Effective Employee Onboarding

If your organization struggles with employee turnover, know you are not alone:

• 10-25% of new hires leave their jobs within the first 6 months
  https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/new-hires-retention-turnover.aspx
• 60% of new hires don’t believe their job lives up to the expectations
  https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/newhiresfeelmisled.aspx
• 4% of new hires never return after the first day on the job
  https://resources.globoforce.com/globoforce-blog/five-ways-to-keep-your-new-hires-from-failing

So, what can be done about it?

What is YOUR Competitive Advantage to Recruit and RETAIN Talent?

Let me say this first…If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.

Let’s be perfectly clear, with the challenges of low unemployment and generational changes within the available pool of labor…doing what you’ve always done is likely not getting results that are world class. In fact, it’s probably not even getting acceptable results.

Peruse through help wanted ads, and what do you see as the lead-in from manufacturers attempting to reach the available worker and recruit them? “We offer great pay and great benefits, and we are hiring!”

I must take a position here that may feel uncomfortable for you if you are one of these organizations: statements and lead-ins like these are common. Common is average, and average is not a competitive advantage. Additionally, you’re failing to connect with the younger labor pool.

I will say this, there is no shame if you are an organization currently taking this approach. However, I’ll reiterate: If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.

Onboarding is a Process

In a manufacturing process, we develop a specific product (output) that we then build a process around to eliminate/reduce variability along the journey (inputs) from raw material transformation to finished goods. We would never simply throw a machine on the floor, plug it in and “hope for the best!” This would lead to massive waste, scrap, frustration and customer complaints.

The challenge question then is this: Why don’t we take a process approach to our new hire onboarding? Our product should be lined up against some core design, and our inputs should then be aligned to deliver this product on time, with quality intact, to our customer (which is the department & supervisors/managers that this new employee shall report to and be expected to have positive impact & magnitude).

Taking Action

To learn more about this topic or find how to schedule training for our Effective Employee Onboarding course, contact Purdue MEP or click here!

Writer: Jeremiah Sinks, 317-275-6810, jsinks@purdue.edu