SMBs plagued by high turnover should investigate whether an onboarding program might keep valued employees from jumping ship.
Eighty percent of employees decide whether to stay with or leave a job within the first six months, says Deepjot "DJ" Chhabra, president of Enwisen, a Novato, Calif.-based firm providing employee onboarding technology. And the first six weeks of an employee's tenure strongly influences that decision.
"Those first weeks are when employees feel most vulnerable," Chhabra maintains. "Ineffective onboarding only raises the risk that you'll lose them."
A.G. Lambert, vice president of product marketing at Saba, a talent management firm based in Redwood Shores, Calif. agrees.
"You don't want to fumble the onboarding process," he warns. "When you think of the lifecycle of an employee, the first step is getting them engaged. It's much more important than getting them enrolled in the 401(k) plan."
Lambert says HR/benefit managers must change their thinking about onboarding away from paperwork and benefits enrollment to an approach he calls a "new hire curriculum." He and Chhabra offer advice on how benefit managers can avoid onboarding missteps.
Three major areas of focus
Chhabra highlights the three areas that combine to create a well-planned onboarding program:
- Productivity
- Socialization
- Total rewards
Productivity, he explains, addresses "having all services available [for new hires] — a place to sit, an e-mail account, access to all the systems they need."
Also part of being productive, Lambert says, is making sure employees have a clearly defined job role and understand the expectations for their work. This can be particularly important with seasonal employees.
"In terms of retention, setting expectations on day one will help make new hires successful," he says. "When someone first comes on board, it's hard for them to reach the bar if they don't know where the bar is set. Although clear job roles and expectations are a real challenge for employers, HR/benefit managers can engage managers to make clear connections for all employees, not just new ones."
Socialization involves introducing and acclimating employees to the products and services the company provides its customers, but also the services available to them as employees — things as simple as casual Fridays and complimentary coffee service that Chhabra says "usually are only communicated by other employees as new hires go along." Introducing new hires to a mentor in their early days can assist in this aspect of onboarding, Lambert adds.
Total rewards is the area that HR/benefit managers are most familiar with, but generally don't communicate as well as they could to new hires, Chhabra observes. "This is where employers not only need to communicate benefits – health plans options, 401(k) plan, EAP, discount program – but also make sure employees understand their full value," he says. "New hires need to leave that session feeling like, 'There's more to being part of this company than my base salary and bonuses.' It drives better retention, and leads employees to sign up for benefit programs they may not have otherwise."
'Day zero' approach
Chhabra encourages employers to shift new-hire onboarding from day one to "day zero," which is how he describes the weeks after an employee accepts a job offer but before he joins the organization.
"During those weeks, employees can fill out paperwork, designate beneficiaries and emergency contacts as appropriate and begin evaluating their benefits options." And music to benefit managers' ears, he adds, "employers can automate that process."
Through Enwisen, for example, "as soon as an employee accepts an offer, we can e-mail them a link to a personalized site for the employer and employee, and secured by a login and password," Chhabra explains. "The site is customized to the position they are taking, with information about their manager or direct reports, their division and all expectations and conditions that apply to their role."
In addition, new hires can download all paperwork – I-9s, W-4s, direct deposit forms and others specific to an employer.
"It's savings for employers in terms of automating the process and saving paper and administration costs," Chhabra says. "There's also savings in terms of productivity for new hires and HR staff."—K.B.
Questions for the author? Contact Kelley Butler at kelley.butler@sourcemedia.com.
| Winter Staffing Tip The holidays and winter illnesses can play havoc with SMB staffing. Keep projects and productivity on track by having backups. |
