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Making the Team: Onboarding New Employees Into Your Department

Presented by:

Stacy Doepner-Hove, Director of the MA-HRIR program, University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management

Guan Zhong - 720–645 BC

� If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain,

� If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees,

� If you want a hundred years of prosperity, grow people.

Guan Zhong was also a pragmatist who did not equate a ruler's moral

purity with his ability to govern. Duke Huan, who loved hunting and

women, asked Guan if these indulgences would harm his hegemony, to

which Guan replied that the ruler's love for luxury would not harm his

hegemony. It would only be harmed through inappropriate staffing and

misuse of talent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Zhong

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

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Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement is the extent to which

employees commit to something or someone in their

organization and how hard they work and how long

they stay as a result of that commitment

Corporate Leadership Council, The Business Case for Employee Engagement, Corporate Executive Board, 2009.

Employee Engagement and Performance Outcomes

� Customer ratings

� Profitability

� Productivity

� Turnover (for high-turnover and low-turnover organizations)

� Safety incidents

� Shrinkage (theft)

� Absenteeism

� Patient safety incidents

� Quality (defects)

Susan Sorenson, How Employee Engagement Drives Growth, Business Journal, June 20, 2013.

Increasing Engagement

� But organizations that try to buy their employees’ enthusiasm and commitment are likely to be disappointed. While higher pay and better benefits generally improve a worker’s satisfaction and overall contentment, they don’t truly drive engagement and the extra effort that comes with it, engagement experts say.

1. Supply the right tools

2. Give individual attention

3. Provide training and coaching

4. Listen to employees

5. Get social

6. Serve others

7. Recognize proudly and loudly

Tamara Lytle, 7 Tips to Increase Employee Engagement Without Spending a Dime, SHRM, Sep 22, 2016.

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WORKPLACE SOCIALIZATION

Newcomer Effectiveness

1. Accurate knowledge of expectations and clarity of role

2. Knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to perform the job

3. Motivated to perform the job

Training in Organizations, Goldstein and Ford, Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2002.

Workplace Socialization

� Stages in the socialization process

1. Confronting and accepting organizational reality

2. Achieving role clarity

3. Locating oneself in the organizational context

4. Detecting signposts of successful socialization

Training in Organizations, Goldstein and Ford, Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2002.

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How does socialization happen

� Role of coworkers in socialization

� Role of supervisors in socialization

� Role of organizational practices in socialization

� Role of new employee proactive behavior in socialization

� How might things be different for people with different

backgrounds or needs?

Socialization of People with Disabilities in the Workplace, Kulkarni, Mukta, Lengnick-Hall,

Mark L., Human Resource Management, Volume 50, Number 4, Pp. 521-540, 2011.

Onboarding and Socialization

� Nothing happens in isolation

� Onboarding can’t be just a program that HR runs

� It is an integral part of the organization’s Employee Value

Proposition

� An employee value proposition (EVP) is the unique set of benefits which an employee receives in return for the skills, capabilities and experience they bring to a company. An EVP is about defining the essence of your company - how it is unique and what it stands for.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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Organizational Culture

� We are often unaware of organizational culture until

it is challenged

� When we get a new job

� When someone asks why we do something the way we do

Dress, age, race/ethnicity,

gender, language

Conscious

awareness

Eye behavior, concept of self,

collaborative style, authority,

patterns of handling

emotions, group decision

making patterns, concepts of

status, mobility, patterns of

superior/subordinate roles,

body language, problem

solving approaches,

concepts of justice,

competition vs. cooperation,

social interaction rate,

patterns of visual perception

Out of

awareness

Culture

Observable symbols, ceremonies, stories,

slogans, behaviors, dress, physical settings,

vision, mission, goals, policies and procedures,

financial resources, technology, services and

productsFormal (overt) aspects of

an organizational culture

Underlying values,

assumptions, beliefs,

attitudes, feelings, power

and influence patterns,

group dynamics,

perceptions, informal

interactions, group

norms

Informal (covert)

aspects of an

organizational

culture

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Cameron, K., & Quinn, R., (1999). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture. New York: Addison-

Wesley.

Organizational Culture

� Refers to � Taken-for-granted values

� Underlying assumptions

� Expectations

� Collective memory

� Definitions present in an organization

� Represents how things are around here

� Reflects the prevailing ideology that people carry inside their heads

� It conveys a sense of identity to employees

� Provides unwritten and, often, unspoken guidelines for how to get along

in the organization

� Enhances the stability of the social system

Managing Culture

Benefits of Culture� Focus

� Aligns the entire company towards achieving its vision, mission, and goals

� Motivation

� Builds higher employee motivation and loyalty

� Connection

� Builds team cohesiveness among the company’s various departments and divisions

� Cohesion

� Builds consistency and encourages coordination and control within the company

� Spirit

� Shapes employee behavior at work, enabling the organization to be more efficient

and alive

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Disney

� Overmanage

� Culture

� Service

� Innovation

� Brand

� Leadership

“Disney’s Approach to Selection, Training, and Engagement”, Disney Institute, October 2015.

All engagement should build the brand/vision/mission of the organization

THINK ABOUT YOUR CULTURE

Audience Participation

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THE CHANGING WORKPLACE

Engagement and the Individual

“Engagement is a personal matter and as a result, a one-size-fits-all approach … a single solution for all employees, is never going to work,” Sommer said. Employees in different demographic groups and regions and at different management levels may

respond to different motivators.

Dinah Wisenberg Brin, Technology for Employee Engagement on the Rise, SHRM Technology, Feb 9, 2016.

Kathy Gurchiek, What Motivates

Your Workers? It Depends on the

Generation, SHRM Global and

Cultural Effectiveness, May 9, 2016.

Individuals at Work

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Salsa, Soul and Spirit

� Leadership for a Multicultural Age: New Approaches

to Leadership from Latino, Black, and American

Indian Communities

Salsa, Soul and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age, second edition, Bordas, Juana, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012.

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The Thought of Work

Any purposeful human activity involving physical or

mental exertion that is not undertaken solely for

pleasure and that has an economic or symbolic value

John Budd, The Thought of Work, Cornell University Press, 2011.

What is your concept of work

Occupational Citizenship?

Model of Career Development

� Preparation for Work (0-25)

� Initial occupation choice,

education, get initial job offer

� Early career (25-40)

� Learn job, learn occupation,

increase competence

� Midcareer (40-55)

� Reappraise early career,

reaffirm or modify, remain

productive at work

� Late career (55-??)

� Remain productive in work,

maintain self-esteem,

prepare for effective retirement

Human Resource Development 6e, Werner, Jon M., DeSimone, Randy L. Cengage Learning, 2012, p.407.

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What is changing?

� Demographics

� Globalization

� Economic cycles

� Technology

� Increased value on human capital (HR)� Knowledge workers

� Change and continuous learning

� Employee engagement

� Development link to business strategy

� Customer service and quality emphasis

� Definition and expectations of work

So what?

� Different views of work

� Different views of what you get from work

� Different views of what you need from work

� Different views of development

� Different needs for development

� Individualized onboarding

ONBOARDING STORIES FROM THE REAL WORLD

Audience Participation

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ONBOARDING

The Problem

The Problem

� Nearly 33 percent of new hires look for a new job within their first six months on the job. (Among Millennials, that percentage is higher, and it happens earlier.)

� 13.5% within the first 30 days

� Twenty-three percent of new hires leave before their first anniversary. (20% in the first 45 days)

� The organizational costs of employee turnover are estimated to range between 51 percent and 300 percent of the replaced employee’s salary.

� Only 28 percent of companies consider themselves highly successful at onboarding.

“The Employee Integration Equation”, Ferrazzi, Keith and Davis, Tim, TD, October 2015, pp. 56-60.

First Impressions Matter

� Of those respondents who left within the first six months

� 23 percent said “receiving clear guidelines to what my responsibilities were” would have helped them stay on the job

� Twenty-one percent said they wanted “more effective training”

� 17 percent said “a friendly smile or helpful co-worker would have made all the difference”

� 12 percent said they wanted to be “recognized for [their] unique contributions”

� 9 percent said they wanted more attention from the “manager and co-workers”

� About one-third of the new hires who had quit said they’d had barely any onboarding or none at all

� 15 percent of respondents noted that lack of an effective onboarding process contributed to their decision to quit

Roy Maurer, Onboarding Key to Retaining, Engaging Talent, SHRM Talent Acquisition, Apr 16, 2015.

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ONBOARDING

The Basics

Onboarding

The first 90-100 days of an employee’s tenure, often

called ‘re-recruiting,’ can be the difference between an employee who stays for a decade and one who’s gone before the year is out.

- Michael Watkins, The First 90 Days

Goals of Onboarding

� Better assimilation of new hires into the company culture

� Getting new employees productive more quickly

� Improve employee engagement

75

62

48

3530

18

% OF GOALS ACHIEVED

% OF NEW HIRES HIGHLY ENGAGED

282 r

esp

on

dan

ts

Aberdeen Group survey

Best-in-class Industry average Laggard

Onboarding 2011: The Path to Productivity, Lombardi, Mollie, AberdeenGroup: A Harte-Hanks Company,

March 2011.

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Onboarding

� Job knowledge

� Role competencies

� Work habits

� Goal alignment

� Cultural adaptation

� Engagement

� Productivity

“The Employee Integration Equation”, Ferrazzi, Keith and Davis, Tim, TD, October 2015, pp. 56-60.

First Impressions Matter

� Before the first day

� The first day

� The first month

� The first three to six months

� The first year

“It’s not a single event. It’s an ongoing talent strategy.”

Roy Maurer, Onboarding Key to Retaining, Engaging Talent, SHRM Talent Acquisition, Apr 16, 2015.

Be intentional about designing the human relationship

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ONBOARDING

How to Make it Memorable and Effective

ONBOARDING MADE EASY

Prepare Yourself

Prepare Yourself

� Focus on giving the new person time to learn and integrate into your unit

� Start with the assumption this person has a lot to offer and is able to

learn whatever is required to be successful

� Learn about the individual

� Be prepared to talk about yourself, be honest

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ONBOARDING MADE EASY

Prepare the New Hire

Prepare the New Hire

� Be explicit that this is a time of learning

� Express confidence that s/he can do the job

� Create incrementally more challenging job assignments, stretch

the new hire

� Provide specific feedback

� Educate about culture, values, and unwritten rules

� Help the new hire establish a network with key resources

� Help the new hire see mistakes as learning opportunities

ONBOARDING MADE EASY

Prepare Your Team

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Prepare Your Team

� Be explicit, their job as co-workers is to support learning

� Assign a peer coach or coaches� Give specific tasks for each team member to teach/show

� Arrange opportunities for the new hire to get to know others on the

team

� Explain why you are excited about the new hire and what s/he will

bring to the team

� Make it clear you are willing to talk privately about concerns with the

new hire

ONBOARDING MADE EASY

Prepare the Environment

Prepare the Environment

� Clean and prepare the new hire’s work area: computer, keys, workspace

(truly clean out and leave only what they need)

� Create a welcome packet: coupons for local food, scissors, stapler, tape,

pens, welcome note

� Tell people you will be giving a tour

� Sign new hire up for trainings and NEO

� Schedule time to be with the new hire

� Go over checklist with new employee, include the info on how to get

along with you

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ONBOARDING NEXT STEPS

Be Prepared to Prepare Others

Pre-Boarding

� Call, email or text employee (or all three at different times)� Call to welcome and tell them you are excited to have them work with you

� Emil to confirm start date, place, time, dress code, parking, transportation, where to meet, etc.� Maybe add in some questions to help you get to know the employee

� Text to provide a quick “see you tomorrow”

� Set meetings on calendars – yours, theirs, others� First day, first week, first three month – including 90 day check in

� Set lunch for the first day with you or team members

� Assign a buddy

� Check out the Manager’s Checklist for more ideas

Ooh!Media

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Ooh!Media

First Day

� Be there to welcome them

� Block out time on your calendar…more than you think you need

� Talk with them, introduce them around, show them around

� Don’t overwhelm but show them a lot and back it up with a welcome packet

� Get them out to lunch

� Review and fill out forms as needed, just not too many

� Tell them about their first week expectations

� Give them their first assignment!

� Check out the Manager’s Checklist for more ideas

First Week

� Check in on that first assignment

� It’s great if that assignment can be completed in the first week – a quick win!

� Send them to your department and/or college and/or university’s NEO

� Talk about org chart for your department, school, etc.

� Touch base with the new employee daily, at least

� Go over job description and talk about who they will work with on what

� Start discussion of training and development

� Check out the Manager’s Checklist for more ideas

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First Month

� Weekly meetings

� Check in about pay and benefits

� Discuss process for reviews and performance standards

� Some may seem obvious to you…but they aren’t to everyone

� Be explicit now so you don’t have to discipline later

� Ensure compliance with school required trainings, etc.

� Check in with buddy and the team on how things are going

� Check out the Manager’s Checklist for more ideas

First Ninety Days

� Weekly or bi-weekly meetings

� Ensure compliance with school required trainings, etc.

� Check in with buddy and the team on how things are going

� Address issues now if there are any

� Celebrate the end of the probationary status

� Or just celebrate three months if there isn’t a probation

� Ask them how the onboarding went so you can improve for next time

� Check out the Manager’s Checklist for more ideas

First Ninety Days

� Questions to ask your new hire over coffee:� How’s it going? How do you feel in your new job?� What are you enjoying most about your role?� Is the job/team/company what you expected?� Has anything surprised you? If so, what?� Has training been helpful? What would you add or change?� Do you have all the tools and resources that you need?� Do you feel like you have gotten to know your coworkers well?� Do you feel out of the loop about anything?� What should we provide to new employees that we have missed?� What is working/what is not working?� Is anything about your role, the team or company still unclear?� How can I be a better manager to you?� As your manager, what can I do to make your transition easier?

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Links to Help You Prepare

� Sample Manager’s Checklist

� https://docs.google.com/document/d/11KG6ZgYxZZy3uPM0CME1RLv4sJwkfoFI6qhnyvP5BVI/edit?usp=sharing

� Sample Employee Checklist

� https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G603aXYwtyTtvza7z3eDTutJ3tsVt7hrJQX85QBw644/edit?usp=sharing

� LinkedIn Onboarding in a Box

� https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2015/06/onboarding-in-a-box-your-complete-new-hire-resource

APPLY THE CONCEPTS TO YOUR WORKPLACE

Audience Participation

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Winston Churchill

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QUESTIONS?