Some ideas on "On-boarding"

On-boarding is usually considered a "3rd Stage" of bringing new talent into an organization.  It usually follows Orientation, and Training.

Why On boarding?  Here's some study findings you may find of interest...

• Nearly an average of $16,000 per employee brought in, according to CIPD
• Attrition of teachers in public schools in the US reaches $4.9 billion every year per the Alliance for Excellent Education
• Costs $13,355 per full-time private-sector worker to train workers (in 2004) says the Employment policy foundation
• The cost of failure = nearly 24 X base salary, per Michael Watkins
• 30 percent of annual salary for hourly paid employees, study done by Cornell University
• 1.5 times annual salary to replace a worker according to the Saratoga Institute and Hewitt Associates
• Only 39% of managers are satisfied with integration efforts, according to RHR Consulting
• Only 56% of employees feel their managers have a good knowledge of what they do and provide for the use of their unique talents, based upon studies done by Blessing White
• An average of 50% of newly hired executives quit or are fired within their first three years, from results studied by Harvard Business School
• 89% of new hires don’t have knowledge needed to “hit the ground running”, according to AIRS
• 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, while only 19% will achieve unequivocal success, says Leadership IQ

Blessing White offers some suggestions on the "right way" to approach an on-boarding program:

Level 1 - the basics

• “Welcome Wagon”
• Satisfies legal/HR Needs
• Benefits enrollment/paperwork
• Overview of the organizational chart
• Company video
• Product/Services overview
• Computer training

Level 2 - the affirmation

• A fun experience
• Exposure to executives
• Party favors
• The tour was great
• Good first impressions
• Introduction to others/network building

Level 3 - the fit

• Mission/vision/values overview
• Learning Maps – understanding your business
• Model the culture you aspire to
• Customer testimonials
• Clarify work conditions/unspoken rules of the road
• Job specific & function specific info

Level 4 - The job

• Put managers & employees at the center
• Goal & strategy alignment
• Build the foundation for essential relationship
• Seek ways to shorten the learning curve
• Expand your reach – redeployment and beyond

Is it worthwhile to spend the time and effort to setup and run a on-boarding program?

Consider this advice, from Derek Moscato, of HR Magazine, April 2005
“Companies that can reduce the on-boarding time will find themselves at a competitive advantage because employees will reach full productivity sooner, will have higher morale and will be more likely to stay on the job.”