Page 13 - Successful Onboarding

2 • Successful Onboarding

Companies need to take a serious look at how they are integrating new
hires into the organization. Although onboarding has received attention
in human resources circles, typical programs remain haphazard, limited
in scope, and disconnected from a firm’s larger strategy. Onboarding usu-
ally amounts to little more than old and tired orientation programs—some-
times dressed up in new clothes. New hires are pulled through maybe a
half-day of company introduction focused on corporate history, compli-
ance policies, and employee benefits. They’re given basic job direction,
introduced to a few peers and company leaders, and made aware of avail-
able training resources. They’re provided with security access and basic
work tools (e.g., phone, computer, instruments, etc.). And that’s where the
formal process ends. Firms offer little inspiration nor specific challenge,
direction, or commitment to new hires. During the rest of the new hire’s
first year—a make-or-break period in an employee’s tenure—firms leave
it to overwhelmed and under-prepared hiring managers to address infor-
mally the critical needs that all new hires face, including help with job
preparedness, development, assimilation, networking, and career plan-
ning. Senior leaders typically regard such activity as a mundane part of fill-
ing positions, not as a strategic opportunity to renew the company and its
prospects.
Most onboarding programs have other shortcomings as well. Compa-
nies will present the same orientation material to every new hire, irre-
spective of their level of career experience, defined role or responsibilities.
In many cases, no single department oversees or retains accountability for
the onboarding process. Therefore companies have little idea how suc-
cessful the process is, and what metrics do exist are too broad and not tied
to specific program goals. Administered by Human Resources, Recruiting,
or Learning and Development, most programs do not possess buy-in from
functional or business line management. Finally—and this is hardly an
exhaustive account—most organizations do not keep themselves apprised
of best practices, nor are they equipped to determine if and how to apply
them. Onboarding programs, as a result, tend to remain static and unre-
sponsive to newly adopted company strategy, marketplace changes, or new
measures adopted by competitors.
This book will help enterprises remedy these shortcomings—and real-
ize a far bigger return—by introducing a strategic and systemic approach