Say Goodbye to Help Wanted Sign

In the constant struggle to keep your dealership growing and competing, it’s easy to overlook the importance of the employee onboarding process.

Owners and managers tend to get tunnel vision and focus only on getting the new hire to sign the dotted line and get out in front of customers where they can begin generating revenue.

If your dealership hasn’t made an investment in onboarding the new employee within their first 90 days, chances he or she already is halfway out the door. To combat the high turnover rate in this industry (39% within the first 90 days), dealership owners and operators must begin to embrace onboarding as a process that enriches employees and company culture.

Does your dealership believe onboarding begins on an employee’s first day during orientation? Think again. The onboarding actually starts much sooner – during the recruitment and interview phase.

During these initial steps, a hiring manager is communicating and setting the foundation for how a candidate views your brand. Your company culture is built around the way in which you attract candidates, and it thrives when candidates feel that they are being invested in just as much as they are investing into your company.

Your brand starts with the career site and continues through the hiring process. If the employee’s first day doesn’t live up to the expectations you’ve set along the way, that new hire is going to feel let down.

The best onboarding programs are well-planned and efficient, and have a long-term impact on employee retention. Even the most experienced professionals need guidance over their initial months on the job, which makes onboarding programs, such as formal training, mentoring and management meetings, essential.

These are just a few of the reasons that not having an onboarding process hurts your employee brand and puts your dealership’s operations at a disadvantage:

It shows your dealership doesn’t care. If your hiring process is done correctly, your dealership should be prepared for a new hire’s first day, ready to greet them when they walk through the door. Imagine walking into the first day on the job where nothing is ready for you and there is no structured training or support in the following month. That employee is likely to think their employer not only is disorganized but also is not invested in their success.

It’s harder to generate excitement. Onboarding programs build enthusiasm for your company and feed into building a strong culture. It starts with the first welcome email and that messaging must stay consistent throughout training.

Sharing your vision of the future and the positive aspects of working for your team shows them why being part of your team is special. This is your company’s time to shine and build excitement about the future. Don’t wait for the new hires to figure it out because by then, it might be too late.

It’s harder to measure job performance. Without a clear onboarding process, managers have less information to work with when it comes to evaluating new hires’ performance.

How can you gauge whether they aren’t meeting expectations because they’re inexperienced or haven’t had the necessary training? A formal program gives managers a way to track progress and jump in earlier when they recognize if an employee is having difficulty meeting goals.

A lax onboarding process could lead to employees being less likely to make an immediate impact. Without onboarding, new hires won’t get the tools to excel over time. They will struggle initially and continue to feel left behind if your dealership doesn’t invest time in getting them integrated into your operations.

New employees want to feel special from the moment they start a new position. While your dealership doesn’t need to roll out the red carpet, a candidate will have a more positive experience overall when they are treated as an asset.

According to Inc. magazine, less than 50% of new hires received a phone call from the hiring manager during their onboarding process. Onboarding ensures there is communication with the employees until they feel comfortable in their new role and beyond and regular check-ins help them feel much sooner like they are a part of the team.

Onboarding cultivates a sense of belonging that goes beyond the expectations of the position. Candidates will feel less like another cog in the machine if you invest time and energy into helping a new hire adjust until they feel completely at ease in their new environment. And with time, onboarding will become an essential component of your dealership’s success.

Adam Robinson is the co-founder and CEO of Hireology, a leading provider of employee selection management technology. Follow him on Twitter @adrobins.