How engagement can have bottom line impacts to your organization.

1. Engagement- The Cornerstone of Onboarding: A Tale of Two Stories
Engagement is playing a bigger role in sourcing and retention. In the Deloitte 2015 HR Technology Report,
John Bersin articulated the next era of HR technology has shifted from automation to engagement. Things
like blogs, social communities, tweets, facebook posts, social crowdsourcing, etc. are all strategies that
companies are undertaking to remain competitive and retain their human capital investment.
But what about that window of time when a candidate is transitioning from their old
job into the new one? The Onboarding window. It’s the optimal time to capitialize on
the excitement and eagerness of new hires.
Some companies have already started focusing on engagement by shifting away
from automated forms and mass structured orientation classes to using social
channels, interactive video and/or “buddies” in orientation. This supports research
which finds 80% of learning happens in an unstructured environment through
conversations with co-workers[1].
Successful onboarding also has a bottom line impact. On average, the cost of finding a replacement for a
junior level employee is about 20% of their salary. That percentage increases as the level of seniority
increases[2]. Interestingly, new hire turnover within the first 45 days can amount to about 300% of the new
hires annual salary[3]. This puts a lot of pressure on companies to get onboarding right.
Some companies are still focused on using technology for forms automation and provisioning instead of
engagement. The importance of interaction with employees should not be underestimated whether you use
technology or not. Consider the following two stories and its impact on retention.
Experience # 1- High Engagement; Low Automation
Jill* was referred by an employee to a prestigious financial services company. After a number of interviews
she was delighted to accept a senior position. Jill was excited to start her new job. Prior to her start date, she
was called into the office to complete the new hire paperwork. She was presented with her offer letter and a
number of forms to sign and complete. The entire process took about 30 minutes. She would be notified via
phone or email if there were any issues or questions.

2. Day 1
On her first day, Jill* arrived at the appropriated time and was greeted
warmly by the receptionist. After a few minutes, John*; her new
Manager, came out to greet her. He welcomed her and showed her to
her desk. He told her he would be back in 30 minutes once she got
settled in. There was an envelope on Jill’s desk with information to log
into her computer, set up her voice mail and keys for her cabinets and
office. John came back after 30 minutes and escorted her to his office.
After a few minutes of banter he presented her with a word document
that outlined her schedule for the first week. He provided an overview of
the organizational structure, gave her a seating chart of the floor and
talked through what needed to be completed on the first day.
After spending some time going through the schedule, John took Jill around the floor and introduced her to
the team. He also introduced her to her “Buddy”, Mark*, who also reported to him. Mark would be her main
point of contact for questions and specific work related items. As per the schedule, Jill spent sometime with
Mark to get her up to speed and identified some other key contacts she would need to meet over the next
week.
At lunch time, John came back and all three of them went for lunch. After lunch; Jill had some time allotted
with the Coordinator to complete her benefits enrolment. After that, she completed some mandatory training
courses. Around 3:30; Mark came by to visit Jill. He dropped off a few files for Jill to familiarize herself with.
He also offered to answer any other questions she had. Jill was glad to have the personal interaction and
said she would review the files to get a head start for the next day.
At 4:30 John came by to enquire about Jill’s first day. How was she feeling? How were things? Was the
schedule he prepared helpful? Was Mark helpful as a Buddy? Jill was quite happy with the proceedings of
the day and found having a buddy extremely helpful. John was glad. He talked about some of the projects
she had been assigned to and some of the challenges they were trying to address. John told Jill to call it a
day, and said he looked forward to seeing her again tomorrow.
As Jill commuted home she reflected on the day. She was quite impressed with
how her the first day unfolded. She was glad John assigned her a Buddy and
appreciated his thoughtfulness to make her feel comfortable. She was
confident she made the right decision to join this company.
Jill stayed with the company for 5 years.
Tale # 2- High Automation; Low Engagement
Sally* was referral by an employee to a prestigious financial services company. After a number of interviews
she was offered and accepted senior position. Sally was excited to start her new job. Prior to her start date,
Sally was emailed her offer letter and instructions on how to complete the onboarding process. The process
consisted of completing a series of electronic forms, checklists and collecting banking information. Sally
thought the process was quick and efficient. She enjoyed the ability to complete transactions online at her
own convenience. She also had the option of emailing her new Manager if she had any questions. This
experience renewed her excitement to start her new job.
Day 1

3. On her first day, Sally arrived at the appropriated time. She was greeted warmly by the receptionist who
asked her to wait as her Manager, Amy*, had not arrived yet. Sally waited in the reception area for 30
minutes. When Amy arrived she greeted her warmly, apologized for being late and showed her to her desk.
She told her she would be back in a while as she was late for a meeting . Sally took the opportunity to get
settled in. The keys for her cabinets and information about her computer were on her desk.
Amy came back after an hour and started to introduce her to
other people on the floor. She then returned Sally to her desk
and asked her to start reviewing some documents on the shared
drive. Sally started reading the documents Amy requested. As
there was no schedule, Sally did not know what time Amy would
come by for lunch. Sally waited for Amy but soon realized lunch
wasn’t part of the first day. She decided to go down to the food
court by herself. At the elevator she ran into Amy who said she
was going to grab a bite, did she want to come? Sally nodded
and they went down together. Sally was just about to pay for her
sandwich when Amy said she would pay for it. Unsure of what to
do, Sally smiled and thanked Amy. They walked back to the office to their individual desks, where Sally ate
her lunch alone.
Around 2:30pm Amy came by and asked Sally to meet with her to debrief about some of the projects she
needed to become familiar with. After the meeting Sally went back to her desk and started completing
information for her benefits and mandatory training.
At about 4:30 Sally got an email from Amy saying she had to leave early and hoped her first day went well.
She said she was happy to have her on board and would see her tomorrow. Sally realized she would not
have an opportunity to debrief with Amy about her first day. Unsure of when she should leave, Sally decided
to pack up and call it a day.
As Sally commuted home, she reflected upon the day. Her first day had not been
what she expected. In fact it was quite disappointing. She barely spent anytime
with Amy and was left alone most of the day. She felt isolated. Her colleagues
seemed so busy she felt awkward interrupting them. She also couldn’t believe
the lunch mishap. She contemplated whether this was normal behaviour at the
company? Was this going to be a good fit after all? Had she made the right
decision? It left her with an uneasy feeling. Hopefully tomorrow would be better.
Sally left the company just before her first year anniversary.
The two experiences above are true stories that have been shared with me.
Even through Jill and Sally had vastly different experiences, both stories
illustrated how important engagement was in cementing the employee
experience and retention. I asked Sally if she would have traded a manual
process to completing onboarding forms if it meant she could spend more
“engagement” time with her Manager and/or co-workers. Without hesitation she
said YES.
Now picture Millennials entering the workforce. Connected, collaborative,
social, mobile, comfortable on multiple device types and demand 24x7
accessibility. Conventional strategies will do little to keep this generation
stimulated and engaged. Companies need to capitalize on using blogs,
communities and gamification to appeal to this generation. Building rapport can

4. also be multi-dimensional. Tools like Skype/FaceTime can be alternate ways to chat with colleagues or
management. Communities to crowdsource or connect with others are familiar ways for Millennials to
engage. A Buddy (in person or virtual) is still a wonderful way to help new hires acclimate to the company.
So rethink about your approach to Onboarding. Engagement is the foundation to employee retention!
I would love to hear about your onboarding experience. Share them with me on LinkedIn or @annzaliebarrett
on Twitter!
By Ann Barrett
Director, Integrated Solutions
___________________________________________________________________________________
* Names have been changed
[1] http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2013/05/goodbye-boring-orientation-hello-social-onboarding/
[2] Ibid
[3] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141014104815-21377985-driving-people-excellence-through-social-onboarding