Retention and Onboarding Strategies: Reducing the “Big Quit”
Forbes has called it the “Big Quit”. NPR has dubbed it “The Great Resignation”. Whatever the preferred moniker, it’s clear that the summer of 2021 has seen more employees shifting roles, either resigning for new opportunities or finding new career paths entirely. Over 4 million people quit their jobs in April, with another 3.9 million following in June. At a macro level, few can pinpoint the specific reason for this phenomenon, but early hypotheses tend to focus on some combination of COVID-19-related safety concerns, a general shift in the way Americans want to work and increasing opportunities in many sectors. In addition, the impact of virtual working and and for many, starting with a company having never a colleague in person, is impacting turnover in way that can’t be fully measured.
Given the competitiveness of the current job market, retaining top talent has become a more central focus for leaders including Human Resources professionals. The benefits of keeping top talent include maintaining stability of internal teams, ensuring institutional knowledge and relationships are not lost, and improving overall morale and productivity. While most organizations understand the importance of employee retention, there are several key steps in the employee lifecycle which benefit from continuous refinement based on overarching trends and market shifts.
Below are some of our top considerations when thinking about your retention strategy:
Understand the role of onboarding
Onboarding, encompassing both role-specific training and an employee's beginning months at the company broadly, are a pivotal first impression which, if handled correctly, can help employees feel more valued, better understand their role, and increase both productivity and performance. Additionally, the onboarding period is a key time to promote organizational culture quickly and deliberately with every new employee. As Sandy Zannino, founder and CEO of Innovative Auto HR recently said, “Culture can be described simply as: What is it like to work around here? Onboarding is the opportunity for the organization to answer that question.”
Eliminate Ambiguity
Many new hires equate starting a new job with “traveling to a foreign country”. They ask lots of questions and have an incomplete set of information. They may not know what to expect, and a lack of understanding and even where to get answers leads to anxiety, stress, and sometimes a general feeling of alienation.
Provide Expectations and Answers Upfront. Satisfy new hires’ need for concrete answers by preparing them for every step in the onboarding process. Start with a detailed pre-boarding procedure that eases new hires into the onboarding workflow. Before they show up for their first day of work, make sure they have all the information they need, including where to go, what to wear, and a first day (or first week) itinerary.
Provide an onboarding to-do list with tasks that the new hire can check off as they go (checking off boxes provides enormous amounts of cognitive closure). Also, give new hires an outlet for asking questions. An onboarding buddy, mentor or a dedicated discussion board is invaluable for new employees to understand specifics and nuances within an organization.
Think Like An Outsider
We often forget what our first week or month at our current job was like. It’s usually a time filled with unfamiliar acronyms, reams of procedures and best practices, and a blur of new faces and settings.
While much of this information is important, consider how your process feels to new hires, unfamiliar with the customs seasoned employees no longer think twice about.
Add additional length to the orientation timeline, with information gathering and building gradually over time. Include team building and culture-related events throughout to keep the schedule full but allow brains to relax and build new relationships.
Structure learning modules to include smaller amounts of information. Instead of a three hour session, try 20 minute intervals, each with a specific focus or concept.
Finally, create information libraries that employees can refer back to as needed and following the onboarding. An internal knowledge base acts as a form of institutional memory that eases some of the individual’s cognitive load.
Remember employees have a life outside of the organization
Finally, if the pandemic has taught us all one thing, it’s that we all have other commitments and interests outside of work. From child care to hobbies to further learning, work is just a part of what we do each day. Ensuring your new team members see and feel that the organization follows through on this commitment is vital. Especially with remote-focused work and the recognized importance of mental health, giving your new hires time to recharge, relax, and connect with what they enjoy will engender goodwill throughout the employee’s tenure at the company.
Do you have onboarding strategies that have worked for you, or want to further discuss how to best bring new employees into your organization? Drop us a line at info@bensonsearch.com, we’d love to hear from you!