The Challenges and Obstacles To Employee Onboarding
How to Begin Fixing How We Onboard a New Employee
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This Week’s Newsletter:
Fixing Employee Onboarding
Podcasts, Books and Newsletters You Should Try
1. Fixing How We Onboard Employees
Finding and getting a new job or joining a new company is an exciting opportunity. Companies invest lots of time and money to find great new hires. But despite the desire from employees who want to succeed in a new opportunity and companies spending resources to hire, many companies fall short in their efforts of bringing new employees in the door.
Over the past 8 years, I’ve taught a new hire employee onboarding workshop & program to thousands of professionals starting new jobs or onboarding into new companies. The question of how to start a new job, or how to help employees onboard is one I’ve thought deeply about, especially now within the context of the changing nature of work.
From my experience, people who are successful are so not because of what they do, but what they are able to avoid - most people understand that to succeed, you need to be proactive, but a lot of mistakes are made when people focus on the wrong things. But it’s certainly not all employee’s fault as many companies, as well as hiring managers fail to help their employees onboard effectively. Consider the following statistics:
29% of new hires say they feel fully prepared and supported to excel in their role after their onboarding experience. (Gallup)
33% of new hires start searching for a new job within 6 months. (HBR)
12% of employees feel their company does a good job onboarding new team members. (Gallup)
This is not due to the lack of interest and desires from an employee, and no employer truly wants employees to leave as soon as they start. So what’s the rub, and where do we go wrong? Here are a couple places where I see the most friction?
Results from a recent linkedin Poll
For Employees
Jumping In Too Soon - One of the most common expressions in onboarding is the proverbial “hit the ground running.” While this advice is very well-intentioned, where it goes wrong is that most people conflate hitting the ground running with “doing things” to the point where any action taken appears to be better than not taking action. While it’s true that you can’t sit there and twiddle your thumbs, getting things done and executing requires that you know how to actually do that, which is really hard to know when you are first joining a new company
Not investing time in the right relationships - Today’s working world requires us to have strong relationships with peers and colleagues. We all work with others in order to get things done. Many employees do one of two things. They don’t invest early on in building the right relationships, or they go on the never ending proverbial “coffee tour” where they are meeting everyone and not building the right amount of quality relationships.
Not Understanding The Organization and Ways of Working - Most new employees are hired for their past successes and outcomes. But those approaches and methods, while valuable may not apply in the same manner and means within a new organization. Many employees don’t spend enough time understanding the norms, values, and ways of working that are prioritized and rewarded within the organization.
For Employers
Not Investing In It - A common pushback I get from hiring managers and leaders about employee onboarding is that it feels like it takes up a lot of time. I tell them they are absolutely correct - Time is a resource and a valuable one. Not making it a priority or not wanting to give the time means that a company is not invested or hasn’t fully bought into the idea that this is important.
Treating it as a one off - Companies often do big up front onboarding new hire orientations and training, and in many respects these can be helpful. In fact, Meta did some research and found that employees who onboarding in person before going remote were more productive than employees who did not. But many companies fall into the trap that doing a week long onboarding is sufficient enough for a new employee and fail to acknowledge that it is an ongoing process.
Failing at Social Capital - Employees need social capital in order to get their job done and advance in their careers. New employees, even talented ones, have the least amount of social capital when they are just starting in a new organization. Research from Egon Zhender points to the fact that social acceptance and support of peers is one of the biggest facilitators of onboarding effectiveness, but when managers and leaders don’t focus on enabling that, even an employee with the best of intentions won’t gain the support they need to thrive.
So what’s the answer? I’ve written previously about for employees, the importance of honing in on the right types of activities and actions that are going to yield the highest return on results.
From a company perspective, there should be an acknowledgement and then focus of energy and efforts that are made on talent acquisition to training and retention. It’s great to bring in amazing employees, but if they all end up leaving, you’re just going to keep spending on acquiring new ones. Furthermore, treating onboarding as a journey, and not as an episode would also be a good start. For better or worse, so much attention is paid to the milestones (ex: the first few days of training) that we forget onboarding isn’t a one shot deal.
I am also not convinced that 90 days is a good barometer of a milestone especially considering many employees say that it can take up to 6-9 months to onboard. If it’s truly going to take that long to onboard, running feverishly to try to prove value in 90 days is a fool's errand. But on the other hand, in some cases (ex: working at a startup with a key milestone or burning platform) you do need to jump in right away to start working.
Finally, I think that companies, whether it’s onboarding, employee experience or learning and development need to align with hiring managers and identify who is going to focus on what onboarding elements and tasks for a new employee.
To me, onboarding should be about creating conditions that enable employees to achieve successful outcomes. But I’d love to hear what you think, or what your experience onboarding into a new role or job was like recently to hear your thoughts.
2. Podcasts, Books, and Newsletters For You
Are you looking for a new recommendation for a thinker/creator/author to get to know and relate to? Consider checking out any of the following podcasts, books or newsletters on this list.
The list is pretty diverse, ranging from authors releasing upcoming books to learning, leadership and talent development professionals and practitioners sharing insights from their craft.
Newsletter: Nerd Out (George “Alyn) Kenney) - An experienced L&D leader, George writes a newsletter about the intersection of learning, design and philosophy.
Newsletter: Made In Place (Rebecca Lee) - Rebecca’s newsletter explores the role of “place” and how it shapes our lives.
Newsletter: L&D Must Change (Jessica Almilie) - Jessica is a longtime Learning and Development leader who writes a Linkedin newsletter about how L&D professionals can lead and step up in new ways
Newsletter: The Switchboard (Julia Levy) Julia writes The Switchboard, a newsletter all about communications in the workplace and career development.
Upcoming Book: The Portfolio Life (Christina Wallace) - Christina is an upcoming guest on the Edge of Work Podcast, and her book is a new way of thinking about work and careers in a changing world.
Upcoming Book: The Good Enough Job (Simone Stolzoff) - Simone is a writer, and an upcoming guest on the Edge of Work Podcast. His book explores our relationship with work, and the concept of a “good enough job.”
Book: The Pathless Path (Paul Millerd) - Paul is writer, podcast host, and one of the people whose work influenced my own path to solopreneurship. His book chronicles his own journey on his “pathless path.”
Podcast: Sustainable Ambition (Kathy Oneto) - Kathy’s podcast is all about finding ways to achieve your goals in your work and career but on your own terms.
Podcast: EdUp - HealthUp: (Geoffrey Roche) - Geoffrey is a senior leader in the healthcare and higher education industries. This podcast covers the challenges in the healthcare system in the United States, and what can be done to fix it.
Podcast: The Leadership Mind (Massimo Backus) - Massimo is a Leadership & Executive Coach, and his podcast explores in-depth various aspects of leadership for today’s workplace
Podcast: Agile Unemployment (Sabina Sulat) - Sabina is an author and podcast host, and her podcast provides a space to talk about topics related to unemployment and layoffs, especially for those who do not have a space to openly talk about these things
Podcast: Work For Humans - (Dart Lindsley) - Dart’s podcast is all about the ways in which we can design workplaces that are better for humans.
Podcast: Brave New Work: (Aaron Dignan & Rodney Evans) - Aaron and Rodney work for The Ready, a consultancy that helps leaders and organizations redefine the way they work. This podcast explores ideas around new ways of working and thinking that put people first, and what it takes to actually make that happen
Podcast: The Edge of Work (Me) - Have to plug my own show! This is a podcast that helps leaders make sense of the changing world of work. Each week, we explore topics around leading and managing, attracting and retaining talent, and building culture, to help leaders thrive in a changing world of work.
Podcast: Human Capital Innovations (Jonathan Westhover, PHD) - A fellow LinkedIn Podcast Academy Participant, Jonathan’s show is one of the top ranked HR shows on the charts. Each week he brings on diverse guests covering all sorts of human capital topics.
Podcast: Redefining Work Podcast (Lars Schmidt) - In his weekly show, Lars brings on senior HR/People leaders who are building a new world of work.
Thanks For Reading, and before you go :
If you’re company is looking for help in developing and retaining talent, or a speaker for your conference, I’d love to work with you: Here is how I might be able to assist:
Team Trainings & Professional Development
Leadership & Learning Programs
Future of Work and Careers/Talent Development Keynote Speaking Opportunities
Feel free to contact me directly for more details!
That’s all for this week. Have a great week!
Al