Article Contributed By: Alissa Henriksen & Mary Nutting of CorTalent.

So you have used Prevue assessments to assist you in making the ‘right’ hire but did you realize that most of your new hires  decide whether your firm is the ‘right fit for them’ within the first 18 months of their start date?  An effective on-boarding process will encourage your new hire to conclude they have made the right career decision in accepting your job offer. Most new employees are yearning for feedback and training and the opportunity to discuss their ramp up goals on an on-going basis. If your organization does not have an effective on-boarding process in place, read on to help you jump start a new program.

What is on-boarding?

On-boarding is the last stage of the recruitment process and the first steps toward retention.  It should be a key part of an organization’s talent management plan and the process for integrating new employees into their new work environment. A good on-boarding process provides:

• A strong employer welcome to the new hire
• A structured process that provides new employees with complete and accurate information about the culture, mission and goals of the organization.
• Assignment of a mentor plus interviews with co-workers, managers, and executives during the employee’s first few months to strengthen the employee’s bond to the organization and its people.

What is the difference between orientation and on-boarding?

New employee orientation generally involves a first-day session or a first week of activities that familiarizes the employee with the organization’s structure, mission, and policies.  It typically includes a review of the employee handbook and the completion of necessary payroll and benefits paperwork.  On-boarding is a much more comprehensive approach that starts before orientation and extends anywhere from three months to two years, depending on the position.   It provides a more strategic plan for employee success than orientation.

Why is on-boarding important?

Statistics show that employees are most vulnerable to leaving an organization in the first 18 months after they are hired. In most cases they have simply not found their way within your organization. Making a good first impression on the new hire is therefore critical.  Effective employee on-boarding serves three interrelated purposes.

• First, it ensures the employee feels welcome, comfortable, prepared and supported. These feelings increase the new hire’s desire to make an impact (i.e become productive).
• Second the feedback from a new hire allows you to consider changes that will promote employee job satisfaction and long term effectiveness.
• Third a well-designed on-boarding program reduces training costs, hastens time to productivity and improves retention.

What makes on-boarding work?

On-boarding is successful only when Human Resources and hiring managers are both actively involved.  The goal of this partnership is to establish a long-term relationship with the employee that starts before the employee is hired and endures the everyday trials of the workplace. While HR plays a key role in the early recruitment and orientation phase and in guiding the on-boarding process, the hiring manager must be engaged in the employee’s successful integration into the organization over the longer term.

Prevue in the on-boarding process.

You used the Prevue Selection report to support the hiring decision; however we all know that almost no one is a perfect match. Virtually every new hire has a few areas where they didn’t quite match the Prevue benchmark for the position. These are the areas where the new hire may find some challenges in meeting the demands of the job. The hiring manager can get a jump on understanding and addressing these challenges by reviewing a Prevue Personal Development report for the new hire. It will provide the manager with:

• An overall personal profile of the new hire.
• A job fit benchmark that highlights the new hire’s strengths (where the new hire’s scores match the benchmark for the position) and the areas where the new hire may be challenged (scores off the benchmark).
• Suggestions on how the manager can assist the new hire to address the challenges the new hire may encounter in the new position.

There is no better way for the hiring manager to get an inside look at the new hire. And the best thing is that if you used Prevue in the hiring process, the Prevue Personal Development is absolutely free of charge.

The results of the December 2009 Prevue Newsletter survey are now in and have been tabulated. There were 70 respondents to the survey who provided over 100 suggestions.

The question given the most consideration by respondents was, “What HR topics are you most interested in hearing about?” The responses were both diverse and interesting. We divided the responses into the following subject matters:

SUBJECT MATTERS	PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL RESPONSES
Recruiting/Selection	21%
Talent management (general)	11%
Legal matters and issues (presumably relating to testing)	10%
Return of investment (approving Prevue works)	9%
Retention	8%
Engagement	7%
Compensation/benefits	7%
Coaching/training	6%
Hot topics (book reviews, etc.)	6%
More about using Prevue – various uses and administration	6%
Leadership development	4%
Teams and team development	4%

The responses to the other questions in the survey were statistically less significant but did provide the following direction:

• The responses were generally favorable towards the form, content and direction of the newsletter.
• There were several requests for more product information webinars addressing subjects such as understanding Prevue scales, interpreting Prevue scores, other applications for Prevue Assessments and more case studies and examples. You will see that our 2010 webinar series will put more emphasis on these types of subjects.

You will no doubt remember that we offered prizes to one out of every 10 respondents to the survey. The winners chosen at random are Leonard Wood (Canadian Natural Resources Limited), Derek Cunningham ( No Sleep), Kieran Killick (Shore Gold Inc.) , Paul Vandenberg ( Elgin St. Thomas Public Health), and Bob Wark (Assante Capital Management).

Finally and on a lighter note, a couple of responses that gave us a smile were:

• To the request for additional feedback - “I adore Mary and will do whatever I can to support her business”
• To the request for webinar suggestions – “Whatever Bob comes up with”.

Thanks to all of you who did participate. We will put your advice to good use.