How Would Stronger Onboarding Efforts Assist the Department?

1. How Would Stronger Onboarding Efforts Assist the Department? • Research consistently shows the following benefits: • Shortens the start-up learning time for new employees • Helps new employees become productive faster • Helps retain staff long term, causing less time spent training staff and in recruiting/interviewing replacements • Sets the tone and attitude of new employees and how they feel about the supervisor and their unit

2. How Would Stronger Onboarding Efforts Assist the Department? • Promotes better teamwork and loyalty to supervisors and their units • Promotes greater job satisfaction and better morale for everyone (i.e. unit does not have to continually pick up the slack when someone vacates, etc.) • All of these reasons (and more) will create less work for supervisors if thoughtful onboarding practices are effectively and consistently implemented • However, there must be clear expectations communicated by upper management if this is to be successful

3. Onboarding Defined • Onboarding is a process in which new employees are assimilated into the workplace and given the tools and knowledge to become successful • True onboarding should begin the moment a new staff accepts an offer and throughout the first year (not just the first few days) • While supervisors/managers are a critical component of the process, good onboarding involves the entire unit to be successful • The new employee also shares a significant responsibility in making his/her onboarding a success

4. A Special Word About Gen Y and Onboarding… • While all new staff anticipate being onboarded to some degree, most Gen Y will expect an even more concerted effort because • They often see the workplace as their new “home” and view supervisors as their surrogate “parent” • They will expect an interest in their continual growth and development, and they will look forward to regular feedback and help with adjusting

5. A Special Word About Onboarding and Gen Y… • They will appreciate any efforts management makes that shows they are “keeping score” of their successes via good onboarding since they have been raised with a “benchmark” mentality • Gen Y expects autonomy as well as structure—if management does not show them that they care through a structured program with milestones, regular conversation, and other techniques, we will have a hard time with long term retention

6. What Will Training Cover? • What are some supervisors/managers not doing in terms of onboarding? • What exactly is onboarding and why should supervisors/managers invest the time? • What is the psychology of new staff? • What is onboarding versus orientation? • What can supervisors/managers do to properly onboard staff before they arrive and throughout their first year? • What can supervisors/managers do when someone in their unit is uncooperative?

7. What Tools Will Be Provided? • Our unit has developed the following tools to help implement a more formal onboarding process: • Handout to assist with selecting a mentor and defining appropriate responsibilities • Mentoring Agreement template • Job Shadowing Agreement template • New Employee Onboarding Plan template • Detailed Pre-Arrival and First Day Checklists • Various sample emails to assist with onboarding staff • 30/60/90 Day Check-in Interview Questions

8. When Can We Launch? • The module is being piloted to Human Resources managers as well as select staff in the Administration Division on 3/28 • Anticipated launch for other interested divisions is early April