Simplifying the Complexity of Onboarding with the 4 Cs

Everyone that has ever had a job, has been onboarded. Sometimes the onboarding processes are memorable and help you understand the company culture and dynamics better, other times you might just be given an employee handbook and instructions on your functions in the company. Creating the right onboarding experience is no easy task, each industry and organization has individual needs. However, there are some common factors that we see universally represented in all good onboarding programs, irrespective of industry and organization: the four Cs of onboarding.

This concept of the four Cs was coined by Talya N. Bauer, famous author of ‘Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success’ (LINK). According to Bauer, a successful onboarding plan should include four building blocks: compliance, clarification, culture, and connection – the four Cs of onboarding.

Compliance – Getting the fundamentals right
Any good onboarding program should go over the basics of compliance. Make sure your new hire is taught the basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations. Besides understanding company and government regulations, new employees need to get accustomed to office etiquettes such as understanding the dress code, clock-in procedures, or typical lunchtimes. Understanding regulation is always tedious, especially when it’s all listed in an employee handbook. Even asking what the dress code is might be a question that’s either too embarrassing or something your new hire might not have thought about until their first day at the office. That is why many companies opt for a digital onboarding solution, which helps break down the compliance elements of onboarding into bitesize chunks. This helps to get your new talent up to speed even before they start their first day, giving you and your new recruit time for more exciting matters than policies and guidelines.

Clarification – Ensure everyone is on the same page
The same job position in one company might be very different in another. Therefore, it is important to make sure your Onboardees understand their role and job in the company. Clarify their exact tasks, introduce them to their coworkers and show them their manager. Make sure that your new hire understands the company strategy, knows how to access any tools or communication channels their team uses. The clarification stage needs to be complete for the new hire to be able to start being productive, so do not neglect this step. If done correctly once, then you will not have any setbacks down the road.

Culture – Understanding the company
Each company has its own unique characteristics; conveying the nuances of a company’s culture is crucial to ensure that the new hire fits in. Usually, companies have very complex structural systems with many formal and informal norms. Help your new employee navigate and understand the different facets of the company culture from your organization’s mission, vision, and values to your weekly Friday team drinks. Effective onboarding programs should make your new employees feel committed to your organization.

Connections – Connecting the dots
Onboarding is in many ways like your first day at a new school. There are many new faces and the new hire needs to be able to identify their roles in the team. Some companies use onboarding buddies as a way to help introduce the new employee to their work environment. Onboarding buddies will often act as a central connection through which the new Onboardee can meet the rest of the team. Hopefully, the new employee has integrated into the team after several coffee dates. If you want to learn more about implementing an onboarding buddy program at your organization, then check out our eGuide on Onboarding Buddies (LINK).
Now that you understand the four onboarding ‘Cs’, you can use them as a great foundation for a successful onboarding experience for your new hires. This way when they start their new job, they know what to do and who they work with, reducing production downtime through poor onboarding practices. If you want to digitize your onboarding process whilst providing your new talent with the best possible onboarding experience, try out the employee onboarding platform from Appical.