eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding

8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding

1/15

HELLO!STAYAWHILE.

PLEASE

CULTUR

ALONBOA

RDING

BINGO!

FUNFORTH

E

WHOLE

COMPANY!

INTRODUCTION

TOCORPORATE

PHILOSOPHIES

COMPANY/BUSIN

ESS

UNITOVERVIEWS

POLICIES&

PROCEDURES

INTRODUCTIONTO

COMPANY/BUSIN

ESS

UNITSTRATEGIES

BUSINESSUNIT

STRATEGYINTROD

UCTION

&DIRECTION

GLOBALSTRATEG

Y

INTRODUCTION&

DIRECTION

95%

65% FRE

E

SPACE

10%

85% 85%

30%

OTHER5%

BUDDY/MENTORING PROGRAMS ....%

NETWORKING DEVELOPMENTOPPORTUNITIES ... .

TRAININGO N TECHNICAL LANGUAGEORJARGON... .%

THE ... .

I TION TO COLLABORATIONTOOLS.. . .%

Mydadgot

onboarded

andallI

gotwas

thislousy

t-shirt.

MILE

SPONSORED BY

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE LANDSCAPE OF EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING

SURVEY RESULTS

WERE OFF!


2/15

ONBOARDIADRIVERLICENSE

CLASSCID:012345678

YOURNEWJOBENTERPRISEPARKWAYSPRINGFIELD,OB12345ISSUEDATE:08-16-12

EileenVanTyne

IntroductionTravel, for business or pleasure, provides someuncontested benefits.Its an opportunity to experiencenew cultures, cuisines, and people. Its a chance to see sights you

otherwise wouldnt and to become enriched by new experiences.

An almost unavoidable by-product of travel is a shift in perspective:

once youve seen things in a different light, you are highly likely to challenge your own

assumptions, and to reconsider your day-to-day existence and habits.

If we consider employee onboarding as just another form of travela journey taken

by new hiresits not hard to imagine how an onboarding itinerary could be similarly

enriching. It ultimately impacts the new hires understanding and feeling of belonging.

It engages new hires by creating networks of mentors and buddies, provides activities

to experience a firms culture, and allows an exploration of how we do things here that

affects ongoing behaviors and desires to contribute.

A good onboarding program can provide two-way benefitsnew hires can explore andexperience company culture in a guided way, and their mentors and peers can learn

more about the new hires strengths, growth areas, and how to best engage their skills.

If your firm is adding new employees, youll want to ensure that they are engaged and

understand expectations and goals. You want them feeling confident that they chose

the right employer by understanding your philosophy, values, and strategies. Of course

you would like them readily productive and meeting anticipated milestones as quickly

as possible. And now that youve found these new hires and acclimated them, you want

them to stick around.

Intrepid Learning polled over 400 professionals for insights into their organizationsonboarding process and practices. We have compiled a travel guide from the resulting

information that may be of help to you in understandingand setting the course ofyour

companys onboarding journey. The cars all packed, so grab your coat and jump in. Were off.

EILEEN VAN TYNE is a senior learning consultant

and manager at Intrepid Learning. She has spent

more than 11 years working to help clients

including Autodesk, Microsoft, Adobe, Walmart,

SSgA, and Southern California Edison achieve

business goals through learning solutions. Her

experience includes analyzing, designing, and

developing solutions for partner sales, leadershipdevelopment, customer service, and sales tools

and processes. These solutions have included

curriculum mapping, virtual classroom training,

eLearning, performance support, informal

learning, and instructor-led training.

Prior to Intrepid Learning, Eileen worked as a

senior consultant for The Mosaic Company, where

she was responsible for designing and developing

training solutions for a variety of clients and

leading and mentoring teams to execute those

solutions. Eileen holds a bachelors degree in

English from the University of Washington.

2012 Intrepid Learning Solutions


3/15

BUDDY/MENTORINGPROGRAMS....%

NETWORKINGDEVELOPMENTOPPORTUNITIES ....

TRAININGONTECHNICALLANGUAGEORJARGON....%

I TIONTOCOLLABORATIONTOOLS ....%

Wahoo!

MILE

What kind of traveler are you? Do you

begin by gathering pictures, links, and

recommendations? Do you scour books and

websites to plan the trip down to the last

meal? Or do you decide on a destination and

just get in the car to see what adventure

awaits? You may choose your travel style

depending on the purpose of the trip or

whos going along for the ride.

Last-minute spontaneity isnt necessarily

the best approach when you are trying to

calm the nerves of a nervous new hireor

bring them to competency as quickly as

possible. According to our findings, more than

half of our respondents are beginning the

onboarding process prior to Day 1. Pre-Day

1 activities can include completing forms,

accessing systems, and connecting with

peers and supervisors.

Q1:Whendoeyour

companybegintheonboardingproces

?

BEFORE DAY ..................................52.1%ON DAY OR LATER ........................47.9%


4/15

MONTHS ... .%

+ MONTHS ... .%

DAY ... .%

WEEK ... .%

WEEKS ... .%

MONTH ... .% MONTHS ... .%

MONTHS ... .%

Your method of travel is often determined by the length of your anticipated journey. Its easy to rough it on a short trip,

but longer voyagesthe ones that take you out of your element and change your perspectiverequire considerable

investment and coordination. A lot of people split the difference and go for the Goldilocks journey: not too short, not

too long, but just right.

We found this theory held true for onboarding as well. Some of the firms that responded to our survey prepare their new

hires for a long-haul onboarding processanywhere up to a yearwhile some keep it to a week or less. The majority of

firms that responded to this question have an onboarding program that lasts between one and three months.

Q2: How long doe yourcompany onboardingproces officiay lat?


5/15

PERCENTAGE OF ONBOARDINGCONTENT DEFERRED

Are we there yet?

lesthan

20

20to

40

40to

60

60to

80

morethan

80

51.0%

26.8%

13.7%

7.2%

1.3%

Q3: What percentage ofonboarding content i deferreduntil new employee havereached certain miletone in

their onboarding proces?Why defer content during the onboarding

process? Organizations may want to

segment content to give new hires the

opportunity to attain and demonstrate

a certain set of skills before they are

expected to master more complex

knowledge. Or they may simply want to

avoid asking their new hires to drink

through the firehose and absorb toomuch too soon.

Almost all of the firms we surveyed

deferred at least some content in their

onboarding process until employees

reached certain milestones. It is worth

noting that all firms that reported

deferring onboarding content had

programs that last longer than a month.

We saw a strong correlation between the

length of an onboarding program and theamount of content that is deferred based

on milestones.


6/15

Who br ought snacks?

Q4: Which part of your organizationown (e.g., deign/develop,manage) the onboarding proces?Think back to family vacations from your

childhood. Who was in charge of the trip?For many of us, Mom may have planned

the route and the siblings dictated the

unexpected stops, but Dad was behind

the wheel. As with any journey, there

may be many influencers in determining

the path that onboarding will take, but it

ultimately comes down to one owner to

move the process forward.

When theres one owner of the onboarding

process, the chain of command is clearerand responses to changes and trends

coming from the parent organization

are faster. Our findings show that

Human Resources owns the onboarding

process most often, followed closely

by Training/Learning & Development

organizations. Interestingly, the smallest

percentage of ownership was held by an

onboarding specialist.

HUMAN RESOURCES ...................42.7%TRAINING/LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT ..........................................%

OTHER ...................................................................... ..................... .%INDIVIDUAL BUSINESS UNITS .........................................................%

RECRUITING DEPARTMENTS ............................................................. .%

ONBOARDING SPECIALIST .................................................................%


7/15

ONBOARDING SPECIALIST...............................%

HUMANRESOURCES

TRAINING/LEARNING& DEVELOPMENT................%

.............. .%

OTHER .........%

INDIVIDUAL BUSINESS UNITS.................................. .%

RECRUITINGDEPTS.

....%

Q5:Whichpartofyourorganizationdeliverthelargetpercentageof

theonboardingproces(regardlesofownerhip)?

When you travel, you often hand yourself over

to the whims of fate. Voyages tend to be full of

surprises and unexpected detours, and what

you see is not always what you get. So its

worth celebrating when a situation is actually asuncomplicated and straightforward as it seems.

Onboarding content can be delivered through

multiple means: instructor-led training,

eLearning or virtual sessions, through mentors,

or a buddy program. But when we investigated

which parts of organizations were delivering

the largest pieces of the onboarding process

regardless of ownershipwe uncovered a

reassuring fact. For most respondent firms,

the most common owner of the onboardingdevelopment process, HR, also delivers the

largest percentage of the process, followed by

Training/Learning & Development (30%). Its

comforting to know that some aspects of a

journey can go exactly as planned.


8/15

Bingo!

CULTURALONBOARDINGBINGO!

FUN FORTHE

WHOLECOMPANY!

INTRODUCTIONTOCORPORATEPHILOSOPHIES

COMPANY/BUSINESSUNITOVERVIEWS

POLICIES&PROCEDURES

INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPANY/BUSINESSUNITSTRATEGIES

BUSINESSUNITSTRATEGYINTRODUCTION

&DIRECTION

GLOBALSTRATEGY

INTRODUCTION&DIRECTION

95%

65%

FREESPACE

10%

85% 85%

30%

OTHER

5%

Q6: What activitie are included in youronboarding proces to help new hirelearn your corporate culture?Part of the joy of travel is experiencing

local culture by participating in unusualactivities. From bull running to bingo,

there is always a new experience just

waiting to be had (preferably one that

will leave you with a story to tell). But the

most meaningful activities arent always

the ones listed in the guidebook. It often

takes a local to give you insight into the

activities that will be the most enriching

and memorable for you.

An onboarding program can serve as atour guide, pointing out the elements of

culture that are special to an organization

and that should be adopted by a new hire.

Almost every onboarding program we

heard about includes an introduction to

corporate philosophies, and most include

both company/business overviews and

exposure to policies and procedures.

Surprisingly few firms, however, reported

including an introduction to global

strategy and direction.


9/15

This place feelsso famili ar.

BUDDY/MENTORING PROGRAMS ... .%

NETWORKING DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES ... .%

TRAINING ON TECHNICAL LANGUAGE OR JARGON ... .%

OTHER ... .%

INTRODUCTION TO COLLABORATION TOOLS ... .%

Q7: What activitie in youronboarding proces are deignedto help ocialize new hire intothe workplace?As new hires acclimate to their new firm,

socialization gives them touch points

that serve as landmarks on a map of the

onboarding journey. Incorporating social

elements into an onboarding program

like buddy programs and collaboration

toolscan assist the new hire in creating

connections with peers, mentors, and

others. Creating a sense of belonging

and positive association within the new

environment can improve your new hireslevel of engagement.

Our research found that socialization is

most often incorporated through buddy

or mentoring programs, and provides a

safe space in which to ask the myriad

questions that arise during the first days

and weeks at a new job. More than half

of our respondents organizations also

provide training on technical language or

jargon as a way to remove communicationobstacles for the new hire.


10/15

Bathroom break, please.

NO

SOME

.%YES

.%

.%

NO

SOME

.%YES

.%

.%

SOCIALIZATION

CULTURALIZATION

Q8: Doe your firm gather quantitativemeaurement on it culturalization orocialization activitie?Its easy to succumb to the highway

hypnosis of the onboarding process, bothfor new hires and for those designing and

driving the program. Traveling in a haze

doesnt allow organizations to accurately

measure the effectiveness of their

onboarding program.

According to our respondent firms,

more than 43% have some quantitative

measures for their culturalization

activities, and more than 33% of

responding firms had some quantitativemeasures for their socialization activities.

By defining metrics and gathering

hard numbers around socialization and

culturalization, firms are able to present

valid data to their business stakeholders.

This also allows them to make better

decisions about how to train and retain

their employees, as opposed to simply

monitoring when and how much of the

onboarding process has been completed.


11/15

HELLO!STAYAWHILE.PLEASE

Are we there yet?

MORE THAN % ..................................................................... ..... .%

% % ........................................................................ .......... .%

% % ........................................................................ ........ .%

% % ........................................................................ ........ .%

LESS THAN % ..........................56.7%

Q9: What percentage of onboardingactivitie doe your company offerthrough informal or ocial learning?Informal and social learning can be

thought of as types of onboardingpostcardsquick missives that help

communicate information about what

new hires are learning. An organization

that uses social learning technology

can encourage new employees to post

questions and feedback as they progress

in their onboarding journey. The new

hires can be tasked with responding to

questions about what they are absorbing

and retaining as a social learning

opportunity. They can even be challenged

to create informal learning content of

their own, both as a means of learning

measurement and as an opportunity to

share their insights.

Despite the benefits and opportunities

provided by informal or social learning

activities, our results tell us that they have

not yet been widely adopted as part of

the onboarding process. Most firms rely

on informal or social learning for less than

20% of onboarding activities, including

those firms that dont use them at all.


12/15

NO

%YES

%

Q10: Do you have a tandard procesfor preenting onboarding reult andtatue to buines takeholder?During a road trip you should periodically

stop to fuel up, check the oil, and gaugethe tire pressure. You may also need

to ask for local recommendations (or

directions, depending on how lost you

are). Similarly, those in charge of their

organizations onboarding program

need to periodically check in with

their stakeholders, to share progress

and address current challenges. If

stakeholders own the onboarding content,

this provides a chance to adjust content

or methods to ensure that the program

addresses current needs and flexes as

those needs change.

A standard process helps to benchmark

progress with onboarding, and allows

decision-makers to make fully informed

choices. Surprisingly, of the 367 firms

that responded to this question, only

27% currently have a standard process

for presenting onboarding results to

business stakeholders.


13/15

IM WITH THE

NEW GUY

Can we stop at thenext stand too?

Souvenirs are a way to bring back a piece of your travels: tangible evidence of your journey and the adventures you had.

Consider that an onboarding program has the potential to directly affect business results: employee engagement,

time-to-competency, and retention. Presenting resultssouvenirs from the new hire journeycan provide insight into

onboarding success as a whole or reveal progress at a more detailed, individual level.

Of the firms that reported presenting onboarding results to business stakeholders, more than half only present their

results once, either during or at the end of the onboarding period. Still, a significant percentage of respondents report

results multiple times during the onboarding period, allowing stakeholders to view a more accurate picture of the entire

onboarding process. Not surprisingly, we observed a correlation between the length of the onboarding program and the

frequency with which onboarding results are communicated to stakeholders. In other words, the longer an onboarding

program lasts, the more likely a firm is to present findings to stakeholders multiple times.

Q11: How frequently areyou required to preentonboarding reult to

buines takeholder?

ONCE

DURING THE ONBOARDING PERIOD

.%

ONCE

AT THE END OF ONBOARDING

.%

MULTIPLE

TIMES

DURING THE ONBOARDING PERIOD

.%


14/15

ONBRDG

References:

Aberdeen Group. Laurano, Madeline

(2012). Looking Ahead: Extendingthe New Hire Experience to AchieveBusiness Results.

ConcluionWhen I prepare to travel with friends, I always ask, What are your goals for this trip? The point of the

query is simple: to avoid any regrets about how we spend our time and money, we clearly define our

main goals and see what other wishes and priorities materialize.

The same process can be applied to creating an onboarding program. When carefully designed and

executed, an onboarding program has the potential to cultivate engaged employees prior to Day 1

and to significantly improve time-to-competency.

So what does this mean?

According to the Aberdeen Groups 2012 research on onboarding:

Organizations looking to gain a competitive advantage face two critical and somewhat contradictory

challenges in onboarding. First, they need to make leaner and smarter decisions around talent in order

to drive organizational growth. Secondly, organizations need to engage new hires in order to retain

talent and strengthen branding initiatives. For many organizations these pressures require a new look at

their traditional approach to onboarding. (Laurano 1-2)

Short and sweet, this means that onboardings importance is clear, but its ideal execution is more

nebulous. Here are a few ways you can begin to think about onboarding for your organization:

Consider the long-term.Instead of creating a stand-alone onboarding program, how might it

be integrated into a larger learning and professional development initiative? Conversely, how

can onboarding program elements like networking and mentoring be extended throughout

the employee lifecycle?

Measure and report results.Determine where onboarding success can influence other

business goals. By applying metrics to success, periodic checkpoints can highlight areas of

success and where fine-tuning may be needed.

Leverage whats working well.Look to groups in your organization whose new hires meet

their onboarding milestones consistently, or in which new hire retention and engagement

levels are high. Repurpose best practices that are already proven within your culture and

make them your own.

Defining what effective onboarding looks like for your organization wont be an overnight

effort, but it can be very rewarding. Enjoy your journeydont be afraid to try new things

and to learn along the way. Happy onboarding, everyone!

SPONSORED BY

2012 Intrepid Learning Solutions


15/15

WORLDS BESTNEW HIREWORLDS BESTNEW HIRE

OF COUNTRIES RESPONDING .......................................

OF STATES RESPONDING ............................................ OF RESPONSES FROM THE US ....................................

OF RESPONSES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES ....................

OF RESPONSES WITH UNDEFINED LOCATIONS ........... OF FIRMS THAT COMPLETED STARTTOFINISH .........

TOTAL NUMBER

OF RESPONSES

446 RESPONSE DATES START ..... AUGUST , RESPONSE DATES END .......AUGUST ,

Demographic

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eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding