Onboarding: The Day that Matters Most for Retention ... · starting with Day 1 orientation with defined roles for managers and more • Develop enhanced Day 1 orientation experience

Onboarding: The Day that Matters Most for Retention & Engagement

Kip Soteres, Soteres Consulting

• Recent clients include the BlueCross BlueShield Association, Comcast, ADP, Hearth Transitional Housing, & PNC Financial Services

• Gold Quill and Silver Anvil awards for communication excellence related to change

• Published and cited by Ragan Communications and the IABC’s Journal of Employee Communications Management

• Led dozens of workforce integration communication efforts across multiple industries – M&A, restructurings, orientations, onboarding, and more

Kip SoteresChange Communications Expert

Founder & PresidentSoteres Consulting

Since 2015

VP, Director & Manager Roles

Highmark Health PNC Bank

BlueCross BlueShield of TNCadence Design Systems

2001 to 2015

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Approximately 3-9 months

Sourcing

Recruiting

Interviewing

Selection/Offer/Acceptance

Start date / Orientation

Traditional Recruitment Model

New Recruiting


Onboarding

Mentor/peer support

Ongoing & Evaluations

3-12 months

New Recruitment Model

Approximately 3-9 months

Sourcing

Recruiting

Interviewing


Start date / Orientation

Story capture, ambassador creation

What new recruiting elements are being integrated into new recruiting models?

a. Creation of new hire ambassadors to support recruiting

b. Ongoing onboarding communications through the year

c. Community creation to establish mentor/peer support

d. All of the above

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Question #1

20 percent of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days of employment.

Source: Bamboo HR and SHRM, April 16, 2015https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/onboarding-key-retaining-engaging-talent.aspx

Companies approach onboarding as something that stops “when all

paperwork is signed and the employee’s first day is complete. We

in HR think we’re done, but the reality is we’re just getting started.”

-- Ben Peterson, CEO of BambooHR

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/onboarding-key-retaining-engaging-talent.aspx

The Revolving Door Crisis


86 percent of HR and recruiting

leaders feel that a new hire’s decision

to stay with a company long-term is

made within the first six months of

employment.


The Revolving Door Crisis

The average company is losing one in six of their new hires each

month for the first three months.


Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

100 hires, lost 17

83 hires, lost 14

69 hires, lost 11


Hire 100

Three months later you have 58



If you hire 100 employees in March, how many of those employees will you typically still have with you at the beginning of July?

a. 86

b. 20

c. 58

d. 42

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Question #2

Make New Hires “Sticky”

Among companies with onboarding programs:

• 66 percent report a higher rate of

successful assimilation of new hires

into company culture

• 62 percent report higher time-to-

productivity ratios

• 54 percent report higher employee

engagement



Of companies who establish formal onboarding programs…

a. 62% report higher time-to-productivity ratios

b. None report better retention after three years

c. One in six report losing 20% of their employees

d. Usually conclude onboarding after the first week or two

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Question #3

First Area of Focus: OrientationDay 1 Orientation

• Has multiple stakeholders: HR, IT, Employee Relations, Legal, Payroll, Safety, Security,

Voluntary Benefit Reps, etc.

• Is usually developed in silos aligned to the stakeholder groups with no visibility on overall

impact

• Must balance legal and regulatory requirements with Day 1 experience

• Needs defined logistics, processes and roles for managers, executives

• Must account for employees with different needs: full-time? on-site? unionized? Shift?

Etc.

• Introduces metrics for time-to-productivity and new hire feedback for improvement

One factor that makes it tough to upgrade onboarding programs is…

a. The multiple stakeholders who are often involved in the process

b. The tendency of small groups to solve onboarding challenges themselves and not want to change

c. Different audiences with different policies and benefit offerings

d. All of the above

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Question #4

Second Area of Focus: OnboardingContinuous Onboarding

• Often does not exist in any formal capacity within a company

• Sometimes exists in unstandardized, defined small pockets within specific teams or

functions – allows for best-practice capture

• May redefine manager roles and create peer opportunities for development

• May shine a light on slow time-to-productivity

• Creates communities that extend across multiple functions

• Establishes feedback loops for better recruiting and hiring efforts going forward

• Reflects itself in improved retention and engagement scores

• Must account for employees with different needs: Executives, Managers, Professionals,

Etc.

Which statement is false about upgraded Day-1 orientations? An upgraded orientation program creates…

a. Faster productivity

b. Fewer engaged business functions

c. New employee channels and portals

d. A stronger sense of belonging

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Question #5

Tips for Implementation

• Start by listening and observing. Often groups within your organization have

created some stop-gap solutions. Look for best practices and positive deviance

first. Use what’s working as a starting point in order to shrink the change.

• Identify key stakeholders for change by function, hierarchy, involvement and

influence. There tend to be a lot of hidden stakeholders in the orientation and

onboarding process: Legal/Compliance HR, Security, IT, Facilities, Payroll, and

more.

• Pilot the changes, get success to build momentum and then continue to

improve the offering.

A Good Orientation Upgrade Often Creates:• A better and faster intake process between acceptance of the position and Day 1

Orientation

• Faster time-to-productivity starting day 1 at work

• A streamlined and more inspirational orientation event (staggered training and education

to spread it out over the first month of hire)

• Better alignment between orientation stakeholders

• Better defined roles for managers and senior leaders per their responsibilities for

onboarding new employees

• New portals, sites, or other channels to cater to the specific needs of new hires

• Ambassador creation and story capture to build better profiles of successful employees

for use in future recruiting and marketing efforts

• A sense of belonging to an “incoming class” of new hires – more formalized mentor and

peer support

Next Steps: Orientation & OnboardingDay 1 Orientation

• Identify and interview key stakeholders in the orientation process to identify current and

best practices already within the organization

• Coordinate with stakeholders to streamline processing of materials between acceptance

and Day 1 Orientation -- Establish clear protocols for the processing of employees

starting with Day 1 orientation with defined roles for managers and more

• Develop enhanced Day 1 orientation experience tailored to the specifics of the

organization (workforce demographics, volumes, available channels, etc.)

• Customize “new hire” campaigns – create New Hire page & automate milestone

customized friendly notices for employees and managers through end year 1

• Create template celebration events to cement hired employees as part of an “incoming

class”

• Establish surveys to identify and profile high performing new hires for feedback loops

• A new hire intranet site or similar as a centralized resource to support onboarding

Next Steps: Orientation & OnboardingContinuous Onboarding

• Identify and interview key stakeholders in the onboarding process to identify current and

best practices – focus groups with highest volume hiring managers

• Coordinate with IT, Payroll/Finance, HR, and Facility/Security to identify and then hasten

time to productivity for employees

• Automate milestone generation for new hires and managers with customized friendly

notices through end of year 1

• Template celebrations to cement hired employees as part of an “incoming class”

• Survey and profile work to identify high performing new hires; feedback loop to recruiting

to help identify similar candidates for similar positions

• Customized “new hire” campaigns to supplement organization’s annual calendar of

events – new hire intranet site or similar as a centralized resource to support onboarding

Thank you for your time!

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Thank you for your time!

Documents

Onboarding: The Day that Matters Most for Retention ... · starting with Day 1 orientation with defined roles for managers and more • Develop enhanced Day 1 orientation experience