For many employees, onboarding is the last step before they can begin their job.  It’s a deluge of paperwork, federally mandated workplace notifications, and agency-wide directives.  Sometimes, training videos are also required.  Once this process is completed, new employees can finally begin their job, meet their team, and learn about the reality of the job they’ve accepted.

If that’s all onboarding is, there is a problem.  The onboarding process should include all of the information and the introductions that an employee needs to do their job well.  If employees aren’t engaged in the process, they aren’t internalizing the important information. 

This is why onboarding should be spread out over a few days, instead of packed into a single day.  Some information (such as completing an I-9) is mandated to be completed before an employee can start work – those are first day tasks.  Some tasks, such as configuring work email and computer access, are required before an employee can properly start their jobs.  Those are also day 1 or day 2 tasks.  Beyond these tasks, however, employees benefit much more from a steady drip of valuable information over a week than from the flood that they get in many onboarding processes.

In fact, some information should be introduced during the onboarding process and then shared repeatedly at certain intervals. The details on how to file a complaint and report employee misconduct are perfect examples of information that can benefit from a continuous and steady approach.  When this information is delivered on the same day as their healthcare forms, payroll information and details about their working environment, they’re extremely unlikely to remember it.  If it’s delivered during onboarding and then consistently afterward, it will get far more attention.

In marketing, this approach is called a drip campaign.  Rather than flood customers with information about a company’s products, services, and special offers, a drip campaign provides one small piece of information at a time, spreading communications out over weeks or months.  You’ve almost certainly been on a drip campaign – nearly every marketing team uses them.  They’re prevalent because they’re effective.

A drip campaign can continue over a long period of time.  Employees can be reminded of how to report fraud every 180 days after their first day of employment, ensuring that there’s never too much time between witnessing misconduct and being reminded how to report it.

How are your employees notified about what misconduct is and how to report it? Is it delivered along with other information critical to them, or is it delivered alone?  Is it delivered once, or is it kept top-of-mind with periodic emails or other communication?

If it’s only getting delivered during onboarding, then chances are good it’s getting quickly forgotten. If a positive work environment free of harassment is important to you, it’s worth revisiting the messaging you are delivering to employees about how to report misconduct.

To learn how CMTS:HR can help your investigative team close cases more quickly, call us at 855-636-5361 or email us at Team_CMTSHR@CMTSHR.com.