Integration is a privileged opportunity for employers to win the heart and mind of new employees. Do not waste it, say the experts.
“Integration is a magical moment when new employees decide to stay engaged or disengage,” said Amy Hirsh Robinson, director of the consulting firm The Interchange Group in Los Angeles. “It offers a print window when you can make an impression that remains with new employees for the duration of their careers.”
Robinson deplores the countless ways whose organizations waste these precious moments. Instead of using experience as an opportunity to connect emotionally with new recruits, HR professionals often overwhelm them with cargoes of materials and information to the orientation of new employees.
When Anne Baughman, a director of experience in experience in experience in Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Lawrence, Kan., Begun her new job in December, she had already lived the kind of chaotic and disorganized experience that Robinson calls “death by orientation”.
No one told him where to park his car on the first day of work. Once inside the hospital, she received outdated materials, as well as a handwritten program that included what she called “unrelevant subjects”. For her, the experience was instructive because she showed him the important changes whose hospital integration process needed (which she is currently implementing.)
The new hires that experience such poorly planned and executed initiations may conclude that the organization is poorly managed and decide that it was a mistake to take the job. In uncertain circumstances, said Robinson, new employees are inclined to jump to premature conclusions. While they are going through the organization, these first experiences are amplified and calcified.
This is particularly true for impressable millennials that can be new in the workforce and not very clear about what to expect. Rather than preparing new employees for success, organizations with poor integration process are preparing the way for an early outing. It is both an intergenerational and intergenerational problem. While demographic data continue to change, millennials are likely to constitute a large number of new hires. But a premature leave can occur at all levels and at each age. Almost a third of all new hires are leaving their jobs in the first six months. In Lawrence, 28% of the new hires start at the head of the semester.
For faithful the flow of new hires in prematurely direction for outings, organizations must give more reflection and attention to the way they convert attractive candidates into longer -term employees. Otherwise, they waste the time and the energy they spend for recruitment and selection.
Make the profitability analysis
During the design and implementation of a coherent program or process of integration, HR professionals must engage with the main stakeholders in the organization to ensure that all new hires have optimal integration experience. Statistics compiled by Click Boarding, an integration software company in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, show the value of a structured process or program:
- 69% of employees are more likely to stay in a company for three years if they have experienced great integration.
- New employees who have gone through a Structured integration program were 58% more likely to be with the organization after three years.
- Organizations with a standard integration process experience 50% productivity of the new larger rental.
The challenge is larger than any person or department. Convince managers of the importance of an inclusive integration process and lead them to participate.
Baughman has helped make an organizational priority for the hospital. Everyone (from front -line employees to senior executives) is personally responsible for helping to reduce the attrition rate among new employees by 10%.
She works with managers in each department of the intermediate size hospital to ensure that they know what is expected of them and to ensure that the new hires have a coherent experience throughout the organization. The process has been so successful that many managers volunteers to help training.
Focus on experience
The old adage is always true: “You never have a second chance to make a first impression.” So think about the type of first impression you want the new hires to have organization.
But if you really want to design an integration process or program that stimulates retention and performance, the new orientation of employees is simply the first step in a trip that can take weeks and sometimes even months.
“Research and conventional wisdom both suggest that employees get approximately 90 days to prove themselves in a new job,” said Talya Bauer, Ph.D., author of Image of new employees: maximize successPart of the series of practice guidelines of the SHRM Foundation. “The new faster hires feel welcome and have prepared for their work, faster, they will be able to successfully contribute to the company's mission.”
Bauer has identified four distinct integration levels, at least at most effective:
- Compliance. At this level, HR teach new employees on legal problems and linked to policies.
- Clarification. HR ensures that new employees include their new role as well as related expectations.
- Culture. HR focuses on exposure of new hires to organizational values and standards.
- Connection. HR connects new hires to personal relationships and information networks.
Technology can rationalize the administrative process. Rather than giving new recruits of information to memorize, show them how to use the advantages portal to find the information they need, then let it absorb this information at their own pace.
However, technology cannot replace individual interactions between new hires and various members of the organization that raise the integration experience.
Focus on culture and connection
“(Integration is) the ideal moment to tell stories about history, values, people and the big vision for the future of the organization. This should come from the heart,” said Robinson.
She encourages employers to focus on new individual hires. “Listen to their stories. Discover who they are. And then marry the two stories together.”
At Hulu, a video subscription service on demand in Santa Monica, California, new hires are presented videos of employees (which are called hulugans) which demonstrate the character and commitment of the company to pleasure. The profiles show how the company successfully merges its history with the stories of its employees.
Invest in career development
While millennials sometimes get a bad blow for hunting for constant employment, which some employers think is an act of disloyalty, loyalty is probably not the problem. In these early stages of their career, many of them focus on learning and growth.
“They want to see a structured path to follow,” said Robinson. “They want to know what is expected of them and what they need to do to progress.”
Give new opportunities for growth in growth in the form of rotating missions, cross-training and platforms to present their ideas, she said.
Companies that count on younger employees such as the life construction of their business can learn a lot from a small chain of fast food in the South called Pal's Sudd Service. The company has more than 900 employees in 26 locations. Ninety percent of its employees are part-time and 40% are between 16 and 18 years old.
Although fast food chains are known for high rolling rates and questionable customer service, the rotation rate for assistant managers of PAL is 1.4%. And the company has lost only seven managing directors during the 34 years it has been active.
Boyfriend attributes this success To his commitment to continuous teaching, training and coaching, reports Inc.com. New employees (including part -time) receive 120 hours of training before being authorized to work alone. Each employee must prove his competence in his role thanks to a certification (and rectification) process. Experience generates loyal employees who, in turn, play a decisive role in the creation of loyal customers.
A knowledgeable employers can integrate career development into the orientation process by showing these beginners how they can contribute to the organization while advancing their own career objectives. After the initial orientation, question the new employees for comments to ensure that their expectations are satisfied and, if necessary, modify the process. After that, weekly checks allow courses and send the message that the organization cares about them and is invested in their growth.
Arlene S. Hirsch, MA, LCPC, is a career advisor and author renowned in a private cabinet in Chicago. His books include How to be happy at work (Jist Publishing, 2003), Love Your Work and Success will follow (Wiley, 1995) and the Wall Street Journal Premier Guide to Interviewing (Wiley, 1999). His website is www.arlenehirsch.com.
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