Viewpoint — May 2008
Onboarding – A Strategic Path to Improved Productivity and Retention
Written by Bob Gershberg, Managing Partner Dick Wray Executive Search
Onboarding is a process that includes orientation but is so much more. A strategic course of action which is best initiated during recruitment and ought to provide value for at least a full year. Onboarding focuses on the experience rather than the task. As in life, we only have one chance to make a good first impression. The financial resources and management time commitment invested to recruit a new executive are best protected with a great deal of attention to the early months of tenure.
According to the Aberdeen Group, ninety percent of employees make their decision to stay at the company within the first six months. It is incumbent upon us to help create the connection and make the new hire feel a part of the company’s mission and culture. Contact with leaders, peers, reports and constituencies ought to be both constant and individualized. Manage expectations from the onset. When a new hire’s goals are aligned with corporate objectives a win-win is quite likely.
Another survey by the Novations Group finds 33% of surveyed companies lost 25% of their new employees in 12 months, and 11% of those surveyed lost 50% of their new employees in the first 12 months. The number one reason, say 48% of respondents is due to unrealistic expectations of the job
The goal is to help new hires succeed via the three levels of onboarding: accommodation, assimilation and acceleration. Accommodation, involves the tools that enable executives to do work i.e. phone, computer, desk. Assimilation involves things that enable executives to work with others i.e. identifying their key stakeholders, facilitating interaction between the new executive and those stakeholders, and conducting 360-degree assessments to identify issues before they become problems. Acceleration involves things that enable executives and their teams to deliver better results faster.
Onboarding is far more than another corporate buzz term. Make it informative, positive and consistent and you will retain the A-players.
All the best,
Bob Gershberg |Managing Partner|
bob.gershberg@dickwray.com
(888) 875-9993 ext 102
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