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Proper Orientation is Essential for Retention of New Employees

A few years back, a local company hired me to take a look at his business’ problems in retaining new employees.  In a very short period of time several senior level new employees voluntarily resigned from his company, which significantly impacted the operation of the business.

The company president did not have any information available related to the business’ employee turnover rate, so we inquired with the human resources team.  Unfortunately, they did not track employee retention at all, let alone track retention for new employees.

On the bright side, the company did have a fairly robust HRIS system.  Therefore, one of the first items we tackled was to go back in time three years and have the HR department compile information on the following statistics that would help us tackle the problem of new hire retention:

  1. How many new employees did the company hire on average over the past three years (not counting temporary and seasonal employees)?
  2. How many of these employees left the company through voluntary resignation (in total and during the first 90 days of employment)?
  3. How many of these employees left the company by being discharged (not laid off) in total and during the first 90 days of employment?

The results were startling, yet the statistics indicated a problem that could likely be solved fairly easily.  During this three year period, the company experienced a 60% employee turnover rate that did not include any layoffs.  From this figure we learned that 25% of the employees were discharged while a whopping 75% left voluntarily.  The biggest and most telling statistic revealed that 70% of the employee turnover occurred during the first 90 days of employment.

With this helpful information in mind, our team then conducted a comprehensive human resources audit that focused on the following areas:  recruitment, orientation and training.  The audit uncovered some of the following critical issues that served as warning signs or red flags to new employees:

  • The Human Resources department did not meet with new hires until the second week of employment.
  • The new hires were asked to hit the ground running with little guidance or oversight. 
  • During the interviewing process, managers were essentially trying to sell the applicants on the positive information about the company.  In reality, these managers were desperate for “anybody” to work for them.
  • Managers do not participate in training to learn how to interview potential candidates.  In many cases, they didn’t even outline the criteria for the position they needed to fill, so they ended up hiring the wrong employees.
  • Communicating important news to the team or within teams was not a priority. In particular, no one announced to other employees any information about the new hire.  This was because no one ‘owned’ the task of introducing the new employee to co-workers.
  • The employee accepted the position for a variety of reasons including hearing that the company offered some desirable company benefits.  Unfortunately, these benefits were not explained to the new hire until the second or third week on the job. 
  • The company did not provide new hires with the essential information they would need to get started such as an employee directory, e-mail addresses, phone extensions and other communication tools.
  • The company did not conduct exit interviews, which are a critical component in learning why an employee voluntarily resigns.

The remainder of the problems we uncovered during the audit process indicated why the newly hired employees had a very unfavorable opinion of the company.  In many cases these new hires likely decided within just a few short weeks of starting employment that they would be continuing their search for suitable employment.

Through this process, the management of the company slowly began to realize that these new hires were not necessarily poor performers, but rather just thrown into an employment fire with no chance to succeed.  The company now had statistics showing how severe their problem had become and an audit that uncovered policies, procedures and programs that likely were causing the problems. 

In the end, this company made the suggested changes in recruitment, orientation and training processes.  The new employee turnover essentially vanished and total turnover statistics pointed to a positive employee culture with a higher than average employee tenure for their industry.

In summary, here is a snapshot of what companies and their HR teams need to do in the pre-hire process and during the first 90 days of employment to achieve success:

  • Create and implement a comprehensive job training program for every position in the company.
  • Provide interview training skills to all managers.   
  • Conduct background investigations, drug tests, industrial psychology reviews and other essential pre-hire testing that will indicate whether the applicant will likely be successful or not in the company culture.
  • Meet with new employees on the first day or no later than the third day of employment to review company policies and procedures, discuss important benefit information, establish expectations, answer questions about roles and responsibilities and introduce them to the company culture.  
  • Announce the arrival of a new employee through email, memo, newsletter, etc. on the first day of employment.
  • Take the new employee on a tour of the building and introduce him/her to other employees.
  • Meet with the new hire at the 90-day mark to evaluate how everything is going and address any issues or concerns.

It takes just a little planning and common sense to give a new employee the tools they need to succeed. This is the first step to creating a loyal, dedicated and productive employee who will become an ambassador in your business’ success.

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