March 2015 Quarterly Release

Onboarding

Table of Contents

Letter from the Editor ......................................................................................Don Sosnowski

What is Onboarding? .................................................................................. Alexandra Vlaming

Who Needs Onboarding?.....................................................................................Emily Barnett

When Does the Onboarding Process End? .................................................................. Amy Palo

Current Approaches to Onboarding: What is Popular Right Now? .................... Alexandra Vlaming

We Don’t Really Need a Plan ................................................................................. Leda Hayes

Client Profile- Green Mountain Coffee Roasters .......................................................Invista Staff

1INVISTA PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS • QUARTERLY REPORT • MARCH 2015

Don Sosnowski

Welcome to the March edition of the Invista Performance Solutions quarterly release magazine!

In this edition, we take on the issue of Onboarding—what best practices are involved and why the process matters so much. Organizations invest a lot of time and energy in the recruiting and hiring process but can rapidly lose that investment when an employee is left without structured expectations and training in the critical first 30 days of employment. It leads to frustration and sometimes to early resignations or dismissals for poor performance. Turnover is costly and a carefully planned onboarding process can reduce that expense.

Beyond the avoidance of turnover costs, there is the great opportunity to fully engage an employee right from day one and make them a productive part of the team. In onboarding an organization takes care of the basic engagement needs of every employee—their self- identification with the company’s mission and values, the resources they need to be productive, and the supportive relationships that will make them successful for their time there.

After you finish our quarterly, we would love to hear from you about the onboarding processes you use and what makes them successful. Feel free to share with us what you have you learned and what results you have seen. We will post them in a follow up with your permission. And if you’re not sure where to begin, Invista consultants would be happy to come in and help you design a process that ensures success.

We wish you all much success in engaging your new hires!

Thank you,

Don Sosnowski

Letter from the Editor

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Alexandra Vlaming

What is onboarding? On first hearing the word, it could sound like a form of torture, something to be suffered through before getting to the real work at hand. But done properly, onboarding is an integral part of adding new members to your team and getting them started on the right foot. Onboarding is a term for the process by which new hires are brought on board with company objectives and culture. Other names for this process include organizational socialization, orientation, or new hire training. Common onboarding techniques include watching videos, reviewing manuals, taking company tours, and sometimes listening to lectures. More than just a box to check, onboarding has been shown to increase job satisfaction, job performance, and inspire higher job retention.

According to www.recruiter.com1, onboarding best practices include the following:

1. Networking: Take the time to assist the new employee with meeting people in their department.

2. Personal: Your relationship as a recruiter has ended – but now you’re colleagues. Be sure to offer one-on-one time – a lunch or coffee is nice if possible.

3. Company Culture: Don’t assume that the candidate understands the company culture and implicit corporate rules. If everyone drinks together after work or wears orange on Thursday, be sure to let the new hire know.

4. Long Term: Make sure that your company has a detailed description of the career path and what employees can expect long term. Don’t make the job about only short term, immediate tasks. Ensure the new hire understands the path and potential of their new career with your company.

5. Continuity: During the recruitment and interview process, you most likely described the job to the candidate. Promises or expectations were likely made – make sure that there is clear continuity between pre-hire and post-hire. When the new hire starts working, they shouldn’t have any surprises.

6. Expectation: Ensure that the hiring manager is very clear in their performance expectations for the new hire and provides written documentation.

7. Efficiency: It’s easy for weeks to go by before a candidate starts “really” working and becoming a real contributor. Identify all the areas that an employee needs to have satisfied before becoming effective at their job. This might include hardware, software training, passwords, corporate access, and knowledge of systems—to name a few. Don’t make them hunt people down to get answers – having everything they need from day one will boost both morale and efficiency.

What is Onboarding?

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Whatever your plans are for onboarding, one of the things to make sure of is that your process is engaging. Many times, onboarding will consist of sitting and reading a manual, with little outside stimulation. Passive learning doesn’t encourage retention, and this should also be applied to your onboarding program. At the end of your program, new staff should feel excited, and ready to jump right in with the rest of the team. Onboarding is the first interaction that new hires will have as staff members, and you want them to feel inspired and excited for what is to come. Using the above best practices, and also taking into account top learning practices should have you well on your way to crafting the perfect program for you and your business.

1 “Onboarding.” Recruiter. Recruiter.com, n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2014.

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Emily Barnett

The simple answer: everyone, at any time they assume a new positon, whether they are a new hire to the organization/department or newly promoted within the existing organization. Just as training should be an ongoing process, onboarding should be a continual process.

Bringing in a new employee to your organization is an investment. Time is spent selecting the best candidate including reviewing applications, interviews, skills tests, and reference checks, all to ensure a great hire. But once the new employee is oriented to an organization and their role, they are expected to get their job done.

Whether the new employee is a seasoned professional, a recent college graduate, or mid-level manager, onboarding is needed to protect your investment. A great onboarding program assures that employees are immediately engaged and connects new employees to your company values, which leads to lower turnover and higher retention at a fraction of the cost of recruitment.

Enculturation that starts with the interview process must be followed through with a comprehensive onboarding process that welcomes new employees as well as helps them understand their place within the organization. A new employee who understands what it is you do as well as what value they bring to their role is a true asset to any organization.

Who Needs Onboarding?

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When Does the Onboarding Process End?

Amy Palo

The length of the onboarding process is usually determined by how onboarding is structured within the organization. According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resources Management, one third of organizations surveyed said that they began their onboarding process as soon as the candidate accepted the offer, but the duration of the onboarding process was only on average 8 days long.2 Time restraints of the organization can often be a factor in a shorter onboarding period.

Some of the factors that can influence the length of the onboarding process can depend on the position. Is the job management, front line, or entry level, an internal or external candidate, union or non-union? These are a few potentially influencing factors. More intricate positions may require more time for the onboarding process as opposed to an entry level position that will require more on-the-job training.

The probationary period can be integrated as part of the onboarding process, if the organization chooses to use tools such as mentors and meetings to check in with the employee at set intervals over the length of the probationary period. The length of time that is usually considered the probationary period is typically when the employee needs more support as they learn more about the company and expectations. When the employer is able to provide timely feedback about the new employee’s performance, answer questions and anticipate possible issues, the employee will feel more confident and be more successful by the end of the probationary period. This strategy is also essential to create loyalty on the part of the employee by making them feel valued and appreciated as a part of the organization.

The particular job and the performance of that person may dictate how long the onboarding process ends up being, or standards may be set by department or position.

2 SHRM. SHRM Survey Findings: Onboarding Practices. April 13, 2011.

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Alexandra Vlaming

Onboarding is typically the first time a new hire really experiences your company culture. Making sure you do this properly, and leave a positive, lasting impression is vital to keeping top talent. Today companies are doing things differently than they used to, and looking at a great example will hopefully get you started on the right path.

At Percolate3, they aim to make sure things are organized from the very start. Needless confusion and chaos can start your new hire on the wrong foot and do damage that is difficult to repair later. Percolate has their operations manager take all new hires to their work station, where their computer and other materials are already waiting and ready. This step is vital, so that you don’t waste any time by waiting around for IT to come and set things up. Having materials ready is reassuring, and allows new staff to really jump in, and feel like part of the team. Percolate then has new staff log in to their computer, and log into their email for the first time. Waiting for them is a neat to-do list with onboarding tasks from management, operations, and others throughout the company. Knowing that you have already thought about what the new hire needs to succeed, and that you have already outlined an easy to follow list shows that you care, and gives a sense of order to the chaos of a first day.

Percolate emphasizes documenting everything, and keeping it all organized. Other onboarding activities include having all new hires send out a company-wide introduction email, introducing themselves and their experience and personal history. Percolate also emphasizes training, and conducts numerous training sessions during the first two weeks. No more trial by fire, formalized learning takes the forefront. Percolate also stresses continuous improvement, and is always tweaking and improving upon its onboarding process.

Onboarding is a complex process, and you should do your new hires justice by putting time and thought into planning it out. Trial by fire is frequently stressful, and the added stress can harm your efforts to get new hires started at work. Formalized learning is an approach worthy of consideration, and can really show staff that learning is important from day one.

Aim for an onboarding process that is low stress, and results in the maximum learning possible. Onboarding is just the first interaction your new hire has as an employee, and your new hires should leave wanting more, and including a long, prosperous future with you and your company. Get them started right!

3 Shen, Jason. “Onboarding at Percolate - The Percolate Blog.” The Percolate Blog. Percolate, 08 Apr. 2014. Web. 07 Jan. 2015. <https://blog.percolate.com/2014/04/onboarding-at-percolate>.

Current Approaches to Onboarding:What is Popular Right Now?

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Leda Hayes

You’ve found the one. They’re bright, eager, and can’t wait to climb aboard. But while a victory dance may seem warranted at the culmination of a conquest waged diligently for the past several months, your match made in heaven is hardly secure. A candidate won’t become a teammate until they’ve survived onboarding.

Regardless of what your company calls it, or whether an official plan is in place, every new employee is onboarded into a company’s culture, terminology, and tasks. In crucial first days, or months, a new hire finds the language of his strange new land and begins either towards fluency or gets stuck on the wrong side of the wall. Conscious onboarding sets up a new hire for success by offering skilled guides, accessible manuals, and digestible objectives. These tools will ensure that the talent you’ve captured can find the lay of the land and begin translating potential into concrete contributions. An onboarding process that lacks this support leaves success up to chance as your new hire fights an uphill battle, and while it may seem like the loss would be his- sink or swim and all that- if you’ve truly found the one, you lose not only what your hire might have brought to the team but also the investment your team and company has already made.

Protecting your investment, and supporting your existing staff during an onboarding transition, begins by setting onboarding objectives and a plan. Of the skills you needed in a new hire, which are the most critical to immediate success? Of the tasks they will have to learn from another, where can mentoring your new hire fit into these existing employees’ days? Knowing what your employee needs to know can be deceptively complex. Your own work experience may significantly distort your perception of how difficult it is to reach a similar level of proficiency. Smart onboarding is flexible and can accommodate unforeseen delays by anticipating multiple paths to success. Your new hire may quickly integrate into one project, but still need support to work functionally inside of another. Effective onboarding is often at once standardized and highly individual.

The most careful onboarding won’t guarantee success nor can it transform a poor candidate into a suitable hire. Onboarding can however, get the most out of a new hire by building a stable foundation. A new hire that is on boarded thoughtfully spends his first days productively, feeling embraced and secure. Inside of this relationship a new hire transitions from making the initial commitment to the possibility of becoming an actual team member. With increasing job knowledge and support a new hire knows where they belong, knows where to look for answers, and has the trust required to make meaningful contributions. Onboarding that has been executed purposefully rescues a great hire from getting lost among company-specific terminology or left forgotten in a cubicle by planning a path around and through barriers. With an onboarding plan a new hire isn’t seen as just inefficiency, because he is understood to be a student. Lessons that are planned from the onset put an end to perpetual disconnected quick tutorials that both impair work flow and may remain insufficient even after multiple presentations.

We Don’t Really Need a Plan...

8 INVISTA PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS • QUARTERLY REPORT • MARCH 2015

We Don’t Really Need a Plan..., cont.

Conscious onboarding is not so much what you owe a new hire, but rather what you owe yourself at the end of your search and the beginning of your new partnership. Taking the time to identify a path and create a plan for a new hire sets your team up for success by acknowledging potential challenges and proactively assigning solutions. Additionally, the intimacy you gain with your company during the process, as you imagine yourself on the other side of the desk, will reveal strengths and truths that might have otherwise gone unseen. The boon of investing in an onboarding plan is not so much in the potential success of one individual, but rather in the increased understanding and efficiencies the plan creates when a team works to create a map of their world. When onboarding is properly developed and performed, an investment is made into an entire company, and talent can be fully realized.

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Career Readiness Program

The Need: In 2010, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was in a rapid growth phase as a result of corporate mergers and acquisitions. They needed to onboard more than 750 employees in a six month period to support demand for production at 5 plants across North America. GMCR partnered with Global Corporate College to develop a customized company-wide career readiness program that integrated GMCR values with the requisite skill training employees need to succeed.

The Solution: Global Corporate College convened their network of colleges to support the delivery of the Career Readiness Program at each GMCR location. Prior to starting a course, each employee took a Work Keys Assessment to determine their current level of proficiency with Reading for Information, Locating Information and Applied Math. Each employee also received career advising to help them plan for their future at GMCR.

Courses were taught by industry experts and college instructors who had specific experience and knowledge of Professional Development, Applied Academics, and Computer Skills. The format for course delivery was a four-week speed track program, a nine-week fast track program and a twelve week traditional delivery.

Employee response to the training program was very positive with 86% of all participants strongly agreeing that the program met their professional and educational needs. The instructors also received strong participant satisfaction scores, and one employee wrote, “I felt as if all our instructors had a personal investment in us and our success.” The Work Keys post assessment documented skills gains in 85% of all participants. One employee described the class as “lots of great information for me to apply at work and at home.”

The GMCR Career Readiness Program: The three modules in this program were Professional Skills, Computer Skills and Applied Mathematics.

CLIENT PROFILE: GREEN MOUNTAIN COFFEE ROASTERS

Professional Skills: • Listening

• Speaking

• Teamwork

• Professional Conduct

• Work Ethic

• Job Search Strategies

Computer Skills: • PC Concepts

• Email/Outlook

• Internet Navigation

• Word Processing

• Excel Concepts

Applied Academics: • Reading for Information

• Locating Information

• Applied Math

• Resources

• Terms and Acronyms

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