Articles - Training, Development and Retention

In my last two articles, I’ve set the stage for a people-focused review of the employee experience. In short, the experiences people have as they move through the “employee lifecycle” depend a great deal on how they are treated by others. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Why then, do we focus so much more on processes, policies, and programs than we do on what it feels like to be an employee?

It is, after all, our emotional response to an experience that generally drives our perception of the value of that experience. Consider the last time you invested money and time to go to a theater for a movie. If you hated the movie, you would not willingly go back the next night to invest the same time and money to watch it again. People invest a lot of time and money to get the job they want, and you invest a lot of time and money attracting the right people to your jobs. So, when you are successful in matching the person to the job, of course you want them to love it!

I think every company ought to have a staffing system mailbox at ibelong@companyname.

Nurturing the employee experience is primarily about interpersonal interactions. However, the intentions of the organization are also represented in the work environment through programs and processes, but maybe not in the way you might think. Most people are not really impressed by a plethora of processes that control every aspect of the work environment. For example, a recognition program and its related processes are only valuable if used effectively, and valued as authentic, by people it is designed to serve.

If recognition is only a process and not embedded as expected behaviors in the organizational culture, it can actually do more damage than no process at all. How many times have we heard people scoff at or make fun of recognition programs? The same is true for just about any other program, including compensation, benefits, development, staffing, etc. Employees, especially newly hired employees, will be looking at these programs and processes, whether consciously or not, and asking, “Is this something that can be of value to me?”

As I noted in “The True Start of the Employee Experience,” how we treat people is an echo – what we send out comes back. In the case of employees, it comes back in loyalty, commitment, discretionary effort, and intent to stick around for a while.

If you want to send out the message that you care about employees at all stages of the employee lifecycle and in all aspects of the employee experience, you will focus on the perspective and needs of your employees, as individually as you can manage it. For example, in the hiring process, there are lots of processes; offer letters, information verification, background checks, tests, and various other activities. Where there are opportunities to talk directly with the candidate/employee-select – make it personal.

HR, hiring managers, and mentors should make it clear that it is the whole person they are inviting into their organization – not just the part of the person that does the work. Similarly, on-boarding should not look like an assembly line of orientations, meet and greets, form filling, safety videos, and such. It should instead incorporate an atmosphere of celebration with interpersonal activities that show your new employee that the belief that he or she belongs with the organization is shared by all. I suggest considering some of the following activities if they are not already part of your hiring and on-boarding strategy:

• When sending written communication to the successful candidate or new employee, call that person to let them know about it. When you have them on the phone, start with some personal chat. It might sound like, “I’m glad to catch you! I hope you and your family had a great weekend . . . I’m just calling to let you know that we sent your offer letter, covering the discussion you had with Jane yesterday. Do you have any questions for me in the meantime?” The “. . .” is where you might even have a bit of a chat.
  
  
• Make sure the hiring manager contacts the employee at least twice between the points of offer/accept and the first day at work. That conversation should also include some connection. If necessary, train managers on what questions best make connections with people. (FYI, there is a great little book, called “4,000 Questions for Getting to Know Anyone and Everyone” by Barbara Ann Kipfer). This is two-way: The manager should also offer personal information.
  
  
• Encourage hiring managers to invite their new employee, with his or her family, to dinner or lunch in the week or so prior to the first day at work. Invite the mentor or mentors as well. This is about making a connection and getting to know each other. This is not about work or about continuing an assessment of suitability. This is about nurturing the feeling of belonging, which gets much stronger when a new employee feels connected to a manager and mentor.
  
  
• Make sure the employee has company for lunch during their first week at work. Even if they are working remotely, there is always Skype to facilitate the enjoyment of a boxed lunch. Have lunch delivered to the employee in such cases. If there are several new employees at a given location, organize a luncheon for them so they can chat amongst themselves and share their experiences (no managers should attend this, of course).
  
  
• Send a greeting card to the new employee’s family, thanking them for supporting their family member through the job transition process – and welcoming them into the extended family of the company.
  
  
• Have the manager meet with the employee during the first couple of weeks at work to fill in the blanks on any information that will help that manager keep the employee engaged. A good model for such an interview is Gallup’s Twelve Question Engagement Interview, discussed in Buckingham & Coffman’s, “First, Break All the Rules.” Some years ago, I led a team that built the Gallup model into a “stay-interview” structure, with which Gallup was ok, as long as we kept it internal to our organization.
  
  
• Assess all of your hiring, on-boarding, and orientation processes to make sure they focus on the new employee. This is, like any good communication strategy, less about what YOU WANT them know and more about what THEY NEED to know and can absorb.
  
  
• Assign a social-mentor. This person will be responsible, with the manager, for making sure your new employee meets everyone with whom they will be working, within the first few weeks of employment. Have a group lunch if possible, but also arrange opportunities for chatting in smaller groups or pairs. The social-mentor will also answer any questions that the employee might be uncomfortable asking the manager. Don’t forget to include introductions to customers, suppliers, administrative staff, and other stakeholders – even the cafeteria and building services staff.
  
  
• Make a point to introduce new organization members at department or group meetings, and include recognition for past accomplishments (their life did not begin the day they walked through your doors). Encourage applause – this is a special occasion!
  
  
• Have an HR representative contact the employee several weeks after the employee’s first day at work, just to check in and see if there are any questions. Also, make a point to ask for feedback about the hiring and on-boarding process, making it clear that all feedback is welcome as you are always looking for ways to make the process more enjoyable and valuable.

Be creative. This is a limited list of suggestions – I’m sure you are already thinking of more opportunities to make the hiring and onboarding process one that enhances everyone’s employee experience! Finally, and most importantly, make a point to THANK your new organization member for choosing your company. I can almost guarantee that the new employee is grateful for the job and it will mean a lot to him or her to know that the HR team, the manager, and the mentor are also grateful for the choice made by their new co-worker.

Biography

Doreen Petty spent more than 20 years in the corporate world as a Human Resources professional, business partner, and leader. Such of that time, she spent coaching other people at all levels of the organization to help them define, and then succeed at their goals. In 2010, she started her own firm doing what she does best – helping people. Doreen Petty Coaching’s primary mission is to help business owners and managers succeed, personally and professionally. Through her coaching practice, Doreen helps clients accelerate progress towards goals by structuring an individualized coaching process designed with the client in mind. With a network of specialist consultants, Doreen Petty Coaching’s HR consulting helps business owners ensure the best possible work environment for the people who depend on them. By combining coaching services and HR consulting into one practice, Doreen Petty Coaching can support business owners, executives, and managers with ad-hoc services as well as offering a holistic perspective on the leaders and their organizations.

Doreen holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Management and a Master's degree in Psychology with a specialization in Leadership Development and Coaching. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) with experience spanning a broad range of HR competencies, including coaching, leadership effectiveness, HR program management, compliance training, organization development, employee relations, process development and implementation, talent management, organizational effectiveness, transition management, and more.

Find Doreen Petty Coaching on the web at http://coachingtheboss.com. Read more from Doreen through her Coaching the Boss blog at http://coachingtheboss.com/ctbblog/ and “The Real Job of HR” blog at http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/real-job-hr.ࠆor regular updates, “follow” Doreen on Twitter, http://twitter.com/pettycache and “like” her business page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CoachingTheBoss.

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