Mindful Onboarding For Retention
Nearly 50% of new hires fail within the first eighteen months.
Many are shocked to learn that the human resources’ component with the single largest impact on organizational success has consistently delivered a failure rate at or just below 50 percent. Those closest to the action aren’t surprised, but most will also readily admit they have no formal process in place to track new hire failure rates or in most cases, real causes.
The revolving door, the exodus of necessary skills, this Hello/Goodbye act that is increasingly affecting the talent life-cycle, serves neither party’s best interests, and should now be rightly declared a business pandemic; a pandemic that can no longer be ignored as we move rapidly and intelligently to stop the hemorrhaging of the very talent necessary for success.
If you think this is an issue that is prevalent only to nonexempt or hourly employees you’d be wrong. This staggering rate of new hire collapse reaches into every level of talent; unskilled, skilled, management and C-Suite, no position or discipline is immune.
According to Harvard Business Review, 40–60% of management new hires fail within 18 months , and The Corporate Leadership Council reports that nearly 50% of executive new hires fail within 18 months.
Research and conventional employer wisdom both suggest that new hires get about 90 days to prove themselves in their new role. Common sense would dictate that the faster new hires feel welcome and prepared for their jobs, the faster they will be able to successfully contribute to the organization’s mission. The goal is to empower flow, engagement, and synergy. That’s the groovy mix employers will plunk down billions of dollars for every year — yet few ever establish a workplace that fosters the mindsets required to drive the thrive.
First impressions set the tone.
The first few days on a new job tend to set the initial impressions for newly acquired employees and those impressions revolve primarily around how they are welcomed into the mix and their new workplace.
The way that an organization brings new talent on board –employee onboarding– says a lot about the organization as a whole. It’s a pivotal time for both employee and employer — a time that both should wisely use to make a good impression and see whether the partnership is a good fit. Typical onboarding processes are designed primarily to help new team members become adjusted to their new working environment and provide them with all the information and resources they’ll need to do their particular job.
Even with the best programs in place, some employee turnover is inevitable. However, it’s also very costly for your business if you’re consistently losing the superstars necessary to advance and sustain growth. One way you can address this issue is to have an onboarding program in place that is as unique as the talent you hire.
To fully engage their talent, it’s important for employers to view onboarding on a much larger scale and responsibility than a simple orientation process.
Mindful Onboarding is one powerful place to start.
By a mindful based onboarding program, I mean the traditional definition -- “the action or process of integrating a new employee into an organization..” with a well-being twist, addressing an individual’s necessary given psychological needs which include,
Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully (put yourself in the shoes of your new hire.)
Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition (the new employee feels like a priority)
Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choices ( Self-Determination Theory (SDT) tells us that autonomy/control is an essential psychological need that results in increased initiative, energy, performance, and persistence.)
Feeling part of a wider community —(A united team under a common purpose.)
Sense of competence and achievement (this is a no-brainer, but absolutely requires management and leadership with a high EQ.)
Meaning and purpose — which come from being stretched in what we do and think.
I’d like to add:
Inclusion — “a call to action within the workforce that means actively involving every employee’s ideas, knowledge, perspectives, approaches, and styles to maximize business success.”
“Emotions create distinctive psychobiological states in us and drive us to take action. The emotional needs nature has programmed us with are there to connect us to the external world, particularly to other people, and survive in it. They seek their fulfillment through the way we interact with the environment.” — Ivan Tyrrell and Joe Griffin, What are the ‘Human Givens?’
If we are to expect results, we should provide a foundation of support and development that is measured in milestones rather than “probationary periods.” Daily routines, tasks or responsibilities should be steeped in meaning and purpose.
Simon Sinek said it best:
“Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job, and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left.”
It’s very common for organizations to misunderstand the power of onboarding or confuse it with orientation. Orientation is a one time event — checking off boxes and shuttling newbies to their work stations. Mindful Onboarding isn’t just a series of processes and action items to be checked-off , but rather an intelligent and synergistic series of mentorship, learning, and development events that should encourage enduring success and engage the employee’s mind — empowering them to be stewards of their own success.
This level of onboarding is a commitment, requires management buy-in, and if implemented properly will aid in overall retention of the very talent we as leaders so desperately require and covet.
If we’re to call it Human Resources, isn’t it time it resembled it?