Day one for many new employees plays out in the same way. An office tour is held, a new email account is set up and the remainder of the day is spent familiarizing with the workplace.
From there, it can take weeks to gain any responsibility or lead a project as they continue to observe and absorb workplace culture. The Future of Work from PSFK Labs explores how future-forward organizations are restructuring the onboarding process to accelerate the integration of new hires to decrease time to productivity by creating an immersive and memorable onboarding experience.
It’s sometimes hard to fully commit when a new employee is brought on. However, it is also very important for the work culture. According to a 2015 report by ADP, employees who are very satisfied with their onboarding process are three times more likely to identify as “extremely loyal” to their company.
A focus on hands-on activities, early mentorship, deep-dive rotations and skill-sharing helps employees take control over their own progress and learning, to become part of an organization more rapidly. By allowing new hires to rotate through different departments to develop an interdepartmental support network, employees gain a more holistic understanding of the business, which improves every future decision.
“When you’re onboarding, it’s easy to get bogged down in passwords and paperwork…but if you want employees to be invested from the day they start, you need to find ways to work culture into the orientation process”, said Kathryn Minshew, CEO and Co-Founder of Muse.
For a more unique onboarding experience, new hires at Managed by Q help clean the offices of paying clients—regardless of what position the employee is hired for. Whether a coder, salesperson or manager, the rotation reinforces the company’s motto “Everybody Cleans,” leveling every employee onto the same mission. As a legacy from the company’s early stages when ‘all hands on deck’ was needed, it helps to reinforce an understanding of the core business and its workforce.
At mattress maker Tuft & Needle, new hires start their corporate experience by providing customer support to understand organizational needs and feedback. After a while, the employees are phased into their assigned roles but continue to provide occasional support as well. To not only learn about the customer, but of the actual makers of the company, new employees are flown out to Tuft & Needle factories for a first hand insight in the making process and to get to know their out-of-department co-workers. The comprehensive understanding from customer to colleague is what inspires the Tuft & Needle customer-first mentality.
PSFK’s Future of Work report deep dives into the talent and development landscape to identify the conditions and qualities that cultivate tomorrow’s leaders at work.
Source: PSFK Labs
Trust and emotional connection play a key role in attracting and retaining workers, particularly as the nature of work continues to change, according to a Sept. 20 report based on HP’s first Work Relationship Index. The report showed that employees want to work for an employer with empathetic and emotionally intelligent leaders, and they’d even be willing to take a pay cut for such a job.
To drive greater internal employee mobility, companies may need to address talent “hoarding,” according to the report, if managers attempt to retain their best people. Leaders may need to consider incentives to encourage internal hiring and cooperation across the organization.
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