Starting Off on the Right Foot with Bosch China

Bosch in China Shares Tips for Creating an Effective Onboarding Experience

All companies want engaged, high-performing employees and all employees want to feel like they are a valued member of the team. Onboarding is the process companies use to welcome new employees, ensuring they understand and feel at home in their new role. It also sets the tone for an employee’s perception of company values and culture. Good onboarding impacts employee engagement, performance, and retention.

Bosch in China, a Certified Top Employer, made significant changes to its onboarding process in recent years. In 1909, the global company opened an office in China. This location now offers cutting-edge technologies in mobility solutions, industrial technology, consumer goods, and energy and building technology. The 56 facilities in China, with combined sales of 117.3 billion CNY, made it the company’s largest single market for the first time in 2020. Bosch in China also has the largest number of employees, outside of Germany, further motivating them to improve and refine their onboarding process.

Previously, Bosch in China’s onboarding system was a survey administered shortly after the employee’s arrival. This system required a lot of time and energy to manage but produced relatively few insights and was very impersonal. Shifting to a more dynamic, continuous feedback system was the goal. 

To achieve this new approach, the HR team created an interactive communication system to gather feedback from new employees. Regular surveys and other prompts are sent out and the HR team reviews responses in real-time, engaging employees in conversations about their input on what’s going well and what can be improved.

Continuous communication is a key tenant of an effective employee onboarding process. Companies should actively onboard new hires throughout their first year. When people feel integrated into the team, they are set up for success. The intangible benefits of a positive onboarding experience - engaged employees that feel like they are part of something - lead to real, tangible results like higher staff retention and company profits.

In this video, Tian Tian, Digital Innovation Product Manager, UX@HR Owner, shares how Bosch in China transitioned from a one-time survey to an on-going feedback loop. She describes how this system impacted employees and what the company plans to do in the future for the onboarding process. Check out Bosch in China’s story to get some new ideas for your own onboarding process.