Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
4477
Phone: 281.880.6525
Onboarding Employees
Do It Right and Reap the Rewards
www.hrp.net
The term "onboarding" hasn't yet graduated from mere business jargon to an
entry in the Webster's Dictionary. Still, it's a term that's common in today's
business world. It refers to "the process of helping new hires adjust to social
and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly," according
to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The sooner new
employees are truly on board, the faster they can be productive.
www.hrp.net
In particular, a comprehensive onboarding program promises to deliver:
Higher performance,
Organizational commitment,
Career effectiveness.
www.hrp.net
Assimilation at IBM
What does a comprehensive program look like? Large employers like IBM have
been very intentional about integrating new employees, long before the term
"onboarding" was used.
www.hrp.net
About 20 years ago the company created what it called its three-stage
"assimilation process:"
www.hrp.net
The informality of the coaching relationship gives new workers a greater
comfort level in seeking and receiving advice than is often possible with a
supervisor. New employees are, naturally, reluctant to ask questions that they
think might make them appear incompetent.
Similarly, trusted mentors can help new employees feel their way through the
"political" dynamics of the organization before they are fully acculturated.
www.hrp.net
The 4 Dimensions
Here's a template for onboarding programs developed by Talya N. Bauer,
Ph.D., an expert on the topic and professor in the Portland State University's
School of Business Administration (in Oregon). It features four dimensions:
2. Clarification ensuring that new workers understand their jobs and all
related expectations,
www.hrp.net
Pulling the Levers
According to Bauer's research, there are several social and job-specific
"levers" related to those dimensions that can be pulled to smooth the new
employee's transition to becoming a highly productive worker. One is
employee self-confidence.
Another lever, clarity, pertains to how well a new employee understands his or
her role. Performance will be disappointing if expectations are cloudy.
"Measures of role clarity are among the most consistent predictors of job
satisfaction and organizational commitment during the onboarding process,"
Bauer stated in a study published by SHRM, "Onboarding New Employees:
Maximizing Success."
www.hrp.net
A third lever, social integration, can be accelerated in the onboarding process
by connecting new employees to a variety of seasoned employees, both peers
and others higher up in the organizational chart. "Failure to establish effective
working relationships" Bauer writes, "is a commonly cited cause of
unsuccessful hires, and the onboarding program is the best tool to prevent
that from happening.
Finally, pulling the lever of cultural fit is a key goal and purpose of onboarding.
"Understanding an organization's politics, goals and values, and learning the
firm's unique language are all important indicators of employee adjustment
and down the line are associated with commitment, satisfaction and
turnover," according to Bauer.
www.hrp.net
14550 Torrey Chase Blvd., Ste. 360 Houston, TX 77014 USA
Toll Free : 877.880.4477
Phone : 281.880.6525
Fax : 281.866.9426
E-mail : info@hrp.net
www.hrp.net