Page 165 - Retaining Top Employees

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The Role of the Manager, Part 1 153

Onboarding

In the previous chapter, we saw the importance of effective ori-
entation in retaining top performers. But there is only so much
an orientation process can achieve for your new employees. As
manager, you’re responsible for helping your new employees
come on board. In particular, there are four areas in which you
must take action in order to optimize the effects of the orienta-
tion process on retention:
• Acclimation
• Integration
• Dialogue
• Expectation management
Acclimation
Acclimation The process
An orientation program
of helping the new employ-
can help acclimate a new
ee become familiar and
employee, but for a maxi-
adjust to his or her new surround-
mum effect on retention ings,ensuring that the employee
you should also get knows enough about what’s going on
involved, early on. With to feel comfortable and relaxed.
your top performers in par-
ticular, you should take responsibility for the following aspects
of the acclimation process:
• Clarify the roles and interaction of the management
team (i.e., you and your peers).
• Explain interpretations of company policy that will mate-
rially impact the employee’s “comfort zone” and per-
formance in the early weeks on the job.
• Tell about any department-, division-, or team-specific
events, habits, traditions, or other undocumented prac-
tices that will materially impact the employee’s “comfort
zone” and performance in the early weeks on the job.
Let’s take an example that we will follow throughout this
chapter: Juanita, sales manager, and Joe, the new addition to
her sales team.