Page 44 - Successful Onboarding

The Business Case for Onboarding • 33

can achieve. Is it possible to take an average mentoring program and turn it
from a 1 into a 50? Probably not. But even a 20% increase in quality (in other
words, a multiplier of 1.2), can substantially affect an individual worker’s out-
put because of the multiplying effect of the Onboarding Multiplier.
The Onboarding Multiplier does not always impact positively on an
individual’s NHC variables or the overall employee output ranking itself.
Poorly designed onboarding programs (or well-designed programs exe-
cuted poorly) can detract from an individual’s capability, drive, connect-
edness, or context and in turn decrease the individual’s overall New Hire
Contribution. Imagine that a new hire is immediately placed on a long-
term and unique project with few other colleagues and no initiatives or
programs in place to engage the individual. It would be very difficult for
this new hire to develop a connection to, and engagement with, the firm
he or she has just joined. This would undoubtedly result in a decrease in
connectedness and possibly in drive, leading to an overall reduction in
output. If you value the productivity of your new hires, it’s that much more
critical to examine your onboarding practices through a strategic and
strategic lens to avoid negative results.

Remaking the New Hire Employer–Employee
Compact

So far we have made a business case for strategic onboarding by focusing on
the direct benefits an onboarding program provides to the enterprise. Yet
onboarding offers employees concrete benefits as well. When we look at it
from an employee’s perspective, we realize that a solid program holds the
potential to fundamentally remake the compact between employees and
their organizations. This compact, the mutual agreement between employer
and employee, has already changed in recent years—and not necessarily for
the better. Employees are now asked to work harder, smarter, longer hours
and give up cherished long-term benefits. The promise of “lifetime employ-
ment” has also been shattered. Employees today are far less loyal. As one
study has shown, younger workers will change jobs an average of ten times
before they turn forty. Onboarding allows you to remake the compact
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between employer and employee in a way that makes employees more ful-
filled and that allows firms to realize increased engagement, retention, and