Page 166 - Retaining Top Employees

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154 Retaining Top Employees

In welcoming Joe, Juanita takes her usual 30-minute, one-
on-one session to explain three things:

• How she and the other Sales VPs work together (includ-
ing why Henry, VP of the Western Division, sits in on her
team meetings, because he has a major client with a
large number of plants in Juanita’s region).
• Why the company’s usual terms of 45 days net are
waived for three customers that Joe will be meeting in
his first week.
• That there’s a tradition among Joe’s colleagues on
Juanita’s team to meet for an hour early on Monday
mornings to informally discuss the agenda before that
day’s divisional sales meeting.

Integration
Acclimation deals with the environment. Integration deals with
people.
In addition to getting your new employee comfortable with
his or her new environment, you must take time to integrate the
new employee into the team. Here are some recommendations:
• Walk the new employee around the office, introducing
him or her to each person one at a time.
• Set up a conference call with out-of-office employees for
initial introductions.
• Have doughnuts delivered to the new employee’s desk
and call the other employees to gather there at the same
time to meet and chat.
• Arrange a social event, like a bowling night, so the new
employee and other members of the team have a
chance to become acquainted in a social environment.
• Have the new employee stand up and say a few words
at a divisional meeting.
Dialogue
In any relationship, the more open dialogue in the early stages,
the longer lasting the relationship. That’s true for the relation-