22% of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment. Imagine the cost impact; if your average salary is $50k per person and you lose 20 people your cost impact is a loss of $3 million. These types of losses can be minimized if companies are willing to change a few things. Follow me through this scenario;
It’s Monday, 9:00 a.m. and new hire orientation has started. The process of on-boarding” new hires and providing them every piece of data they will ever require. Of course the one lone manager pops their head in to see when their new hire can begin “real work” not understanding a full day of “HR stuff”. The Human Resource Generalist grins stating that orientation is “all day” but secretly dreading the next month of drop in’s to answer questions covered during orientation.
A few stats that should scare you;
- Nearly 1/3 of people employed in their current job, for less than 6 months, are already job searching.
- With 10-15% annual attrition, companies turn over upwards of 60% of their entire talent base within 4 years.
Employees don’t require longer orientations they desire an experience.
Is it really possible to retain everything you need to know about shared files, IT tickets, PTO requests and benefits within an 8-hour period? No. If we are being honest new hires need three critical answers within their first 30 minutes.
- “¿Dónde el baño?” Because everybody has to go
- “I need to post a status update on Facebook, is that cool?” If not, I will just use my phone
- “What time is it cool to leave” I really don’t want to wait until my manager leaves…
Let’s look at how an awesome new hire experience works
9:00 a.m. The new employee is greeted by HR and immediately provided the answers for the three critical questions and asked to check-in on Facebook to receive 10 points.
HR explains the gaming and reward system and how employees are awarded points for numerous company engagement efforts including employee referrals, social media shares or simply completing their LinkedIn profile to reflect the new organization.
9:30 a.m. The employee is escorted to their desk and receives two messages;
- A calendar invite from their manager for a team lunch (this happens because the computer is already set up and the HR person has provided them with their login credentials).
- A text message to download the company’s mobile app
Upon loading the app the employee receives a welcome notification directing them to the on-boarding module where they can self-select categories of personal interest. The orientation module contains videos, links and information important to new employees. *171.5 million people own a smart phone with 83.5% of 18-44 year olds owning one. You can send a link to the mobile optimized page that provides the same information (and the app pulls from). More mobile info here
10:30 a.m. a second notification provides a link to a mobile optimized page describing the company scavenger hunt. In this game the employees can earn points (and start engaging and learning) by doing some of the following;
- Watch an introductory video that is 2-3 minutes and describes what to expect as an employee of Company Awesome (then share it via their social media channels)
- Follow/like the companies social media properties (specifically the “Life” or “Careers” or “Jobs” pages) direct them to key parts of the page and ask for certain information
- Post a selfie of themselves and tag the company OR take a picture of their favorite feature in the office and post (everybody’s not into selfies)
- Meet 3 new people in separate departments and request a tour of different parts of the building.
12:00 p.m. Lunch with new team
1:30 p.m. HR meets with the new hires for a one hour Q&A session and provided a survey about their first day experience. Also they are given a “puzzle” to solve from the clues in the scavenger hunt with prizes (or points) awarded (must turn in to HR by Friday).
Lastly all employees are provided with a peek into the next 90 days;
- Day 30: link to a survey “Tell us about your first 30 days”
- Day 60: a notification goes out with a link to a video message congratulating them on making it to day 60 and requesting a 15-30 second video testimonial on their experience
- Day 90: they receive a notification and request to confidentially provide a testimonial on Glassdoor and discuss their experience
* another option is to pull everyone back into a 60 or 90 day lunch meeting where they bring their laptops and complete a confidential survey
2:30 p.m. Meet manager and team to discuss their “real work”
No paper handouts with passwords and diagrams that enter the recycle bin on the first office purge. No “one size fits all” classroom full of first day memory loss. Employees receive an experience that engages, socializes and creates an enjoyable journey.
How does this affect the bottom line? The cost of losing an employee in the first year is estimated to be at least three times their salary (remember our opening example). Do the math on your turnover and use as support for building a better employee experience. It will not solve all problems, but will eliminate a few.