Imagine being a new hire at a federal agency. You have waited out
the elongated federal hiring process and chosen government over
commercial opportunities. Yet from the notification of hire until your
first day, you have received scant communications from HR or your
hiring manager. When you arrive, you find that your cubicle is not
ready, and your computer is coming in a few weeks. You attend employee
orientation and receive little more than forms to fill out. Worst of
all, your new colleagues, a blur of names and faces, seem puzzled as to
why you are there.
What you have just imagined is an absence of “onboarding,” a
relatively new business term for an oft neglected phase in the employee
life cycle: the critical period after an employee accepts your offer,
but before they have officially started the job. TMP Government sees
“onboarding communications” as an integral step in transforming
recruits into satisfied, productive employees. This phase requires
well-thought-out consistent messages that express the value of the
workplace to the new employee and vice versa. You mentally keep the
employee “on board” through what is typically an emotionally and
cognitively demanding transition.
Viewed in this light, onboarding becomes a logical extension of the
recruitment process. Research during the employer branding discovery
phase can show you how well new hires have been assimilated into the
work environment: What contact and messages would they have liked to
receive between their hire and start date? We have also developed
several interactive communications tools that can help you deliver and
refine these messages:
- The Strategic, Branded Welcome Kit expresses your
employer value proposition and key messages while conveying practical
information. It helps the employee look forward to Day One.
- The TMP Onboarding Portal (OBP) provides a
password-protected, interactive website that introduces new employees
to information about your agency and its culture as well as their peers.
They can also become familiar with all the meetings and procedures for
their first day on the job. They also have an easy venue for
asking questions and getting responses without a major expenditure of
your time.
The "Rookie Factor": Day One, Year One
The Partnership for Public Service compares new federal employees to
rookies on sports teams. The conclusion is that agencies can learn from
how teams treat rookies. The Partnership’s 2008 report Getting on Board: A Model for Integrating and Engaging New Employees,
done in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, says, “Sports
franchises understand that a player’s first year with a team is
disproportionately important to his long-term professional development
and relationship with his new employer. From the moment a new player is
acquired to the last game of his first year, that player is still
considered a rookie and receives extra attention and guidance.”
The report continues that “the same principles apply to the regular
workplace. That is why effective organizations increasingly focus on
integrating new talent and providing the tools they need to succeed
throughout their first year.” It also notes that the federal government
has yet to realize the potential of “onboarding” for improving
engagement, performance, retention and productivity. The report affirms
that communications continue from the time that the employee accepts
the hiring offer. It further states that agencies should “make the
first day a compelling and valuable experience.”
In contrast, a nonexistent or tepid “new employee orientation” may
even damage your employer brand. After all, friends and acquaintances
are most interested in a new employee’s first experiences on the job.
When they ask, “How’s work?,” they are likely to be met with a vacant
look: “Oh not much has happened yet. They told me about my benefits. My
office wasn’t ready and they don’t have a computer for me.”
Worse, the employee may not actually know what he or she is doing.
And their new teammates may draw a blank as well. If those days drag
into weeks and months, you have not only lost an engaged employee, you
may have discouraged a potential brand ambassador.
Although formal activities related to onboarding usually do not
extend to the first year, the Partnership’s report contends that “the
feeling of newness and the accompanying learning curve linger.” For
example, it may be helpful to repeat the onboarding survey or conduct
focus groups for those who reach the 12-month mark. Moreover, a senior
executive might send a meaningful congratulatory email on the
employee’s one-year anniversary, marking the graduation from rookie to
empowered professional.
Aligning: Onboarding for Teamwork
The government, of course, is not alone in these “failures to
communicate.” Even in corporate America, where recruitment and hiring
processes have matured, the practice of onboarding remains a “work in
progress.” A perennial problem is that traditional orientation programs
have focused on new employees alone rather then the teams of which they
are a part. Recent onboarding thinking has taken into account that
hires represent a transition not only for the new employee, but also
for the current workforce. Hence an onboarding communications program
should consider how to prepare “rookies” and “veterans” to accommodate
each other.
Onboarding experts George Bradt and Mary Vonnegut define “onboarding” as the process of “acquiring, accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new team members whether they come from outside or inside the organization [author’s emphasis].” In their Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time
(Wiley & Sons: 2009), the authors say that the “prerequisite to
successful onboarding” is “getting your organization aligned around the
need and the role.”
Bradt and Vonnegut amplify alignment as making “sure your
organization agrees with the need for a new team member and the
delineation of the role you seek to fill.” Alignment speeds up the
onboarding process by encouraging all employees to work together
towards a shared goal or vision. Although achieving consensus on a
workforce need may be possible only in small teams, communications can
get everyone on board with the purpose for and rationale behind a new
hire. From day one, everyone can see how the new employee fits into the
team.
Probably, your teams already participate in this kind of informal
thinking. They sense workforce gaps or places where you need more
strength. Yet they may not associate job postings and vacancy
announcements with a comprehensive vision or strategy. If so, they may
not greet a new hire as a logical and essential expansion to meet your
mission. They may feel confused or threatened, wondering what kind of
impact this person will have on their work. In that case, an internal
communications program can ground your employees in the principles of
the employer brand, which may have been communicated more to your
external audiences.
Alignment provides a deeper linking of the new employee to the
organization that goes far beyond typical orientation introductions,
which can be a blur of names, faces and titles. Bradt and Vonnegut
emphasize that leadership should carefully clarify messages about new
hires for both the new and current employees, emphasizing the
organization’s core vision. Consequently, an onboarding process will be
more likely of success if you have already clarified your vision and
value proposition.
Put simply, Commandment Number Five of Career Builder’s “The Ten Commandments of Onboarding” states, “Thou shalt introduce thy employee to thy neighbors. Providestaff
members with the new employee's résumé and job description and advise
them to follow a meeting format that includes sharing a description of
their own positions, ways in which their roles interact with that of
the new hire, and how they might expect to work together in the
future.”
The High Stakes of Onboarding
As the U. S. Office of Personnel Management considers onboarding
guidance, the stakes for federal employment have never been higher. The
recent economic downturn has improved government’s competitiveness with
the private sector. Yet onboarding can be weakest in integrating those
employees at all levels who are new to government. The question
persists as to whether the early experiences of these employees will
tend them to think of government as a short-term employment stopgap or
a promising career.
An onboarding communications program may well be a small investment
if it leads to an engaged, high-performing and satisfied employee.
For more information, contact John Bersentes at
john.bersentes@TMPGovernment.com or 703-269-0092. For updates, visit our blog at
www.meshworking.com/home/author/ellisppines.
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