Trevor E S Smith | How Poor Onboarding And Orientation Frustrate New Employees

“It appears as if I was not expected. There is talk of culture but several weeks in nothing about Corporate culture has been communicated to me. I must just play it by ear until the next orientation scheduled for the end of the quarter”.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

How would you feel if you turned up all excited about your new job, only to receive lukewarm treatment? You may feel as if you are an intruder or a bother.

You are full of energy as you join but thelong wait to get clarity as to what you are about drains away some of your enthusiasm.

This influences how you view the organization and gives you cause to wonder if you made a bad decision.

If this continues for sometime it maynegatively impact your motivation, compounding the already low levels of employee engagement.

LOST TALENT

I was advised of a situation in which a prized talent walked away from an offer of employment because of an unprofessional Onboarding and Orientation process.

The individual felt it was better to cut her losses than to get tied up with a sloppy, unprofessional organization.

It is amazing how even successful entities fail to understand the importance of making a good impression on new employees. Why is the care invested in making the first touch-point for customers smooth, pleasing and effective not carried over to welcoming the people who will influence the customer experience?

COUNTERING TALENT ACQUISITION

Poor Onboarding also frustrates the effort that is put into Talent Acquisition. All the effort to recruit and hire the best talent is often undone by the absence of proper Onboarding and Orientation processes.

THE PRACTICE

Many organizations have an archaic process under which Onboarding and Orientation is scheduled for fixed periods during the year. The process is wrapped around live, seminar room training with PowerPoint presentations.

If you join the day after the completion of the training you have to wait until the next session.

THE VALUE OF ONBOARDING

Many organizations fail to understand that an effective Onboarding and Orientation process is more to the benefit of the organization than the employee.

This is where organizations get to tell their 'story' before lunch room and shop floor talk paint a different picture.

These first days on the job is where discourse about culture, values, vision and performance expectations should take place.

Communicating these critical messages after the individual has settled in might not provide the same fertile ground as when they turned up with an open mind.

The standard rationale for delayed Onboarding and Orientation is the issue of logistics and cost.

The multi-session seminar room training is taxing and disruptive. It ties up meeting rooms and HR resources and adds costs for refreshments etc.

Research should be done to identify the cost to the organization of delayed Onboarding and Orientation.

ANSWERS

The answer is not to schedule more seminar room sessions. This is 2019 after all.

One option is to infuse technology with a solution like our SPIKE Onboarding and Orientation module.

The process starts with structured pre-induction activities via a cloud-based customized, secure portal.The new employee has the luxury of gaining access to useful information on the organization. Pre-entry assessments and exchanges are also facilitated.

In addition, there may have been issues that arose during the interviewing that could be dealt with in this phase.

The system also accommodates a fully structured Onboarding and Orientation program with schedules and linked prompts and notifications. No surprises!

The inclusion of interactive training content with built-in assessments ensures that the information that you want to get across is actually received. There is also the CEO's welcoming video.

ACTION

Contact me to learn more about the Onboarding and Orientation module of ourSPIKE - Strategic Performance Improvement & Knowledge Enabler - and to set up a no-cost demonstration.

Step up to a timely,structured induction process and watch the positive change in employee engagement and in the culture change that you are working to foster.

- Trevor E S Smith/Success with People Academy solutions align, drive and track performance.Our Governance & Compliance e-platform supports Compliance,tracks Performance and guides Learning & Development. We certify Leadership Professionals and Coach/Mentors and develop Engaged, High Performing Teams. Avoid bad hires with FinxSscreening solutions. Ask about howto create your own turn-key coaching business. E-mail: info@successwithpeople.org