Why Do So Many Organizations Suck at Onboarding?

What It’s About: Have you ever been on a plane and no one from operations or the ground crew is there to greet you when you land? Frankly, it ticks me off. Flying is not very much fun for most of us who do it all the time, so when we land we’re anxious to get off the plane and tend to our business. And no one is there. What really bugs me is that it’s not like they didn’t know we were coming. The message seems to be, “you’re not that important.” Well, that’s the way a lot of employees feel when they start a new job. It’s amazing how often I hear the horror stories: No person to greet them, no computer/access card/system access, place to sit, idea of what’s going on, etc. Incredibly, people often mention that colleagues are surprised. “Oh hi, I didn’t know you were starting today. What’s your name again?” I have the same reaction; it’s not like we didn’t know they were coming. Our actions convey the sense that we don’t really care that much.

Why It’s Important: There is plenty of research that indicates if we make a meaningful contribution early in our jobs, then we seem to gather career momentum. If we know this, then why don’t we put enormous focus towards onboarding? I think because it’s somewhat hard (multiple processes across a variety of functions) and that we’re intellectually “lazy.” The hiring manager, HR, facilities, IT, and other groups are involved. Any time we’re functionally interdependent, it involves cross function ownership, and we just stumble at handoffs. Yet that is NO EXCUSE! The CEO needs to declare new employee onboarding a high priority and appoint an onboarding commander. It should start at the offer letter and end at the one year anniversary of the new hire. If we did that well, the ROI would be exceptional. 

What I’m Going to Do About It?: I’m going to invite the key players together and ask, “how might we make new hire onboarding 10x better than any other post secondary institution?” Think about what would happen if we made onboarding a WOW!

One Millennial View: A few weeks ago we blogged about work perks as a Hot Topic. We all know our friends who have jobs with cool travel opportunities, catered lunches, etc. However, an onboarding process worth writing home about is extremely cost effective, earns work perk bragging rights, and is a whole lot more meaningful than that ping pong table in the break room. 

- Garrett 

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