An effective employee onboarding process is essential to the success of your entire VC firm, largely because good onboarding leads to higher employee retention rates. According to LinkedIn’s “Why Onboarding Is So Important”, the cost of replacing an entry-level employee is 30-50 percent of the person’s annual salary. And, for mid and senior-level employees it can reach 150 – 400 percent respectively. SHRM reports on a landmark study by Aberdeen Group in which 86 percent of respondents felt that a new employee’s decision to stay with a company for the long haul was made in the first six months of employment. Furthermore, among those companies that had onboarding processes in place, 66 percent claimed a higher rate of successful assimilation of new hires into company culture, 62 percent had higher time-to-productivity ratios, and 54 percent reported higher employee engagement. Considering the benefits of appropriate employee onboarding practices for your VC firm, it makes sense to have a well-designed onboarding process in place. However, there are some common onboarding mistakes to which VC firms often fall prey. Here are a few onboarding pitfalls to avoid: 1) Starting your onboarding process on the first day On the surface, it sounds sensible that onboarding would start on the first day of employment. However, the truth is that the most effective onboarding programs start during the recruiting process. Your new hire’s first interactions with your VC firm set the tone for their entire relationship with you. Having an effective recruiting process that accurately reflects your VC firm’s culture is an important first step. eBook: How to Attract Top Talent Using Inbound Recruiting – Find out how to harness the power of an inbound recruiting strategy in order to attract, hire, and retain top talent. 2) Not providing a formal itinerary for the new hire’s first week Walking into a new office environment on the first day of work is intimidating even to the most competent of new hires. Knowing what to expect and how to contribute from day one builds confidence and helps your new hire to become productive more quickly. What should the first week’s itinerary include? Bloomfire recommends: “This itinerary should include time allotted for all necessary paperwork, explaining parking procedures and dress code (these are often overlooked but crucial to making a new member of your community feel comfortable), shadowing the new hire’s future boss and coworkers, team-building activities, and any other training elements specific to your industry.” 3) Not including the entire organization in the onboarding process While it is true that your entire organization cannot stop projects midstream just to focus on integrating a new hire into your VC firm, promoting a culture of inclusion is essential to effective onboarding. From the top down, your current employees should be encouraged to welcome new team members with enthusiasm and contribute to the onboarding process in small but impactful ways. On the subject of a team approach to onboarding, Foundr notes: “If you need multiple people involved to onboard a new team member, ensure everyone knows their own role and who else is involved in the process. Planning responsibilities ahead of time will avoid wasting time figuring it out later, and making a bad impression on your new hire.” 4) Thinking that onboarding is a once and done process Effective employee onboarding does not happen overnight. One critical error many VC firms make is assuming that after a new hire has been with the firm for a few weeks, no further onboarding is needed. In reality, onboarding is a process that can take up to a year for a new hire. During this time, scheduling regular conferences for feedback and performance reviews helps a new hire to find the right footing with your organization. Knowing that there will be ample opportunity for addressing any concerns of the new hire and providing additional guidance where needed eliminates much of the stress that a new hire experiences in the first few months on the job. The Bottom Line Effective employee onboarding helps your VC firm to grow. By avoiding common onboarding mistakes, you will increase your employee retention rates and reap the rewards of higher time-to-productivity ratios and higher employee engagement rates. The process of onboarding begins during recruitment and lasts for up to a year after hire. Utilizing a strong talent management software solution can support your onboarding efforts from the recruitment stage forward. ThriveTRM is designed to help you build strong relationships with top talent and nurture those relationships from recruitment through the entire onboarding process. Schedule a demo today to explore all that ThriveTRM can do for your VC firm