think globally, onboard locally: tips for designing a global new hire experience program

Nicole Dessain

Founder & Principal Consultant

talent.imperative inc

July 30, 2014

Think Globally, Onboard Locally: Tips for Designing a

Global New Hire Experience Program

Meet the presenter: Nicole Dessain

2 @Nicole_Dessain

talentimperative.com

Education

•University of Hildesheim: International

Information Management (M.A.)

Career

•Founder of talent.imperative, a next

generation talent management consultancy

•Senior Manager at Accenture, management

consulting focus on talent strategy & talent

acquisition projects and research

•DaimlerChrysler Financial Services expat and

positions across talent management

Hobbies/Interests

•Travel

•Horseback Riding

•Art & Architecture •I survived two surfing lessons

•I went skydiving – once!

•Yes, this accent really is German…

Travels

Random Facts

•Most memorable adventure…London

2012 Olympics!

Today’s agenda

Understand impact of macroeconomic

developments on global talent strategy

Learn about key elements of a “core” onboarding

experience that allows for local customization

Receive tips and resources to get you started with

designing a global onboarding program

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Key talent trends in 2014

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We used a unique method to identify 10 talent trends that will shape 2014.

Download the FREE talent.trends 2014 report at http://talentimperative.com/resources/talent-trends-2014/

1. A key imperative: Solving the skills mismatch riddle

2. Progress at Last? Women in top leadership roles

3. Employment remix: Talent-as-a-Service

4. talent.datafication and the rise of the underdog

5. The growth market conundrum

6. talent.experience is king

7. From innovation to talent.preneurship

8. talent.driven leadership is the new black

9. The contemporary CEO – emperor with new clothes no more

10. Talent as a board level imperative

Trend #5: The growth market

conundrum

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Are you ready?Trend Drivers

• While China and India are still expected to lead in real

GDP growth, S.E Asian economies, along with Turkey

and South Africa, are expected to outperform Brazil and

Russia by 2016. (Source: EIU Country Forecast)

• 60% of CEOs intend to shift focus from BRIC countries

to other rapidly growing economies. (Source:

EIU/Accenture “CEO Briefing 2014)

• Emerging market countries are producing tough

competitors that challenge multinationals.

• (Source: Deloitte Business Trends 2013)

• In addition to nearby markets, these competitors are

expanding globally, including in the US and Europe.

(Source: Deloitte Business Trends 2013)

Do you understand your

organization’s growth

strategy in emerging

markets?

Have you assessed the

talent risk for each

target country?

Do you have a localized

talent strategy?

Do your leaders exhibit

global awareness and

understand other

cultures?

Polling question #1

What was your hardest new hire/transition

milestone?

Contingent/temp new hire

Entry-level new hire

Remote/virtual new hire

Fist time supervisor/manager

Expat

External executive hire

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Onboarding is an integral part of

the talent.experience journey

“The concept of re-recruiting is

really quite simple. Periodically

“update” your original job offer

(the one when they started or

with their last promotion) so

that it appears new, fresh, and

exciting to a top-performing

employees. And don’t just

settle with re-recruiting once.”

(Dr. John Sullivan)

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Polling question #2

What best describes your current state of

onboarding?

We have a leading practice onboarding program.

We are currently in the process of re-designing our

onboarding program.

We don’t have a consistent onboarding program.

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The business case for onboarding“Transitions are periods of opportunity, a chance to start afresh and to

make needed changes in an organization. But they are also periods of

acute vulnerability, because a new hire lacks established working

relationships and a detailed understanding of their new role.“ (Michael

Watkins, author of “The First 90 Days”)

Motivate new employees: Effectively onboarding new hires can increase

an employee’s discretionary effort in excess of 20%.

Reduce new hire turnover: Upgrading an organization’s onboarding

process can lead to a reduction in new hire turnover from 70% to 16%.

Improve new hire performance: Effective onboarding programs can

improve employee performance by up to 11.3%. (Source: CLC)

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Top 5 challenges of onboarding

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1. Many programs attempt to include every possible task/procedure

resulting in participant information-overload.

2. Stakeholder involvement in the onboarding process is very often

not sufficient or valued. In many companies, there is confusion

over who “owns” onboarding.

3. Inconsistent commitment to following through with the entire

onboarding roadmap

4. Inability to update and maintain the new hire curricula to reflect

current business realities on a timely basis (e.g. system updates,

compliance requirements, etc.)

5. Insufficient blend of learning approaches (ILT, self-paced, OJT,

computer or web-based) due to cost or resource constraints

Polling question #3

Which one of these challenges have you

experienced the most?

<Please corresponding number from previous slide>

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Onboarding program design criteria

Create a “core” new hire experience Company & business overview, culture induction

Allow for business unit/geography specific customization Business unit strategy, local org charts, local facilities and resources

Ensure effective & efficient delivery of new hire

experience Automation of key paperwork, pacing of learning modules through LMS, manager

checklists in MSS, sharable content repository for coordinators, role clarity

Determine scope and differentiation Remote/virtual employees? Contract/contingent/temp workforce? First time

manager transition? Expats? “White glove” for external executive new hires?

Identify measures of success Quality of hire (incl. retention, performance, satisfaction/engagement)

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Elements of a comprehensive

onboarding program

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Objective Pre-Start First Day First week First 30 Days First 3-6 Months

Building

Partnerships and

Networks

Supervisor calls or

emails new hire,

welcomes them,

answers

questions

Lunch with team

and supervisor

Meet with “buddy”

and other new

hires; join social

media

collaboration

group for new

hires

Participate in

“new hire

welcome day”

Participate in

networking

activities for new

hires and buddies

Managing

Expectations and

Meeting

Performance

Objectives

Pre-read package

and/or access to

new hire portal for

job-specific

information

Meet with

supervisor to

discuss strategic

priorities, culture,

expectations, and

success measures

Discuss

performance

goals with

supervisor and

document in

performance

management

system

Attend new hire

and job-specific

training

Regular check-in

meetings with

supervisor to

calibrate progress

on goal

achievement

Understanding the

Business &

Integrating into

the Company

Culture

Personalized HR

support

experience

Overview of

business via new

hire portal/online

training

Cross-functional

peer meetings to

broaden

understanding of

business

Attend new hire

site visits and

business overview

meetings

Continue reaching

out to buddy to

understand

culture

“intangibles”

Who and what?

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Manager

• How job is important to overall company success

• Clearly articulated performance expectations & meaningful first work assignment

HR/Operations

• Onboarding program ownership & coordination

• Access to career tools and information

Senior Leadership

• Welcome message from CEO

• Presentations by and networking with Senior Leadership team

New Hire

• Drives own learning and career growth journey

• Asks for help and leverages ESS and online collaboration tools

Co-Workers

• Brand ambassadors/testimonials

• Peer mentors provide access to professional relationships & networks

Onboarding resources & tools

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Discussion guides for new hire & SMEs

Checklists for local coordinator, new hire,

supervisor, peer mentor, Executives: HRS & EA

Peer mentor training/briefing

Project plan and/or technology-enabled workflow

Binder and/or new hire section on intranet

Welcome

My Onboarding

Our Company

My Benefits

My Systems

My Location

Onboarding program examples

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Source: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/centers-

programs/centers/wappp/wlb/13_11_MGT/FGino.pdf

• India-based BPO providing phone and chat support for global customers

• Harvard Business School field experiment to reduce 70% new hire turnover

• Control group of new hires receiving “individualized” experience (incl.

senior leader how by working at company they can express themselves,

introduction to group, personalized sweatshirt)

• Result: People who did the organization-focused onboarding process were

about twice as likely to quit than people who reflected on their strengths

• Silicon Valley-based software company with a hiring rate of 50 – 250

people/week

• Predictive analytics to determine what correlates with high performance

• Six week coding boot camp working on real-life projects

• At completion of boot camp, new employees can choose where they want

to work – the rationale being that it is hard to determine which job to apply

for before you know the company

Sources: http://www.tlnt.com/2013/09/23/facebooks-talent-management-practices-theyre-simply-amazing/,

http://www.inc.com/laura-montini/facebook-cio-45-minute-onboarding-rule.html?cid=em01011week44day28a

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/centers-programs/centers/wappp/wlb/13_11_MGT/FGino.pdf

http://www.tlnt.com/2013/09/23/facebooks-talent-management-practices-theyre-simply-amazing/

http://www.inc.com/laura-montini/facebook-cio-45-minute-onboarding-rule.html?cid=em01011week44day28a

Stanford University new hire portal

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Source: https://newhire.stanford.edu/

Video:

employee

testimonials

Manager

resources

Case study – global onboarding

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Case study – executive onboarding

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How do I get started with (re)designing an

onboarding program?

Create a compelling business/value case

Gain buy-in about business sponsorship, scope, roll out

phases, pilots

Design metrics that align to business outcomes

Conduct target audience surveys/interviews/focus groups

to identify gaps in current program

Identify key stakeholders and involve them throughout the

process

Ensure role clarity and accountability for ongoing program

sustainability

Create forum for best practice sharing, especially in multi-

site/multi-geography environment20 @Nicole_Dessain


Polling question #4

What are your global onboarding best practices or

lessons learned that you can share with today’s

audience?

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Q&A

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