Employee Retention

On To Onboarding

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The hiring decision has been made. References checked. Offer of employment made and accepted. Ready to move on to the next new hire process? Not so fast.

Just when you think the recruitment process is over, there is one more step to go – setting up the employee for a positive start to their new job. The last step of a successful recruitment campaign is also the first step for ensuring that all of the hard work put into hiring the right person transitions into a successful employment relationship for all involved. While we may think that the outcome of a recruitment process is the hiring of a new employee, the bigger outcome is the establishment of a long-term commitment by both the employer and the new employee to work together and achieve organizational goals.

This is where a successful on-boarding program comes into play. Think of the excitement that most people have on the first day of their new job. If there is nothing provided by the employer to meet that excitement, disappointment steps in. Very quickly, that new employee may decide to become an ex-employee, which means the recruitment process will have to be rolled out all over again.

A recent American based survey, indicates that up to 30% of new hires will leave their employer within the first 90 days of work, if they feel they have not been properly integrated into their new work environment. The reduction of that potential loss is explored in response to these survey results by providing simple but effective tips that connect ‘both the hearts and minds’ of new recruits.

Click here to read the need for on-boarding article.

As suggested in the article, the content of any first day on-boarding program sets the tone for the days that follow for new employees.

Let’s make sure those days are worth all of the effort it took to get them started.

Discussion Questions:

  1. At your most recent place of employment did you receive an orientation or an on-boarding session? How did the process work for you?
  2. After the first three months with your current employer, did you consider leaving? Why or why not?
  3. What advice would you give to an employer about the benefits of having an on-boarding program that is directly connected to a recruitment strategy?

Entrance Interviews May Be Replacing Exit Interviews

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All HR professionals are well versed in the “exit interview.” But have they heard of the “entry interview”?

We spend so much time and energy trying to find and select the correct employee – but that really is only the starting point. The real HR work starts when the new employee shows up for their first day of work. Orientation and effective employee on-boarding is vital to any organization’s success.

Most organizations are not very good at on-boarding new employees. According to statistics from Hierology website:

  • Approximately one-third (33%) of new hires look for a new job within the first six months, and about one-quarter (23%) leave before a year on the job.
  • The total cost of turnover per employee typically ranges from 100–300% of the individual’s salary.

These are shockingly high numbers and all HR professionals should take note.

It may be time to expand on the exit interview concept and bring it forward as part of your company’s on-boarding process. The entry interview can be a great tool to get to know new employees, make then more productive sooner, and reduce the chance that they will leave your organization.  Click here to read more about entrance interviews. 

Entry interviews are relatively new and there is not much evidence-based research on them yet, but it may be a trend worth watching and implementing.

Discussion Questions

Your VP of HR has asked you to research the benefits of making entry interviews. Conduct some research and develop a list that identifies organizations that are using employee entry interviews.

Develop a five-minute PowerPoint presentation on the potential benefits of these interviews.

How To Keep Your Star Employees

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Most supervisors are the worst enemy for employee retention – and it may not be their fault. The fault may lie with the well-intentioned Human Resources department and their overreaching policies and procedure manuals.

A now-departed business associate of mine, Ron McQuide, once told me something that has always stayed with me: “All HR policies are just the scar tissue left over from some employee’s mistake.”

Think about what scar tissue does to a body: it can be unpleasant looking on the surface, but below the surface, it can decrease function, flexibility, and potentially cause more damage. Think about many of the policies that HR departments make their supervisors enforce. Here are some of those policies:

  • punitive attendance management programs
  • ineffective and condescending annual performance reviews
  • fault finding safety programs.

Many HR policies and procedures are valuable and effective, but just as many are not. Many of our HR systems are focusing on the wrong things, which is not beneficial to retain your star employees.

A Fact Company article by author Stephanie Vozza outlines some ideas on how to keep star employees from exiting the building.

One big idea (which is not new) is to give people autonomy to do their job. Star employees know what to do to be successful, so make sure HR policies do not hold them back.  Another idea is to keep the lines of communication open by having formal stay interviews. Ask them where you can help them in their career path.  Also, be open to their suggestions and respond to changes your employees want to make.

“Strive to create a community where people can be themselves, have a good time, bring their A-game, and employee engagement will follow,” Vozza suggests.

If more employers took Vozza’s advice, it would certainly make the executive recruiter’s job much more difficult.

Discussion Questions

Think back to a job you have had. Did you see examples where HR policies and procedures were holding you or other employees from performing at their best?

Review the Fast Company article. Create a dynamic performance management program that could be presented to a VP of HR that incorporates some of the ideas in the article.

How to Stop Your Employees from Quitting

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Fifty percent of the time your employees will not make their one year anniversary.

Source: GalaStudio/Shutterstock
Source: GalaStudio/Shutterstock

One year, five year, ten year work anniversaries; these are important milestones that are becoming rare in the working world. Retention of employees is always a number one concern for any HR professional. HR retention specialists speak of many different strategies on why your employees quit and how to prevent them from leaving.

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) does not ask why your employees are leaving your organization? The question they recommend you consider has something to do with time? Any ideas?

Click here to watch a video from the Harvard Business Review.

Did the video surprise you? The question that is important to ask is when are your employees quitting? According to the HBR most employees are quitting on their one year anniversary and then continue to quit on further work anniversaries. Harvard research is not sure why this is occurring, but it is. The next question HR departments must ask themselves is what strategies do we have to prevent the anniversary quitter?

Discussion Questions:

  1. Your Company’s CEO has just watch this video and has requested a meeting with the HR department. It is the CEO’s expectation that the HR Department will present specific ideas to reduce the number of anniversary quitters.
  2. What ideas will you present at that meeting?