support can last for many months. At Edenred, a person was recruited specifically to take care of new hires full-time. At CNAV, the digital journey continues for 9 months, with a review interview after 6 months.

Do companies that pamper their new employees benefit from it?

Both companies say they have fewer departures in the first two years, compared to the national average. And the feedback from the employees concerned is very positive. “The National Health Insurance Fund, which is perceived as a large, cold and dehumanized administration, said his HR director, now reflects the image of a modern employer, and that is appreciated.”