Nonprofit Talent Guide: Effective Onboarding and Keeping Great Talent

While finding mission-fit talent and recruiting skilled leaders and fundraisers for your nonprofit are essential, one part of the equation is often missed: onboarding. Once you have those intelligent hires joining your organization, getting them up to speed and staying on is your goal, and I hope my experience can shed some light on keeping great staff.

Don't All Nonprofits Have a Comprehensive Onboarding Process?

Coming from over twenty years in the for-profit recruiting field, working with many small and large financial, manufacturing, healthcare, and tech clients, I took for granted that most of these organizations had an onboarding process for new hires. Because onboarding plans were commonly used within that sector, I thought the same was true in the nonprofit world. Not so!

I learned this early on when a very senior fundraising professional (who I had recruited for a long-time and well-established client) called me on her 3rd day in a panic. She told me she had no idea what the plan was for her first week, had not met anyone, had not been given her laptop, and was floundering. She was not made to feel welcome, nor was there a “one-on-one” set up with her direct manager.  No written agenda had been shared with her. It was only Day 3, and she was very discouraged and frustrated.

Good Onboarding Makes for a Productive Start

Having a lack of clarity when a new employee joins an organization they are likely passionate about is not a good beginning, nor is it setting them up for success. You hire to have new staff fill a role to help you fulfill your mission, and if they are discouraged, that does not bode well for a successful hire.

I soon learned that very few nonprofits had a robust onboarding process. Even those with something in place were not fully satisfied with their plan. They recognized gaps that needed filling but needed to figure out how to improve them. 

As part of our AmPhil Talent Solutions Service, we offer a Nonprofit Client Success Workshop before my team and I start a search. An essential part of the workshop is discussing the art of onboarding and why it is so critical. I enjoy sharing my knowledge on how nonprofits' recruiting and talent growth can start with a good onboarding program. 

Why Should a Nonprofit Have an Onboarding Plan?

First and most obviously, a well-planned onboarding program acclimates the new hire to their role, the organization’s mission, and what the organization offers (in short, it explains WHO the organization is, WHY it was founded, and WHAT it does). Most centrally, this onboarding shares insight with the new staff on how they serve the mission.

Engagement Starts with Proper Onboarding

Employees have higher levels of engagement when they feel connected to a team. There should be meets and greets (yes, even over Zoom for remote hires), but if there are headquarters, then the new hire needs to come in person to meet as many on the team as possible. Engagement helps new staff connect, bond, and support each other. Relationships need to be cultivated starting in the first week!

One in five employees have quit in their first month due to a poor onboarding experience." —BambooHR

Nonprofit Recruiting Starts with Retention of Talent

If your org has a lot of turnover and you sincerely want to know why, start by looking at your onboarding plan. And if you don’t have one in place, start there!  Another BambooHR survey gained insight into why employees quit:

• Unclear guidelines on role/responsibilities 23%
• Lacked practical training 21%
• Lacked peer support 17%

A robust, systematic onboarding process may remediate these issues. As reported by employees, organizations with strong onboarding programs have increased tenure. New hires feel valued and know the pathway toward success and how to get there.

Nonprofit Guide to an Effective Onboarding Experience

• Having a written agenda prepared for the new hire to follow in their first days.
• Meeting with HR (or someone in that role) who can explain benefits, PTO, org policies, etc.
• Ensuring they have their laptop set up with all the appropriate software required to do the job and have support from the tech person.
• The manager should meet with the new hire 1:1 daily during the first couple weeks to handle the bulk of the training/acclimation.
• Having a peer assigned to the new hire who can offer support and handle the lighter tasks/questions that may come up (an onboarding buddy).
• It is important to meet the founder, if he/she is still involved, to learn about the organization's origins and why it was established.
• Having a MEET THE TEAM lunch (even virtually) with different colleagues.
• Having books/articles/reading material ready for the new hire to review.
• Setting goals (one month, three-month, six-month) will help the new hire understand expectations and what they should strive for.
• Assigning small projects/tasks to get the new hire acclimated to the organization’s processes and methodologies.
• Asking the new hire for feedback on the onboarding process to continuously improve it.

“Fulfilling employment experiences” and “skills valuation, training and career pathing” all start with a robust onboarding plan.  Every new hire has the potential to serve and be a great success. You may not get a second chance if you take all their passion and excitement only to LOSE IT through a poor onboarding approach. 

Of course, other factors impact retention, including good salaries and raises, continuous training, a positive culture, strong leadership., and finding ways to show your employees they are valued…..this all leads to retaining top talent.    

In a candidate-driven job market, working to help increase retention on your team has become even more paramount. Invest in a robust onboarding process, and the return will be substantial.

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