On-boarding new employees: a three-component perspective of welcoming

Abstract

Purpose No component of the human capital management has been more overlooked by companies than the process of welcoming new recruited employees – the on-boarding phase. This paper aims to present a three-component perspective of on-boarding and a contribution to measuring the employees’ perceptions based on three dimensions of welcoming: structured corporate welcome, manager welcome and coworkers welcome. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study based on a self-reported survey was conducted to test the model and an on-boarding employees’ perceptions proposed scale. The authors hypothesized that the three on-boarding components relate positively to some critical work outcomes (e.g. work engagement and affective organizational commitment). Analyses using a sample of 347 workers from Portuguese firms showed that the three-component on-boarding scale had adequate validity and all three components of on-boarding were positively related to the work outcomes included in this study. Findings Findings suggest that an effective onboarding process, based on the three-component perspective (corporate welcome, manager welcome and coworkers welcome), is a significant contribution to promote organizational affective commitment and work engagement of new employees. Originality/value The paper addresses the need for organizations to design on-boarding programs based on an integrated perspective, not only formal corporate activities but also preparing managers and coworkers to host effectively new employees. Strong association with work outcomes enables a better understanding on how onboard can contribute to an engaged and retained workforce.