The pharmaceutical company lacked an employee onboarding program and hired a consultant to develop one to improve engagement and retention. The consultant worked with internal staff over 12-15 months to launch a comprehensive onboarding initiative. It included a company portal for new hires, peer mentoring, and quarterly workshops on culture, roles, and career development. The program increased productivity and retention by engaging employees early in their careers through development planning and networking opportunities.

1. WORKPLACE R //
x
All Aboard!
A pharmaceutical company learns
how to align its talent with strategy
to engage employees and achieve
business sustainability.
The following story was told by initiative as a means to jumpstart culture workshops conducted quarterly. The
Nettie Nitzberg, principal of WOW! assimilation from the day employees classroom-style sessions provided
transformations. were hired, and to cultivate employee new hires with information about their
career development throughout their roles within the global organization.
CLIENT>> lifetime of service at the organization. Participants completed an innovation
A mid sized global pharmaceutical Once they accepted their positions, exercise, discussing how the company
company new hires were provided access to the could improve its processes and better
company’s web portal where they were serve the community. The workshops
PROBLEM>> welcomed to the company; introduced to also focused on mobility and career
The company had been without an the organization’s culture, history, and development within the organization,
employee onboarding program for structure; and given HR paperwork to educating employees about the training
several years. It sought a best-in-class review. A new-hire toolkit was also sent and development opportunities
method to differentiate itself from to the hiring manager and HR staff to available to them, including a focus on
competitors, create greater employee help them prepare for a new employee’s charitable giving. Finally, new hires
engagement, and attract and retain high- first six months of onboarding through enjoyed quarterly “launch lunches”
performing talent. administrative and development tasks. with their classes—a time to share
A peer sponsor program was information, meet the company’s
DIAGNOSIS>> developed in conjunction with the executives, and network.
During an action learning initiative onboarding initiative. Employees seeking
for high-potential employees, an development opportunities were selected RESULTS>>
onboarding program idea was born. and matched to new hires as mentors. New employees’ rates of productivity
Nitzberg was hired to help the company All new hires, as well as those promoted increased as a result of the program.
implement the program. internally, interns, and co-op students, Because employees engaged in
completed the onboarding program— development discussions and plan-
METHODS/TOOLS>> even senior-level executives. ning within their first several months
Nitzberg worked with a variety of internal In addition to the web-based on the job, retention also increased.
staff during a 12- to 15-month period to and peer sponsor components, the Additionally, the toolkits activated the
launch the program. She branded the program was comprised of half-day performance management process on
employees’ day of hire.
LESSON LEARNED:
Onboarding is a talent management initiative. As such,
it should be housed within the talent management
function and treated as a long-term process (including
preboarding, onboarding, and postboarding) to be
most successful.
80 | T+D | JANUARY 2011 Photo by Veer