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All Aboard

Recent conversations with CEOs and senior business leaders indicate the state of the global economy is among their biggest concerns. The good news? Companies are hiring. The predicament? They have extremely aggressive hiring plans yet aren't prepared to smoothly "staff-up." Two specific examples: One CEO expects to expand his staff threefold in the next six months while another expects to expand from 400 to 2400 employees in the next 18 months. When asked about their respective onboarding practices, both business leaders simply replied that they had an HR-led orientation day for new employees so new hires could fill out their necessary paperwork. A one-day orientation?

While we intuitively know that people are our company's most valuable resources, we often don't invest the time or energy to prepare them to be successful in their jobs. Statistics show us:

  • 22 percent of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment. (The Wynhurst Group)
  • 46 percent of rookies wash out in their first 18 months. (Leadership IQ)
  • Companies that leave onboarding to chance experience failure rates in excess of 50 percent when it comes to retaining new talent. (Egon Zehnder International, 2007)

There is no one-size-fits-all onboarding program. An onboarding program is unique to each organization and should be tailored to meet company objectives and employee needs. However, the best onboarding practices share some similar elements.

Begin with the Acceptance of the Offer. Engage your new employee before their first official day. Where appropriate, involve them in conversations and meetings before they join the organization. At the very least, ensure that a new employee knows he or she is a welcome addition before arriving on day 1.

Onboarding programs may extend over a period of months or years, depending on the role. Most programs start with an intensive one to two day session to start things off. Future steps may include rotational assignments or special projects designed to expose the new employee to different parts of the organization.

It Doesn't Happen Overnight. Be realistic. While we all want people to be effectively functioning in their new role yesterday, this is just not realistic. People don't need to know (and can't know) everything on day one or even month one. Structure the program and set the pace such that the knowledge and skills are retained rather than just lost in a deluge of new information.

Leverage Technology. Automate the onboarding process as much as possible. Utilize your company's intranet to house forms, training materials, and general company information. This allows people to access and use information as needed as opposed to bombarding them with everything all at once. And, remember that if you expect a new employee to know something specific, that information has to be identified and be readily available to the new hire.

Mentor, Mentor, Mentor. Assign a mentor. The best programs begin with coaching and mentoring from the get-go. New employees benefit from having one experienced person to whom they can reach out with questions ranging from dress code, to performance reviews, to best lunch places.

Create Opportunities for Feedback. Give new employees a way to provide feedback early on. Managers shouldn't wait for the introductory review to let new employees know how they're doing - frequent, casual check-ins often benefit new employees and supervisors alike.

The More the Better. Involve many people in the onboarding process, most importantly the new employee's manager. Gallup's research has shown "People join companies, but they leave managers." Make sure your managers and supervisors are invested and enthusiastic about the onboarding process. A key function of their job should be to engage, coach, and mentor employees.

Make it Fun! Avoid making the onboarding process overly formal. Engage employees at all levels, ensure the orientation program is comprehensive, and be certain there is opportunity for two-way discourse-but make the process fun and non-threatening.

Employees who have gone through some form of onboarding beyond the requisite process of filling out paperwork report feeling better connected to their colleagues and to the company culture. One last note: Onboarding is not just for new hires - anyone who is new to a team, department, or project can benefit. 




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