8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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HELLO!STAYAWHILE.
PLEASE
CULTUR
ALONBOA
RDING
BINGO!
FUNFORTH
E
WHOLE
COMPANY!
INTRODUCTION
TOCORPORATE
PHILOSOPHIES
COMPANY/BUSIN
ESS
UNITOVERVIEWS
POLICIES&
PROCEDURES
INTRODUCTIONTO
COMPANY/BUSIN
ESS
UNITSTRATEGIES
BUSINESSUNIT
STRATEGYINTROD
UCTION
&DIRECTION
GLOBALSTRATEG
Y
INTRODUCTION&
DIRECTION
95%
65% FRE
E
SPACE
10%
85% 85%
30%
OTHER5%
BUDDY/MENTORING PROGRAMS ....%
NETWORKING DEVELOPMENTOPPORTUNITIES ... .
TRAININGO N TECHNICAL LANGUAGEORJARGON... .%
THE ... .
I TION TO COLLABORATIONTOOLS.. . .%
Mydadgot
onboarded
andallI
gotwas
thislousy
t-shirt.
MILE
SPONSORED BY
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE LANDSCAPE OF EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING
SURVEY RESULTS
WERE OFF!
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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ONBOARDIADRIVERLICENSE
CLASSCID:012345678
YOURNEWJOBENTERPRISEPARKWAYSPRINGFIELD,OB12345ISSUEDATE:08-16-12
EileenVanTyne
IntroductionTravel, for business or pleasure, provides someuncontested benefits.Its an opportunity to experiencenew cultures, cuisines, and people. Its a chance to see sights you
otherwise wouldnt and to become enriched by new experiences.
An almost unavoidable by-product of travel is a shift in perspective:
once youve seen things in a different light, you are highly likely to challenge your own
assumptions, and to reconsider your day-to-day existence and habits.
If we consider employee onboarding as just another form of travela journey taken
by new hiresits not hard to imagine how an onboarding itinerary could be similarly
enriching. It ultimately impacts the new hires understanding and feeling of belonging.
It engages new hires by creating networks of mentors and buddies, provides activities
to experience a firms culture, and allows an exploration of how we do things here that
affects ongoing behaviors and desires to contribute.
A good onboarding program can provide two-way benefitsnew hires can explore andexperience company culture in a guided way, and their mentors and peers can learn
more about the new hires strengths, growth areas, and how to best engage their skills.
If your firm is adding new employees, youll want to ensure that they are engaged and
understand expectations and goals. You want them feeling confident that they chose
the right employer by understanding your philosophy, values, and strategies. Of course
you would like them readily productive and meeting anticipated milestones as quickly
as possible. And now that youve found these new hires and acclimated them, you want
them to stick around.
Intrepid Learning polled over 400 professionals for insights into their organizationsonboarding process and practices. We have compiled a travel guide from the resulting
information that may be of help to you in understandingand setting the course ofyour
companys onboarding journey. The cars all packed, so grab your coat and jump in. Were off.
EILEEN VAN TYNE is a senior learning consultant
and manager at Intrepid Learning. She has spent
more than 11 years working to help clients
including Autodesk, Microsoft, Adobe, Walmart,
SSgA, and Southern California Edison achieve
business goals through learning solutions. Her
experience includes analyzing, designing, and
developing solutions for partner sales, leadershipdevelopment, customer service, and sales tools
and processes. These solutions have included
curriculum mapping, virtual classroom training,
eLearning, performance support, informal
learning, and instructor-led training.
Prior to Intrepid Learning, Eileen worked as a
senior consultant for The Mosaic Company, where
she was responsible for designing and developing
training solutions for a variety of clients and
leading and mentoring teams to execute those
solutions. Eileen holds a bachelors degree in
English from the University of Washington.
2012 Intrepid Learning Solutions
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BUDDY/MENTORINGPROGRAMS....%
NETWORKINGDEVELOPMENTOPPORTUNITIES ....
TRAININGONTECHNICALLANGUAGEORJARGON....%
I TIONTOCOLLABORATIONTOOLS ....%
Wahoo!
MILE
What kind of traveler are you? Do you
begin by gathering pictures, links, and
recommendations? Do you scour books and
websites to plan the trip down to the last
meal? Or do you decide on a destination and
just get in the car to see what adventure
awaits? You may choose your travel style
depending on the purpose of the trip or
whos going along for the ride.
Last-minute spontaneity isnt necessarily
the best approach when you are trying to
calm the nerves of a nervous new hireor
bring them to competency as quickly as
possible. According to our findings, more than
half of our respondents are beginning the
onboarding process prior to Day 1. Pre-Day
1 activities can include completing forms,
accessing systems, and connecting with
peers and supervisors.
Q1:Whendoeyour
companybegintheonboardingproces
?
BEFORE DAY ..................................52.1%ON DAY OR LATER ........................47.9%
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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MONTHS ... .%
+ MONTHS ... .%
DAY ... .%
WEEK ... .%
WEEKS ... .%
MONTH ... .% MONTHS ... .%
MONTHS ... .%
Your method of travel is often determined by the length of your anticipated journey. Its easy to rough it on a short trip,
but longer voyagesthe ones that take you out of your element and change your perspectiverequire considerable
investment and coordination. A lot of people split the difference and go for the Goldilocks journey: not too short, not
too long, but just right.
We found this theory held true for onboarding as well. Some of the firms that responded to our survey prepare their new
hires for a long-haul onboarding processanywhere up to a yearwhile some keep it to a week or less. The majority of
firms that responded to this question have an onboarding program that lasts between one and three months.
Q2: How long doe yourcompany onboardingproces officiay lat?
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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PERCENTAGE OF ONBOARDINGCONTENT DEFERRED
Are we there yet?
lesthan
20
20to
40
40to
60
60to
80
morethan
80
51.0%
26.8%
13.7%
7.2%
1.3%
Q3: What percentage ofonboarding content i deferreduntil new employee havereached certain miletone in
their onboarding proces?Why defer content during the onboarding
process? Organizations may want to
segment content to give new hires the
opportunity to attain and demonstrate
a certain set of skills before they are
expected to master more complex
knowledge. Or they may simply want to
avoid asking their new hires to drink
through the firehose and absorb toomuch too soon.
Almost all of the firms we surveyed
deferred at least some content in their
onboarding process until employees
reached certain milestones. It is worth
noting that all firms that reported
deferring onboarding content had
programs that last longer than a month.
We saw a strong correlation between the
length of an onboarding program and theamount of content that is deferred based
on milestones.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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Who br ought snacks?
Q4: Which part of your organizationown (e.g., deign/develop,manage) the onboarding proces?Think back to family vacations from your
childhood. Who was in charge of the trip?For many of us, Mom may have planned
the route and the siblings dictated the
unexpected stops, but Dad was behind
the wheel. As with any journey, there
may be many influencers in determining
the path that onboarding will take, but it
ultimately comes down to one owner to
move the process forward.
When theres one owner of the onboarding
process, the chain of command is clearerand responses to changes and trends
coming from the parent organization
are faster. Our findings show that
Human Resources owns the onboarding
process most often, followed closely
by Training/Learning & Development
organizations. Interestingly, the smallest
percentage of ownership was held by an
onboarding specialist.
HUMAN RESOURCES ...................42.7%TRAINING/LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT ..........................................%
OTHER ...................................................................... ..................... .%INDIVIDUAL BUSINESS UNITS .........................................................%
RECRUITING DEPARTMENTS ............................................................. .%
ONBOARDING SPECIALIST .................................................................%
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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ONBOARDING SPECIALIST...............................%
HUMANRESOURCES
TRAINING/LEARNING& DEVELOPMENT................%
.............. .%
OTHER .........%
INDIVIDUAL BUSINESS UNITS.................................. .%
RECRUITINGDEPTS.
....%
Q5:Whichpartofyourorganizationdeliverthelargetpercentageof
theonboardingproces(regardlesofownerhip)?
When you travel, you often hand yourself over
to the whims of fate. Voyages tend to be full of
surprises and unexpected detours, and what
you see is not always what you get. So its
worth celebrating when a situation is actually asuncomplicated and straightforward as it seems.
Onboarding content can be delivered through
multiple means: instructor-led training,
eLearning or virtual sessions, through mentors,
or a buddy program. But when we investigated
which parts of organizations were delivering
the largest pieces of the onboarding process
regardless of ownershipwe uncovered a
reassuring fact. For most respondent firms,
the most common owner of the onboardingdevelopment process, HR, also delivers the
largest percentage of the process, followed by
Training/Learning & Development (30%). Its
comforting to know that some aspects of a
journey can go exactly as planned.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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Bingo!
CULTURALONBOARDINGBINGO!
FUN FORTHE
WHOLECOMPANY!
INTRODUCTIONTOCORPORATEPHILOSOPHIES
COMPANY/BUSINESSUNITOVERVIEWS
POLICIES&PROCEDURES
INTRODUCTIONTOCOMPANY/BUSINESSUNITSTRATEGIES
BUSINESSUNITSTRATEGYINTRODUCTION
&DIRECTION
GLOBALSTRATEGY
INTRODUCTION&DIRECTION
95%
65%
FREESPACE
10%
85% 85%
30%
OTHER
5%
Q6: What activitie are included in youronboarding proces to help new hirelearn your corporate culture?Part of the joy of travel is experiencing
local culture by participating in unusualactivities. From bull running to bingo,
there is always a new experience just
waiting to be had (preferably one that
will leave you with a story to tell). But the
most meaningful activities arent always
the ones listed in the guidebook. It often
takes a local to give you insight into the
activities that will be the most enriching
and memorable for you.
An onboarding program can serve as atour guide, pointing out the elements of
culture that are special to an organization
and that should be adopted by a new hire.
Almost every onboarding program we
heard about includes an introduction to
corporate philosophies, and most include
both company/business overviews and
exposure to policies and procedures.
Surprisingly few firms, however, reported
including an introduction to global
strategy and direction.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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This place feelsso famili ar.
BUDDY/MENTORING PROGRAMS ... .%
NETWORKING DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES ... .%
TRAINING ON TECHNICAL LANGUAGE OR JARGON ... .%
OTHER ... .%
INTRODUCTION TO COLLABORATION TOOLS ... .%
Q7: What activitie in youronboarding proces are deignedto help ocialize new hire intothe workplace?As new hires acclimate to their new firm,
socialization gives them touch points
that serve as landmarks on a map of the
onboarding journey. Incorporating social
elements into an onboarding program
like buddy programs and collaboration
toolscan assist the new hire in creating
connections with peers, mentors, and
others. Creating a sense of belonging
and positive association within the new
environment can improve your new hireslevel of engagement.
Our research found that socialization is
most often incorporated through buddy
or mentoring programs, and provides a
safe space in which to ask the myriad
questions that arise during the first days
and weeks at a new job. More than half
of our respondents organizations also
provide training on technical language or
jargon as a way to remove communicationobstacles for the new hire.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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Bathroom break, please.
NO
SOME
.%YES
.%
.%
NO
SOME
.%YES
.%
.%
SOCIALIZATION
CULTURALIZATION
Q8: Doe your firm gather quantitativemeaurement on it culturalization orocialization activitie?Its easy to succumb to the highway
hypnosis of the onboarding process, bothfor new hires and for those designing and
driving the program. Traveling in a haze
doesnt allow organizations to accurately
measure the effectiveness of their
onboarding program.
According to our respondent firms,
more than 43% have some quantitative
measures for their culturalization
activities, and more than 33% of
responding firms had some quantitativemeasures for their socialization activities.
By defining metrics and gathering
hard numbers around socialization and
culturalization, firms are able to present
valid data to their business stakeholders.
This also allows them to make better
decisions about how to train and retain
their employees, as opposed to simply
monitoring when and how much of the
onboarding process has been completed.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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HELLO!STAYAWHILE.PLEASE
Are we there yet?
MORE THAN % ..................................................................... ..... .%
% % ........................................................................ .......... .%
% % ........................................................................ ........ .%
% % ........................................................................ ........ .%
LESS THAN % ..........................56.7%
Q9: What percentage of onboardingactivitie doe your company offerthrough informal or ocial learning?Informal and social learning can be
thought of as types of onboardingpostcardsquick missives that help
communicate information about what
new hires are learning. An organization
that uses social learning technology
can encourage new employees to post
questions and feedback as they progress
in their onboarding journey. The new
hires can be tasked with responding to
questions about what they are absorbing
and retaining as a social learning
opportunity. They can even be challenged
to create informal learning content of
their own, both as a means of learning
measurement and as an opportunity to
share their insights.
Despite the benefits and opportunities
provided by informal or social learning
activities, our results tell us that they have
not yet been widely adopted as part of
the onboarding process. Most firms rely
on informal or social learning for less than
20% of onboarding activities, including
those firms that dont use them at all.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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NO
%YES
%
Q10: Do you have a tandard procesfor preenting onboarding reult andtatue to buines takeholder?During a road trip you should periodically
stop to fuel up, check the oil, and gaugethe tire pressure. You may also need
to ask for local recommendations (or
directions, depending on how lost you
are). Similarly, those in charge of their
organizations onboarding program
need to periodically check in with
their stakeholders, to share progress
and address current challenges. If
stakeholders own the onboarding content,
this provides a chance to adjust content
or methods to ensure that the program
addresses current needs and flexes as
those needs change.
A standard process helps to benchmark
progress with onboarding, and allows
decision-makers to make fully informed
choices. Surprisingly, of the 367 firms
that responded to this question, only
27% currently have a standard process
for presenting onboarding results to
business stakeholders.
8/13/2019 eBook Intrepid 2012Onboarding
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IM WITH THE
NEW GUY
Can we stop at thenext stand too?
Souvenirs are a way to bring back a piece of your travels: tangible evidence of your journey and the adventures you had.
Consider that an onboarding program has the potential to directly affect business results: employee engagement,
time-to-competency, and retention. Presenting resultssouvenirs from the new hire journeycan provide insight into
onboarding success as a whole or reveal progress at a more detailed, individual level.
Of the firms that reported presenting onboarding results to business stakeholders, more than half only present their
results once, either during or at the end of the onboarding period. Still, a significant percentage of respondents report
results multiple times during the onboarding period, allowing stakeholders to view a more accurate picture of the entire
onboarding process. Not surprisingly, we observed a correlation between the length of the onboarding program and the
frequency with which onboarding results are communicated to stakeholders. In other words, the longer an onboarding
program lasts, the more likely a firm is to present findings to stakeholders multiple times.
Q11: How frequently areyou required to preentonboarding reult to
buines takeholder?
ONCE
DURING THE ONBOARDING PERIOD
.%
ONCE
AT THE END OF ONBOARDING
.%
MULTIPLE
TIMES
DURING THE ONBOARDING PERIOD
.%
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ONBRDG
References:
Aberdeen Group. Laurano, Madeline
(2012). Looking Ahead: Extendingthe New Hire Experience to AchieveBusiness Results.
ConcluionWhen I prepare to travel with friends, I always ask, What are your goals for this trip? The point of the
query is simple: to avoid any regrets about how we spend our time and money, we clearly define our
main goals and see what other wishes and priorities materialize.
The same process can be applied to creating an onboarding program. When carefully designed and
executed, an onboarding program has the potential to cultivate engaged employees prior to Day 1
and to significantly improve time-to-competency.
So what does this mean?
According to the Aberdeen Groups 2012 research on onboarding:
Organizations looking to gain a competitive advantage face two critical and somewhat contradictory
challenges in onboarding. First, they need to make leaner and smarter decisions around talent in order
to drive organizational growth. Secondly, organizations need to engage new hires in order to retain
talent and strengthen branding initiatives. For many organizations these pressures require a new look at
their traditional approach to onboarding. (Laurano 1-2)
Short and sweet, this means that onboardings importance is clear, but its ideal execution is more
nebulous. Here are a few ways you can begin to think about onboarding for your organization:
Consider the long-term.Instead of creating a stand-alone onboarding program, how might it
be integrated into a larger learning and professional development initiative? Conversely, how
can onboarding program elements like networking and mentoring be extended throughout
the employee lifecycle?
Measure and report results.Determine where onboarding success can influence other
business goals. By applying metrics to success, periodic checkpoints can highlight areas of
success and where fine-tuning may be needed.
Leverage whats working well.Look to groups in your organization whose new hires meet
their onboarding milestones consistently, or in which new hire retention and engagement
levels are high. Repurpose best practices that are already proven within your culture and
make them your own.
Defining what effective onboarding looks like for your organization wont be an overnight
effort, but it can be very rewarding. Enjoy your journeydont be afraid to try new things
and to learn along the way. Happy onboarding, everyone!
SPONSORED BY
2012 Intrepid Learning Solutions
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WORLDS BESTNEW HIREWORLDS BESTNEW HIRE
OF COUNTRIES RESPONDING .......................................
OF STATES RESPONDING ............................................ OF RESPONSES FROM THE US ....................................
OF RESPONSES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES ....................
OF RESPONSES WITH UNDEFINED LOCATIONS ........... OF FIRMS THAT COMPLETED STARTTOFINISH .........
TOTAL NUMBER
OF RESPONSES
446 RESPONSE DATES START ..... AUGUST , RESPONSE DATES END .......AUGUST ,
Demographic
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