Six years ago (heaven help me), I wrote in this space about the on-boarding process. At corporations, new hires frequently show up for work and can’t do anything. They don’t have a telephone, a computer, a pencil, or a pad of paper — it’s as though no one expected them to show up at the office.
I bemoaned that situation.
If you hire good people, you can’t immediately make them think that no one cares if they do any work. That projects the wrong image, and it causes employees to become lazy.
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Something weird happened after I wrote that column.
It turned out that I was right.
Folks are now studying the on-boarding process, and it turns out that it matters.
Dramatically more people stay with a company if they have a good on-boarding process. (I’ve seen all kinds ofnumbers for this on the web, but many sources seem to agree that new employees are 50 to 60 percent more likely to stay with a company for several years if the employees are treated right early on.)
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What can you do to improve the on-boarding process?
There are the basics, of course: Have someone greet the new employee. Have someone escort the new employee around the floor, to show where the paper clips are and introduce the new employee to co-workers. Take the new employee to lunch on the first day. Announce that a new person has been hired, so existing employees expect to see a new face on the floor and know to introduce themselves.
There are the slightly more sophisticated things: Create a first day agenda that tells new people what they’re doing, summarizes what they need to know, and (if you’re couth) includes a first day gift. Host some events at which new people get to know each other. (Law firms with large entering classes tend to do these things for people entering as a group. But law firms don’t do nearly as well with lateral associates or partners, who arrive at a firm singly or in very small groups. It’s the same for corporations: When a new class of employees arrive, corporations tend not to perform too badly. But when single employees arrive, the on-boarding experience falls way off.) Explain to the new hire who reports to whom within the organization, so the new person begins to understand the ropes.
Help the new person understand the company’s jargon. Prepare a short note that explains whether, at your joint, “DC” refers to the District of Columbia, a defined contribution plan, or the disclosure committee. Is “PC” more likely to refer to a personal computer, property and casualty insurance, or information that’s personal and confidential? (Is it politically correct to ask that question?) All those endless acronyms are initially awfully hard to follow; take pity.
(After the new employee has been around for five years, the employee will still encounter consultants who say they plan to “converge the optimization levers.” That’s not a problem with the employee; fire the consultant.)
If you’re thinking a little harder, consider more advanced stuff: Have a “one-stop shopping” online portal that gives employees links to everything they’re likely to need. Create a small committee of people responsible for making sure the on-boarding experience remains consistently top-notch. (If no one’s responsible for watching the process, the process will deteriorate.) If you can afford it, survey both managers and new employees about the on-boarding experience. Identify the glitches, and make sure the person who’s joining the company reacts the same way as the manager.
Work hard to make new employees feel a part of your organization. At law firms, new lawyers who understand the joint can better cross-sell and increase profitability. New non-lawyers can help the place run more effectively. The same holds true for corporations.
Think about day one; it sets the stage for days two through forever.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now responsible for litigation and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].