Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series

By Talya N. Bauer, Ph.D

Sponsored by Right Management SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series

Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Talya N. Bauer, Ph.D

Sponsored by Right Management Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing SuccesS

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding the subject matter covered. Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering legal or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent, licensed professional should be sought. Any federal and state laws discussed in this book are subject to frequent revision and inter- pretation by amendments or judicial revisions that may significantly affect employer or employee rights and obligations. Readers are encouraged to seek legal counsel regarding specific policies and practices in their organizations.

This book is published by the SHRM Foundation, an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM©). The interpretations, conclusions and recommendations in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the SHRM Foundation.

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10-0645 Table of Contents

v Foreword vii Acknowledgments ix About the Author Maximizing SuccesS 1 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success 1 A Range of Approaches 2 The Four C’s 4 Using New Tools to Keep Onboarding on Track 4 Short-Term Outcomes of Onboarding: New Employee Adjustment 6 Long-Term Outcomes of Onboarding: Attitudes and Behaviors 8 Onboarding and HRM 13 Feedback Tools 13 Onboarded Employees: Executives vs. Hourly Workers 15 Implications for Small to Medium Organizations

16 Onboarding Best Practices

17 Conclusion

19 References 25 Sources and Suggested Readings

Foreword

According to recent data, more than 25 percent of the U.S. population experiences some type of career transition each year. Unfortunately, many transitions are not successful.

Half of all hourly workers leave new jobs in the first four months, and half of senior outside hires fail within 18 months. Clearly, there is room for improvement.

An important way leaders can combat these challenges is to implement a robust employee onboarding program. Onboarding helps new hires adjust to the social and performance aspects of their jobs so they can quickly become productive, contributing members of the organization. This report, Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success, will provide the tools you need to create an effective onboarding process in your company.

In 2004, the SHRM Foundation created this Effective Practice Guidelines series for busy HR professionals like you. It’s a challenge for practitioners with limited time to keep up with the latest research results. By integrating research findings on what works and expert opinion on how to conduct effective HR practice into a single publication, we make theory and practice accessible to you.

Recent reports in this series include The Search for Executive Talent, Employment Downsizing and Its Alternatives, Recruiting and Attracting Talent, and Human Resource Strategy. This report is the 12th in the series. Subject matter experts write the reports, and the drafts are then reviewed by both academics and practitioners to ensure that the material is research- based, comprehensive and presented in an easy-to-use format. We also include a “Suggested Readings” section as a convenient reference tool. All reports are available online for free download at www.shrm.org /foundation.

This series supports our vision for the SHRM Foundation to “maximize the impact of the HR profession on organizational decision-making and performance by promoting innovation, education, research and the use of research-based knowledge.” Overall, the Foundation has a strategic focus on initiatives designed to help organizations maximize leadership talent. We are confident that the Effective Practice Guidelines series takes us one step closer to making our vision a reality. Please let us know how we are doing!

Mary A. Gowan, Ph.D. Chair, SHRM Foundation Research Evidence Committee Dean and Professor of Management Martha and Spencer Love School of Business Elon University

Acknowledgments The SHRM Foundation is grateful for the assistance of the following individuals in producing this report: content Editor M. Susan Taylor, Ph.D. Dean’s Professor of Human Resources Co-Director, Center for Human Capital, Innovation and Technology Robert H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland

Reviewers LaTonia Dean-Brown Associate Director, Human Resources Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Gregory Karanastasis, PHR Director, Talent Acquisition The McGraw-Hill Companies

Martina S. McAndrew, SPHR Director, Strategic Recruitment Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP

Suzanne Ritchie Onboarding & Early Engagement Consultant TD Ameritrade Corporate Learning & Development

Project Manager Beth M. McFarland, CAE Manager, Special Projects SHRM Foundation

Major funding for the Effective Practice Guidelines series is provided by the HR Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management.

vii About the Author: Talya N. Bauer Talya N. Bauer is the Cameron Professor of Management at Portland State University in Oregon. Dr. Bauer is an award-winning teacher and researcher. She conducts research about relationships at work. More specifically, she studies the areas of new-hire onboarding, recruitment, selection, overqualification, mentoring and leadership, and has written numerous journal articles. Her scholarship has appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Learning and Education Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management and Personnel Psychology. Dr. Bauer has been a guest speaker at the SHRM annual conference and has acted as a consultant for dozens of government, Fortune 1000 and start-up organizations. She is involved in professional organizations and conferences, serving in elected positions, including as a member of the Human Resource Management Executive Committee of the Academy of Management and Member at Large for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dr. Bauer is currently the editor of the Journal of Management and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology and the Journal of Management. She has co-authored two textbooks—Organizational Behavior and Principles of Management—and two management graphic novels with Jeremy Short, Dave Ketchen and illustrator Len Simon—Atlas Black: Managing to Succeed and Atlas Black: Management Guru. Her work has been discussed in media outlets, including the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, Oregonian, Portland Business Journal, NPR’s “All Things Considered” and KGW News.

Research and conventional wisdom both suggest that employees get about 90 days to prove themselves in a new job. The faster new hires feel welcome and prepared for their jobs, the faster they will be able to successfully contribute to the firm’s mission. Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

After effective recruitment and selection, one of the most important ways that organizations can improve the effectiveness of their talent management systems is through the strategic use of onboarding. Onboarding is the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly. This should always be a priority for HR departments, because in the United States, every year more than 25 percent of the working population experiences career transitions.1 In Fortune 500 companies alone, about 500,000 managers take on new roles each year, and overall, managers begin new jobs every two to four years. Unfortunately, in the midst of all these transitions:

• Half of all senior outside hires fail within 18 months in a new position.3

• Half of all hourly workers leave new jobs within the first 120 days.4

This report will explain why onboarding is so important, where it fits into the larger HR context, how HR managers can proactively manage onboarding and, finally, how new employees can help facilitate their own onboarding process.

A Range of Approaches Research and conventional wisdom both suggest that employees get about 90 days to prove themselves in a new job. Every organization has its own version of the complex process through which new hires learn attitudes, knowledge, skills and behaviors required to function effectively. Academic researchers who study onboarding also use the term organizational socialization.5 No matter what the terminology, the bottom line is that the faster new hires feel welcome and prepared for their jobs, the faster they will be able to successfully contribute to the firm’s mission.

1 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

The formality and comprehensiveness often struggle to figure out precisely Some other variables HR managers of onboarding programs varies what is expected and to understand the will want to look at when analyzing widely across organizations, and norms of their new workplace. their firm’s onboarding procedures those considered “best in class” are sequencing, numbers of new hires One of the first things HR managers for onboarding have more formal grouped together and how supportive should consider is whether their firm onboarding programs.6 For example, the company is—an intangible that is is served best by informal or formal starting with a first-day welcome, global always difficult to measure.10 onboarding. beauty company L’Oreal says, “Our aim is to develop successful, committed and • Informal onboarding refers to the The Four C’s mutually beneficial relationships with process by which an employee learns each of our employees.”7 The company about his or her new job without an Onboarding has four distinct levels, the supports onboarding with a two-year, explicit organizational plan. Four C’s:11 six-part integration program called • Formal onboarding refers to a • Compliance is the lowest level and “L’Oreal Fit.” The program includes: written set of coordinated policies includes teaching employees basic • Training and roundtable and procedures that assist an legal and policy-related rules and discussions. employee in adjusting to his or her regulations. new job in terms of both tasks and • Meetings with key insiders. • Clarification refers to ensuring that socialization.8 employees understand their new • On-the-job learning supported by Research shows that organizations jobs and all related expectations. line management. that engage in formal onboarding by • Culture is a broad category that • Individual mentoring and HR implementing step-by-step programs for includes providing employees with support. new employees to teach them what their a sense of organizational norms— roles are, what the norms of the company • Field and product experiences both formal and informal. are and how they are to behave are such as site visits and shadowing more effective than those that do not.9 • Connection refers to the vital programs. Again, as in the case of L’Oreal, formal interpersonal relationships and Approaches to onboarding range from onboarding provides a fixed sequence of information networks that new quite structured and systematic—as in activities for new employees—a sequence employees must establish. the case of L’Oreal—to the “sink or that is timed carefully—as well as help The building blocks of successful swim” strategy, in which new employees from organizational role models. onboarding are often called the Four C’s.

The degree to which each organization leverages these four building blocks determines its overall onboarding strategy, with most firms falling into one of three levels. Increase Job Increase Innoculate Satisfaction Performance Against Turnover • Jump start relationships • Clarify delivery expectations • Provide support through • Clarify objectives feedback, coaching Level 1: Passive Onboarding and follow-up Almost all organizations naturally cover compliance as part of formal onboarding. For firms that engage in Passive Onboarding, or Level 1, some Onboarding helps new employees adjust to their jobs by establishing better relationships to increase satisfaction, clarifying expectations and objectives to role clarification may be given, but neither improve performance, and providing support to help reduce unwanted turnover.

2 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Connection

Culture

Clarification

Compliance

The building blocks of successful onboarding are often called the Four C’s.

Culture nor Connection is addressed. Level 2: High Potential Some informal ways of guiding new Onboarding employees in terms of Culture and When compliance and clarification Connection may have developed over are well covered by a firm’s formal time, but no one—including HR staff— onboarding practices and some is coordinating the task to maximize culture and connection mechanisms onboarding success. If your firm is are in place, Level 2—High Potential engaged in Passive Onboarding, you are Onboarding—has been reached. likely to view onboarding as a checklist In these organizations—about 50 of unrelated tasks to be completed. percent of all firms—the complete Research shows that approximately process has not yet been established 30 percent of organizations—large, in a systematic way across the 12 medium and small—work at this level. organization. Passive Onboarding can be functional, but it is certainly unsystematic.

Onboarding Compliance Clarification Culture Connection Strategy Level

LITTLE/ LITTLE/ 1 Passive YES SOME NONE NONE

2 High Potential YES YES SOME SOME

3 Proactive YES YES YES YES

3 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

resource groups and a 30-60-90 day checklist. IBM’s “Assimilation Process”

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, IBM executives recognized that the firm had some Kellogg’s transition web site is a focal success with new employees, but it was stuck at Level 2—High Potential Onboarding. point of onboarding revitalization. On the With increased hiring as a result of restructuring and more job mobility, the new- web site, employees can assess their own hire population became crucial. The new IBM philosophy boiled down to a simple onboarding status by using the onboarding concept—so much money, time and resources are spent on recruiting and hiring that it is essential to hang onto new employees. track record tool. This tool analyzes potential strengths and weaknesses of past Realizing that new hires have different needs than longer-tenured employees, IBM created the Assimilation Process, which consists of three steps: affirming, beginning onboarding activities, so it becomes easier and connecting. Clear timelines for each step became part of the new process. to pinpoint areas for improvement of a • Affirming occurs prior to a new employee’s start date and includes welcoming the formal onboarding plan. new employee, preparing a workstation and assigning a coach. To better understand your • Beginning occurs during the employee’s first 30 days. On the first day, strict rules organization’s onboarding level, you are in place to ensure that the new worker is met in person, introduced to the team, has a functional area in which to work, completes paperwork and is introduced an may want to try an inventory like intranet onboarding platform, known as “Your IBM.” During this crucial first month, the Onboarding Track Record see managers make sure that any needed resources are available, clarify roles and page 5. This will identify strengths and responsibilities, encourage the newcomer, and schedule “check in” times to be sure weaknesses, help you analyze your current that the new employee is making progress with “Your IBM.” situation, and establish where you would • Connecting occurs during the employee’s first year on the job and consists of three like to be in the future. Other helpful tools phases. After two months, an “ask coach” checks in to make sure things are on track. At this stage, networking is a priority, so the employee is encouraged to find interest are available later in this report. communities within the company. Between four and six months into the newcomer’s tenure, the focus becomes his or her accomplishments and understanding IBM’s way of getting things done. By the end of one year, IBM considers new employees Short-Term Outcomes to be fully integrated. One of the most valuable elements of the Assimilation Process of Onboarding: New is the individual assigned as a new employee’s coach—a friend to answer questions, reinforce concepts, share processes and tools, and help transmit the intangible Employee Adjustment cultural values of the firm. Researchers have identified four major With the new process in place, IBM is now an example of a Level 3 onboarding levers—related to both job roles and organization. social environment—that organizations can use to help new employees maximize Leve l 3: Proactive Onboarding “I’ll invest my money in people.” In line their onboarding success. All four building blocks are formally with this philosophy, in the 21st century The first lever for successful onboarding addressed in Level 3, Proactive Kellogg still sees attracting, selecting, is self-efficacy, or self-confidence, Onboarding. If your firm is engaging and retaining the best talent in job performance. To the degree systematically organizing onboarding as critical to the company’s business that a new employee feels confident 14 with a strategic human resource success. Feedback from internal surveys in doing the job well, he or she will management approach, you are at indicated a need to improve Kellogg’s be more motivated and eventually Level 3. Only about 20 percent of onboarding process, so the company more successful than less confident organizations achieve this level.13 put a transition framework in place. The counterparts.15 Organizations should framework includes new ways to add target specific onboarding programs to value, connect and build relationships, Using New Tools help boost employees’ confidence as navigate unwritten rules to get things they navigate new organizational waters. to Keep Onboarding done, and review performance and Self-efficacy has been shown to have an on Track progress. Specifically, Kellogg uses impact on organizational commitment, new employee onboarding training, satisfaction and turnover.16 W. K. Kellogg, founder of the 100-year- new manager assimilations, employee old Kellogg Company, famously said, 4 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

ONBOARDING TOOL #1: ANALYZING YOUR TRACK RECORD A second task-related lever is role clarity—how well a new employee Step + Successes – Opportunities to Improve understands his or her role and 1. Understand how onboarding expectations.17 Performance will suffer can take the organization to the next level. if expectations are ambiguous. In fact, a study of employees in the United 2. Clarify how the new States and United Kingdom found employee will meet that businesses lose an estimated organization’s needs. $37 billion each year as a result of 3. Align stakeholders’ employees not understanding their expectations of new jobs.18 Therefore, role clarity (or its employee. flipside, role ambiguity) is a good indication of how well-adjusted a 4. Create a powerful slate of potential candidates. new employee is, and measuring role clarity can help organizations stop 5. Evaluate candidates against potential performance problems before the recruiting brief. they get worse, leading to poor job attitudes.19 If new employees say they 6. Make the offer and close the sale in a way that reinforces understand the roles they occupy, your leadership message. that obviously indicates higher role clarity.20 Researchers have also studied 7. Co-create a personal role conflict in new employees, with onboarding plan with each new employee. lower role conflict indicating more positive onboarding outcomes.21 8. Manage the announcement Overall, measures of role clarity are cascade to set the new employee up for success. among the most consistent predictors of job satisfaction and organizational 9. Do what is required for the commitment during the onboarding new employee to be ready, process. eager and able to do real work on Day 1. Social integration is the third lever for successful onboarding.22 Meeting and 10. Manage first impressions starting to work with organizational both ways. “insiders” is an important aspect of 11. Create conditions for new learning about any organization. In employees to work well addition, new employees need to feel early on with those who were most helpful. socially comfortable and accepted by their peers and superiors. Research 12. Give your new employees has long found acceptance by peers the resources and support to be an indicator of adjustment.23 they need to deliver better results faster. According to one estimate, 60 percent of managers who fail to onboard 13. Follow through to ensure successfully cite failure to establish ongoing adjustment and success. effective working relationships as a primary reason.24 Other Integration into one’s work group Used with permission from Bradt, G., & Vonnegut, M. (2009). Onboarding: How to get your is positively related to commitment new employees up to speed in half the time. NY: John Wiley. 5 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Self- Role Social Knowledge Successful Selection + Efficacy + Clarity + Integration + of Culture = Onboarding

After selection and entry, new employees go through multiple adjustments.

and turnover.25 And high-quality adjustment and down the line months faster than employees in a relationships with leaders and other are associated with commitment, traditional program. team members undoubtedly are satisfaction and turnover.29 related to favorable onboarding The ultimate failure of onboarding outcomes,26 including performance is the withdrawal of potentially good Long-Term Outcomes and job satisfaction.27 New employees employees. Losing an employee who should expect help from HR staff, of Onboarding: is a poor fit or not performing well but they also must facilitate their own Attitudes and may be a fine outcome, but losing employees because they are confused, onboarding by actively building strong Behaviors relationships. Useful tactics include: feel alienated or lack confidence Beyond the short-term issues related to indicates inadequate onboarding.33 • Making time to engage in small employees’ initial adjustments, many Simply put, good onboarding leads to talk with colleagues. long-term outcomes of onboarding good retention rates. At Corning Glass Works, new employees who attended • Arranging informal social affect a firm’s bottom line. When a structured orientation program were interactions, such as lunches or surveyed, organizations perceive 69 percent more likely to remain at the coffee breaks. effective onboarding as improving retention rates (52 percent), time company up to three years.34 • Participating in voluntary to productivity (60 percent) and In summary, research on new employee company functions. overall customer satisfaction (53 onboarding35 shows that when percent).30 For employees, long-term • Trying to build a relationship with onboarding is done correctly, it leads to: a supervisor by taking on new outcomes of good onboarding include responsibilities and successfully job satisfaction and organizational • Higher job satisfaction. commitment.31 completing assignments. • Organizational commitment. New hires should help an organization Knowledge of and fit within an • Lower turnover. organizational culture is the fourth accomplish specific goals, and the aspect of onboarding. Every company degree to which they do this can be • Higher performance levels. helped or hindered by onboarding.32 So has a unique culture, so helping new • Career effectiveness. hires navigate that culture—and performance is also an important long- their place within it—is essential.28 term outcome of onboarding. A study • Lowered stress. Understanding an organization’s of the onboarding process at Texas politics, goals and values, and learning Instruments found that employees who the firm’s unique language are all went through an improved onboarding important indicators of employee program were fully productive two

6 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Case Study: Effective Onboarding and Integration Cultural Integration Following an Acquisition Any employee moving from a small company to a larger, highly By Renee’ Parratore, MA-HRIR, manager, HR, and Darin Artman, matrixed organization will need time to assimilate. However, for Ph.D., director, HR, Bristol-Myers Squibb this important group of employees, BMS wanted to accelerate the process for both managers and employees. An analysis was When Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), a mid-sized pharmaceutical completed to compare the Medarex biotech culture with the company with nearly 30,000 employees, acquired Medarex, a BMS biopharmaceutical culture in order to identify the key areas biotech company of fewer than 500 employees, in September of of significant change. Managers were then trained in mitigating 2009, our key objective was to onboard and integrate employees actions to support the integration. into one organization effectively. Following a talent assessment and placement process, approximately 100 Medarex employees Following the manager training, our focus shifted to the newly would be transferring into BMS positions within a five-month onboarded employees. In the first of two “Cross Cultural period. The onboarding approach focused on two dimensions— Awareness” sessions, a diverse group of BMS leaders who had operational integration and cultural integration—which built experience working in or with biotech companies shared their on the existing processes for external new hires while enhancing personal stories of integrating into a larger organization during processes that would make a positive impact on our newest biotech a panel discussion. In the second session, two senior BMS employees. leaders discussed the BMS cultural journey, from its inception— when BMS was a traditional pharmaceutical company—to the Operational Integration present and on to its desired future state. Both sessions provided One factor in making a strong first impression on a new employee employees an opportunity to ask leaders questions, learn about the is to provide functioning workspace and tools on Day 1. Teams BMS culture and provide candid feedback to their managers about from Finance, Facilities, Information Technology, Compliance how their integration was progressing. and Human Resources were tasked with preparing all “behind- the-scenes” processes for the influx of 100 new employees over After focusing on both the operational and cultural components the course of four months. Keeping in mind that many of our of the onboarding experience, we completed an evaluation for the processes require actions from both the hiring manager and the new employees to provide feedback to our centralized team. The new employee, we generated a “Preparation Checklist,” which evaluation concluded that 92 percent of our employees believed described the key activities needed beginning 30 days prior to the they were productive and contributing members of their teams selected start date. Training was provided to all hiring managers, after one month on the job—a result that reinforced the value of and pre-Day 1 communication to the employees outlined clear our onboarding efforts. expectations of the integration process.

Biotech vs. BioPharma: What’s the difference? What can you do to smooth the transition during the Onboarding/Integration period?

Culture Dimension Change Impact Hypotheses Potential Manager Onboarding Actions

Governance & • Biotech employees may feel • Educate onboarded employees on the matrix structure, highlighting organizations, governance, Decision-Making overwhelmed when navigating within key success factors, etc. the large matrix organization. • Leverage existing collaboration approaches used within the company, particularly in the Research • Biotech employees may be frustrated group, to facilitate knowledge sharing. by seemingly slow decision-making • Educate new managers on their decision rights for go-forward roles. processes. • Encourage employees to provide input into decision-making process, where appropriate, so they feel that they are contributing as part of the process instead of just waiting for decisions.

Performance, • Expectations on performance and • Communicate performance expectations, including alignment to company goals and Accountability & accountability may be different at a compensation and incentives. Rewards Biotech than at a larger BioPharma. People & • Biotech employees can often “walk • Educate employees on the new matrix structure, highlighting organizations, governance, key Communications down the hall” and talk to all of success factors, etc. Provide them with a ‘buddy’ to help in navigation. their colleagues, while BioPharma colleagues are geographically dispersed across sites and departments.

7 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

A research-based model of onboarding

Industry, Organization Size, Leadership, Climate and Culture

Orientation Forums (e.g., New Employee Support Tools & Processes Recruiting Process Orientation Guide) (e.g., Written (e.g., RJP, Stakeholders Onboarding Plan, Key Involvement) Stakeholders Check-In, Integration Meetings)

Self- Role Social Knowledge Successful Selection + efficacy + Clarity + Integration + of Culture = Onboarding

Feedback Tools Coaching & Support (e.g., 360º Feedback, (e.g., Hiring Manager, HR Performance Appraisals, Training Generalist, Mentor) Feedback Seeking) (e.g., Hard Skills, Soft Skills, Onboarding Skills)

Time for Successful Onboarding…Ongoing pre-hire to 12 months post-entry

Onboarding onboarding of new employees. The the process. Recall the three levels of and HRM model summarizes both new employee onboarding discussed above: Level adjustment and outcomes of successful 1–Passive, Level 2–High Potential and Until recently, academics have studied onboarding. The recruitment and Level 3–Proactive. Most onboarding the onboarding process under the selection process is actually the first practices fit into one of these levels. larger category of “socialization,” step to effective onboarding. Clearly Successful onboarding is the result and onboarding has been considered identifying valued behaviors and hiring of several HRM functions working a minor part of human resource candidates who demonstrate them will together in a coordinated fashion. management (HRM). Today, however, increase the likelihood of a smooth Although here each function is both academic researchers and those onboarding process. responsible for onboarding within their discussed separately, the key to organizations understand that the best successful onboarding is for HRM What happens during programs are those that are based on functions to work together seamlessly onboarding? solid research and also make sense in to support new employees. The process practice. Above is a diagram of research During onboarding, firms engage in a starts even before a new employee about factors that play a role in successful variety of activities that may facilitate arrives: the first HRM function,

8 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

and the first interaction of a new regarding both the specific job to employee with the firm, is recruiting. be done and the organizational culture. RJPs have advantages and Recruiting disadvantages. As an experiment, one firm randomly assigned prospective In Passive Oboarding, organizations’ employees to either an RJP group or recruiting processes are unrelated a non-RJP group. As expected, the to new employee onboarding plans. RJP group was more likely to reject a Rather than viewing recruitment as a job offer, but they had 50 percent less time to begin the onboarding process, turnover than the non-RJP group.39 it is seen as a separate function. In fact, the entire goal of recruitment should Realistic previews help to prevent be to get candidates to the next step— new employees from suffering unmet selection—and then to help them fit expectations. Past research has found into the organizational environment that new employees receiving large and get to know organizational amounts of accurate information about a company and their new job tend to insiders and stakeholders.36 The adjust better than those who don’t recruitment process provides acquire this information.40 information, but it also helps new RJPs can employees form realistic expectations be provided during recruitment and hiring or through more on-the-job and engage coping mechanisms.37 In experiences such as internships. this way, the quality of recruitment practices relates to higher organizational commitment.38 Orientations Some 93 percent of organizations Realistic Job Previews now use some type of new-employee orientation—either in person or Organizations can provide employees online.41 with realistic job previews (RJPs) Formal orientation programs

Case Study: Intensive Onboarding at Zappos

One organization that engages in intensive onboarding during orientations is Zappos.com (acquired in 2009 by Amazon.com, Inc.). Zappos managed to move from 23rd place on Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list in 2009 to 15th place in 2010.

New employees at Zappos learn about the organization’s values and procedures in an intensive five-week training course, during which new hires are offered $2,000 to quit if they feel they are not a good fit for the organization. To date, only about one percent of trainees have taken this offer. This might be why even though Zappos has more than 1,300 employees, the company has been able to maintain a relatively flat organizational structure and prides itself on its extreme transparency.

– from Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2010). Organizational Behavior. Nyack, NY: Flat World Knowledge.

9 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

help new employees understand many intervals to help new employees important aspects of their jobs and get the information they need organizations, including the company’s in a timely manner. Many culture and values, its goals and history, stakeholders should be involved and its power structure.42 Orientation in these onboarding meetings, programs also serve a social role, helping and the schedule should identify newcomers feel welcome by introducing who is involved at what point them to their co-workers and other in time. With regular “touching individuals within the organization. base” meetings, potential Orientations, which may last a few problems can be solved before hours to a few months, can provide new they expand into large problems. employees with valuable information • Onboarding online. Some and the chance to process a lot of organizations use technology paperwork and procedures quickly, to deliver initial orientation using tools that include discussions, programs, but one study shows lectures, videotapes and written material. that benefits may not be quite During short orientations, companies as positive in computer-based often use computer-based information orientations. Researchers systems and intranets to help support compared employees taking new employees. This approach lends part in a regular, face-to- consistency to orientations in different face orientation to those in a locations and at different times. computer-based orientation and found less understanding of the Support Tools and Processes job and the company for those 44 Both during and after the orientation, in the computer-based version. readily available support tools, such as Technology also can be used to those discussed below, are invaluable follow the onboarding process, for onboarding success. automate basic forms, track progress against development • A written onboarding plan. A and career plans, and help formal document, or roadmap, stakeholders monitor new that outlines the specific timeline, employees to see when they goals, responsibilities and support may need additional support. available to new hires will help About 68 percent of Level 3 them succeed because it spells organizations have onboarding out what they should do and systems that are partially or fully what assistance they can expect. online.45 The most effective onboarding plans are usually written, Coaching and Support communicated to all members of As mentioned above, stakeholder the company, consistently applied involvement is extremely valuable and tracked over time.43 for successful new employee • Stakeholder meetings. Proactive/ onboarding because stakeholders can Level 3 organizations often create help newcomers manage and meet check-in meetings at specific expectations.46 Stakeholders include

10 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Onboarding Tool #2: Conversation Guide Some useful questions to ask during onboarding conversations Learning Give me your read on the general situation at the firm. What strengths/capabilities are required? Which strengths/capabilities exist now? Can you offer some examples? Expectations What do you see as high priorities? Lower priorities? Current untouchable topics? What resources are available to invest against these priorities? Implementation Tell me about the control points, both metrics and process, such as meetings, reports, etc. Tell me about some of the decisions we make. Who makes them, and who else is involved? How? What is the best way to communicate with you, including mode, manner, frequency and how to deal with disagreements? Used with permission from Bradt, G., & Vonnegut, M. (2009). Onboarding: How to get your new employees up to speed in half the time. NY: John Wiley. those involved in hiring, training, HR, programs, opportunities for informal and normal coaching and support. interaction with colleagues and adequate They can influence new hires by not information certainly will help the new only sharing information but also employees adapt more easily to the new serving as role models to be emulated. work environment.

Mentors are a similar resource to Both internal and external coaching help new employees learn the ropes. can be critical in the success or A mentor can teach new employees failure of new employees. External about the organization, offer advice, coaches can be especially important help with job instruction, and provide for executive onboarding, where the support in social and political terms. stakes are high. An objective coach New employees may go to mentors can help new executives by offering with questions that they are hesitant to a safe sounding board for ideas and ask their managers for fear of seeming approaches. External coaches can also incompetent.47 One study found that help new executives prepare for their new employees with mentors became onboarding process before they enter, more knowledgeable about their new as well as assist with any challenges they organizations than new employees who encounter in their new organization. did not have mentors.48 Researchers have also found that new employees Training are more likely to have learned and A new employee needs the confidence, internalized the key values of their clarity and skills to do the job he or organization’s culture if they had she has been hired to do. Potential 49 spent time with a mentor. Mentoring training for new employees includes

11 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Case Study: Keeping Onboarding Up-to-Date at Microsoft

In 2009, Microsoft employed 90,000 individuals worldwide in 108 countries. In 2004, the software giant hired more than 7,000 new employees, and in 2006, the company hired nearly 16,000. Even with a challenging economy, the company expects to start 8,000 employees in 2010. With such a large influx of newcomers each year, Microsoft saw an opportunity to leverage onboarding of employees around the world.

The corporate onboarding mission is to enhance the new employee experience through high quality, scalable onboarding programs and frameworks that support Microsoft’s business goals, advance the “aspire to” culture, encourage community, and build organizational capability to onboard others.

To achieve this mission, a team of HR professionals within Microsoft works to keep the onboarding program up-to- date and relevant. After a major revision of the company process, the team came up with a framework that includes core philosophies: • Managers play a critical role in onboarding new employees. • Peer mentors provide “safe havens” for new employees to ask questions, gain knowledge and explore the culture. • Onboarding is “everyone’s job”—not just HR’s. • Team members play a critical role in providing support, knowledge and a welcoming climate.

WORLDWIDE FOCUS

6 & 12 Everday Legal Month Pre Start NEO Work NEO 2.0 Overview Touch Made Easy Points

Peer Mentor

Location Onboarding Roadmap Organization

Web support for new employees Profession

New employee helpdesk

+Custom additions for senior levels Overview of Microsoft’s Onboarding Program.55

12 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

hard skills, soft skills and onboarding • Employee-initiated information executives and new employees lower in skills, and each skill set is important. and feedback seeking. Employees the organizational hierarchy, practices If a new employee has low levels of can help or hinder their own must be tailored to the type of self-efficacy at the start, training is even onboarding. Information-seeking employee being onboarded. more necessary to boost subsequent and feedback are proactive new- 50 employee behaviors that may ability to cope and job performance. Executive onboarding Training can show newcomers how to help them adjust as they ask proactively help their own adjustment questions about different aspects Onboarding is more developed for and therefore encourage successful of their jobs, company procedures higher-level employees than for hourly onboarding. and priorities—all to make sense workers. Organizations understand of the new workplace.51 Workers that getting executives and managers may seek information using more up to speed quickly is important Feedback Tools passive methods—monitoring because these leadership positions are New employees often make missteps the environment, viewing the highly visible and influence the bottom 56 and may find it challenging to company web site, reading the line more clearly. Estimates vary understand and interpret positive employee handbook or other depending on the organization, but or negative reactions they receive written literature. But very little the cost of a single failed executive- from co-workers. This means insight about company culture and level manager can be as high as $2.7 57 they will often need feedback and unwritten rules will emerge from million. Unfortunately, 32 percent of guidance. Research consistently passive methods. As time passes, global executives say the onboarding 58 shows the benefits of feedback for employees should start asking more they experienced was poor. questions of supervisors about new employee adjustment. During Executive onboarding differs from onboarding, feedback is a two-way expectations and evaluation, but they may be reluctant to do so traditional onboarding in several process. New employees seek and 59 if they believe such questioning ways. receive information, and companies will reveal their own weaknesses.52 vary in how well they use feedback • Executives have more Yet asking questions will often tools during the onboarding process. stakeholders with whom to communicate to others that the A couple of common approaches to interact. new employee is interested in employee feedback are: learning the norms and performing • They are normally brought in • Performance appraisals and well.53 The need for new employees to help with specific strategic 360-degree feedback. Within to ask the most basic questions is initiatives that may require the HRM system, performance lessening as more organizations changing the status quo rather appraisals can give new employees institute formal onboarding than fitting into it. developmental feedback. programs that include help desks, • They often are confronted with Normally, however, organizations online information centers and unique and challenging situations conduct appraisals only once or regularly scheduled meetings with that require unique solutions. twice a year. When integrating stakeholders. appraisals into the onboarding Executive onboarding has a long process, quarterly meetings history in organizations such as Dell, Onboarded 60 can be helpful. The benefit of Toyota, General Electric and PepsiCo. 360-degree feedback is that it Employees: Executives The higher a person’s level in the helps new employees understand vs. Hourly Workers organization, the more tailored and how others view them. Feedback flexible the program will need to be. Although the best practices presented from all sides can help resolve any in this report certainly apply to both disagreements early on.

13 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Case Study: Executive Onboarding at Bank of America

Bank of America is an organization with an effective executive onboarding program. Between 2001 and 2006, the bank hired 189 external executives, and more than 200 internal candidates went through a formal executive onboarding process. The company has three major goals for its executive onboarding program:

1. Minimize the high costs of executive derailment. 2. Accelerate executive performance results. 3. Facilitate a smooth integration experience for new executives.

The derailment rate for Bank of America’s executives is 12 percent, compared to an industry average of 40 percent for large organizations. How does the Bank of America accomplish this?

Best practices developed at Bank of America include:

• Viewing onboarding as unfolding over time. • Encompassing multiple interventions. • Gaining support from multiple organizational resources. • Involving key stakeholders. • Emphasizing quality interactions.

Source: Bauer, T.N., & Elder, E. (2006). Onboarding newcomers into organizations. Presentation at the Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.; Conger, J.A., & Fishel, B. (2007). Accelerating leadership performance at the top: Lessons from the Bank of America’s executive on-boarding process. Human Resource Management Review, 17, 442-454.

Onboarding Tool #3: Bank of America’s Onboarding: What, Why and When

Onboarding tool Why Is It Used? When Is It Used? Orientation Program Includes information on the business, history, culture Held on the first day on the job and values of Bank of America Written Onboarding Plan Helps new executives organize and prioritize the Provided in the first week after entry onboarding process Leadership Tools Help new executives understand the leadership Provided in the first week after entry frameworks at Bank of America Key Stakeholder Meetings Allow for important flows of information and for Must be done in the first two months expectation setting New Leader-Team Integration Helps accelerate the development of relationships Occurs between two and three between the new executive and his or her team members months after entry New Peer Integration Helps accelerate the development of relationships Occurs between two and three between the new executive and the rest of the months after entry executive team Key Stakeholder Check-in Meetings Help diagnose potential problems, receive Occur between three and four developmental feedback and create solutions months after entry Executive Networking Forums Help new executives connect and network with other Held quarterly executives 360-Degree Feedback Helps new executives gauge how they are performing Occurs after six months after entry on key metrics as measured by those around them

14 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Hourly worker onboarding Onboarding. Paperwork Almost all research studies to date and rules were covered, but Onboarding Tool #4: A Checklist have examined the onboarding of little else was systematically for Individuals salaried workers (executives and addressed. While limited, other onboarding practices included How Can a New Employee Maximize knowledge workers) rather than hourly Onboarding Success? workers. Recently, however, using job shadowing, mentors and understanding who to go to for • Gather information. a qualitative approach, researchers specific information. • Manage first impressions. conducted structured interviews with • Invest in relationship hourly workers and their managers Based on these limited findings, it development. to get a better understanding of what is clear that there is a potential to • Seek feedback. onboarding looks like at the other greatly enhance the onboarding of • Show success early on. end of the corporate ladder.62 What hourly workers if the business case can they found was a different picture. be made that doing so will result in Given how unique this approach is, higher performance, lower turnover the following sections delineate the and more positive work attitudes. findings to offer HR professionals who work with hourly employees the latest Although this report has information. focused primarily on the role of organizations, it is important to How do hourly workers differ? remember that employee onboarding is a two-way street. The employees • Time. New hourly employees themselves bear some responsibility reported that they were fully on board after an average of for making onboarding work and three-and-a-half weeks, but should be encouraged to think about supervisors reported that new their own roles in the process. hourly employees were not fully functional until three months after Implications for they were hired. Three months is Small to Medium more in line with past research and theories; less than one month is Organizations not. Many of the examples given in this • Stakeholders. For hourly report refer to the best practices of employees, direct supervisors large organizations with vast resources and co-workers were involved in to invest in their onboarding plans. onboarding—with little contact For small to medium organizations, from regional managers or those many best practices can translate higher up in the organizations. and be effective. In fact, looking at Getting adequate time and the onboarding best practices in this attention from supervisors was report, the only recommendations a common challenge for new that may be expensive to implement hourly employees. for smaller companies are those that involve technology and • Content of onboarding. Most getting the onboarding process of the content of onboarding fully online. Bringing a program for new hourly employees was online is not necessarily important related to Level 1—Passive

15 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

if fewer employees are undergoing most important day on the job for onboarding at any given time. So, a new employee is the first day. The fortunately, small and medium CEO of one major organization organizations can accrue the recognizes this and takes newcomers benefits of best practices developed to lunch within their first month. within large organizations simply This is part of the company culture, by investing some attention to and employees proudly share this developing their own strategic plans. observation. Because research shows that the trajectory of a new hire’s success is set as early as the first two Onboarding weeks, it is important to make the Best Practices first day a special one. Many hourly Both the big things—like using a workers do not come back if the formal orientation program and first day is disappointing. To get written plan—and the little things— beyond the first day, review the list like greeting a new employee of organizational best practices for warmly, taking her or him to onboarding below. lunch, and providing a functioning workstation on Day 1—matter in your onboarding program. The

Best Practices for Onboarding

✔ Implement the basics prior to the first day on the job. ✔ Make the first day on the job special. ✔ Use formal orientation programs. ✔ Develop a written onboarding plan. ✔ Make onboarding participatory. ✔ Be sure your program is consistently implemented. ✔ Ensure that the program is monitored over time. ✔ Use technology to facilitate the process. ✔ Use milestones, such as 30, 60, 90 and 120 days on the job—and up to one year post-organizational entry—to check in on employee progress. ✔ Engage stakeholders in planning. ✔ Include key stakeholder meetings as part of the program. ✔ Be crystal clear with new employees in terms of: • Objectives. • Timelines. • Roles. • Responsibilities

16 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Conclusion

Successful onboarding is a key part of any talent management strategy. With the high cost of recruiting, business leaders must understand that effectively integrating new hires into the organization is an important step to ensure their success. Understanding who owns the onboarding process as a whole and who controls various steps in the process is vital to onboarding success and sustainability over time. Simply writing down a formal plan will not help new employees succeed. The key is to engage important stakeholders and new employees in interactions that help them understand one another and how they interact over time. Used in conjunction with HRM best practices, effective onboarding will result in a faster learning curve for new hires, improved communication, and a more productive and engaged workforce.

17 Both internal and external coaching can be critical in the success or failure of new employees. External coaches can be especially important for executive onboarding, where the stakes are high. Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

REFERENCES

1 Rollag, K., Parise, S., & Cross, R. (2005). Getting new hires up to speed quickly. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46, 35-41.

2 Watkins, M. (2003). The first 90 days. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

3 Smart, B. (1999). Topgrading: How leading companies win by hiring, coaching, and keeping the best people. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

4 Krauss, A. D. (2010). Onboarding the hourly workforce. Poster presented at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Atlanta, GA.

5 For reviews see Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (in press). Organizational socialization. In S. Zedeck, H. Aguinis, W. Cascio, M. Gelfand, K. Leung, S. Parker, & J. Zhou (Eds.). APA Handbook of I/O Psychology, Volume III. Washington, DC: APA Press; Bauer, T. N., Morrison, E. W., & Callister, R. R. (1998). Organizational socialization: A review and directions for future research. In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Volume 16, 149-214. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press; Saks, A.M., & Ashforth, B.E. (1997). Organizational socialization: Making sense of past and present as a prologue for the future. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 234-279; Saks, A. M., Uggerslev, K. L., & Fassina, N. E. (2007). Socialization tactics and newcomer adjustment: A meta-analytic review and test of a model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 413-446.

6 Martin, K., & Lombardi, M. (2009). Fully on-board: Getting the most from your talent in the first year. Boston, MA: Aberdeen Group.

7 Your career at L’Oreal: www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/html/careers /Your-career-at-L-Oreal/Your-integration/Assisting-your-integration .aspx?&profile=&profileExcl=&. Retrieved on June 10, 2010.

8 Zahrly, J., & Tosi, H. (1989). The differential effect of organizational induction process on early work role adjustment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 10, 59-74; Louis, M.R. (1980). Surprise and sense making: What newcomers experience in entering unfamiliar organizational settings. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 226-251; Louis, M.R., Posner, B.Z., & Powell, G.N. (1983). The availability and helpfulness of socialization practices. Personnel Psychology, 36, 857-866.

9 Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes and methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 707-721; Cable, D. M. & Parsons, C. K. (2001).

19 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

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Applied Psychology, 80, 418-431. Psychology, 53, 113-149. 33 Allen, D. (2006). Do organizational socialization tactics influence 27 Ashford, S. J. & Black, J. S. (1996). 29 Chao, G. T., O’Leary-Kelly, A. M., newcomer embeddedness and Proactivity during organizational Wolf, S., Klein, H. J., & Gardner, turnover? Journal of Management, entry: The role of desire for control. P. D. (1994). Organizational 32, 237-256. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, socialization: Its content and 199-214; Bauer, T. N., Erdogan, consequences. Journal of Applied 34 Ganzel, R. (1998). Putting out the B., Liden, R. C., & Wayne, S. J. Psychology, 79, 730-743; Klein, H. welcome mat. Training, 25-27. (2006). A longitudinal study of the J. & Weaver, N. A. (2000). The 35 Ashford, S. J., & Black, J. S. (1996). moderating role of extraversion: effectiveness of an organizational- Proactivity during organizational Leader-member exchange, level orientation training program entry: The role of desire for control. performance, and turnover during in the socialization of new hires. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, new executive development. Journal Personnel Psychology, 53, 47-66. 199-214; Bauer, T. N., Bodner, of Applied Psychology, 91, 298-310; 30 Aberdeen Group. (2006). T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., Kim, T., Cable, D. M., & Kim, Onboarding benchmark report. & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer S. (2005). Socialization tactics, Retrieved on April 26, 2010, from adjustment during organizational employee proactivity, and person- www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen socialization: A meta-analytic organization fit. Journal of Applied -Library/3393/RA_Onboarding review of antecedents, outcomes Psychology, 90, 232-241; Wanberg, _MT_3393.aspx and methods. Journal of Applied C. R., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. Psychology, 92, 707-721; Bauer, T. (2000). Predictors and outcomes 31 Maier, G., & Brunstein, J.C. N., & Green, S. G. (1998). Testing of proactivity in the socialization (2001). The role of personal work the combined effects of newcomer process. Journal of Applied goals in newcomers’ job satisfaction information seeking and manager Psychology, 85, 373-385. and organizational commitment: behavior on socialization. Journal of A longitudinal analysis. Journal of 28 Cooper-Thomas, H. D., van Applied Psychology, 83, 72-83; Fisher, Applied Psychology, 86, 1034-1042; Vianen, A., & Anderson, N. (2004). C. D. (1985). Social support and Meyer, J.P., & Allen, N.J. (1988). Changes in person-organization adjustment to work: A longitudinal Links between work experiences fit: The impact of socialization study. Journal of Management, and organizational commitment tactics on perceived and actual 11, 39-53; Liang, S., & Hsieh, A. during the first year of employment: P-O fit. European Journal of Work (2008). The role of organizational A longitudinal analysis. Journal of and Organizational Psychology, 13, socialization in burnout: A Occupational Psychology, 61, 195- 52-78; Kim, T., Cable, D. M., & Taiwanese example. Social Behavior 209. Kim, S. (2005). Socialization tactics, and Personality, 36, 197-216; employee proactivity, and person- 32 Chen, G., & Klimoski, R.J. (2003). Wanberg, C. R., & Kammeyer- organization fit. Journal of Applied The impact of expectations on Mueller, J. D. (2000). Predictors Psychology, 90, 232-241; Kirchmeyer, newcomer performance in teams as and outcomes of proactivity in the C. (1995). Demographic similarity mediated by work characteristics, socialization process. Journal of to the work group: A longitudinal social exchanges, and empowerment. Applied Psychology, 85, 373-385. study of managers at the early career Academy of Management Journal, 36 Rynes, S. L. (1991). Recruitment, stage. Journal of Organizational 46, 591-607; Reio, T.G., & Callhan, job choice, and post-hire Behavior, 16, 67-83; van Vianen, J.L. (2004). Affect, curiosity, and consequences: A call for new research A.E.M. (2000). Person-organization socialization-related learning: A directions. In M. D. Dunnette & fit: The match between newcomers’ path analysis of antecedents to job L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook and recruiters’ preferences for performance. Journal of Business and of Industrial and Organizational organizational cultures. Personnel Psychology, 19, 3-22. Psychology, 2 (2nd ed.), 399-

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444. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting organization. Invited presentation effects of newcomer information Psychologists. at the 58th Annual Society for seeking and manager behavior on Human Resource Management socialization. Journal of Applied 37 Breaugh, J. A. (2009). Recruiting (SHRM) Conference & Exposition. Psychology, 83, 72-83; Bauer, T. and attracting talent: A guide Washington, D. C. N., & Green, S. G. (1994). The to understanding and managing effect of newcomer involvement the recruitment process. SHRM 44 Wesson, M.J., & Gogus, C.I. (2005). in work-related activities: A Foundation Effective Practice Shaking hands with a computer: longitudinal study of socialization. Guidelines Series. Alexandria, VA: An examination of two methods of Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, SHRM Foundation. newcomer orientation. Journal of 211-223; Chatman, J. A. (1991). Applied Psychology, 90, 1018-1026. 38 Caldwell, D. F., Chatman, J. A., & Matching people and organizations: O’Reilly, C. A. (1990). Building 45 Aberdeen. (2008). All aboard: Selection and socialization in public organizational commitment: Effective onboarding techniques and accounting firms. Administrative A multifirm study. Journal of strategies. Retrieved April 26, 2010, Science Quarterly, 36, 459-484; Occupational Psychology, 63, 245- from www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen Green, S. G., & Bauer, T. N. 261. -Library/6328/RA-onboarding (1995). Supervisory mentoring by advisers: Relationships with Ph.D. 39 -employee-engagement.aspx. Suszko, M.J., & Breagh, J. A. student potential, productivity, and 46 (1986). The effects of realistic job Chatman, J. A. (1991). Matching commitment. Personnel Psychology, previews on applicant self-selection people and organizations: Selection 48, 537-561. and turnover, satisfaction, and coping and socialization in public ability. Journal of Management, 12, accounting firms. Administrative 50 Saks, A. M. (1995). Longitudinal 513-523. Science Quarterly, 36, 459-484; field investigation of the moderating Ostroff, C., & Kozlowski, S. W. and mediating effects of self-efficacy 40 Klein, H. J., Fan, J., & Preacher, J. (1993). The role of mentoring on the relationship between training K. J. (2006). The effects of early in the information gathering and newcomer adjustment. Journal socialization experiences on processes of newcomers during early of Applied Psychology, 80, 211-225. content mastery and outcomes: A organizational socialization. Journal mediational approach. Journal of 51 Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, of Vocational Behavior, 42, 170-183. Vocational Behavior, 68, 96-115. B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. 47 Allen, T. D., Eby, L. T., & Lentz, S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment 41 Anderson, N. R., Cunningham- E. (2006). Mentorship behaviors during organizational socialization: A Snell, N. A., & Haigh, J. (1996). and mentorship quality associated meta-analyticreview of antecedents, Induction training as socialization: with formal mentoring programs: outcomes and methods. Journal Current practice and attitudes to Closing the gap between research of Applied Psychology, 92, 707-721; evaluation in British organizations. and practice. Journal of Applied Morrison, E. W. (1993). Newcomer International Journal of Selection Psychology, 91, 567-578 information seeking: Exploring and Assessment, 4, 169-183. types, modes, sources, and outcomes. 48 Ostroff, C., & Kozlowski, S. W. 42 Klein, H. J., & Weaver, N. A. Academy of Management Journal, 36, J. (1993). The role of mentoring (2000). The effectiveness of an 557-589;Morrison, E. W. (1993). in the information gathering organizational-level orientation Longitudinal study of the effects of processes of newcomers during early training program in the socialization information seeking on newcomer organizational socialization. Journal of new hires. Personnel Psychology, 53, socialization. Journal of Applied of Vocational Behavior, 42, 170-183. 47-66. Psychology, 78, 173-183. 49 Bauer, T. N., & Green, S. G. 52 43 Bauer, T. N., & Elder, E. (2006). Chan, D., & Schmitt, N. (2000). (1998). Testing the combined Onboarding newcomers into an Interindividual differences in

22 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

intraindividual changes in proactivity externally hired executives: during organizational entry: A Avoiding derailment – accelerating latent growth modeling approach to contribution. Poster presented understanding newcomer adaptation. at the Society for Industrial and Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, Organizational Psychology (SIOP), 190-210. Atlanta, GA.

53 Gruman, J. A., Saks, A. M., & 60 Conger, J. A., & Benjamin, B. Zweig, D. L. (2006). Organizational (1999). Building leaders: How socialization tactics and newcomer successful companies develop the next proactive behaviors: An integrative generation. San Francisco: Jossey- study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, Bass; Fulmer, R. M., & Conger, J.A. 69, 90-104. (2004). Growing your company’s leaders: How organizations use 54 Personal communication with Paul succession management to sustain Gomez, Microsoft (April 23, 2010). competitive advantage. New York: 55 Zimberg, K. S. (2007). On-boarding AMACOM. at Microsoft: A framework for new 61 Based on information included in employee success. In K. S. Zimberg Conger, J.A., & Fishel, B. (2007). & C. Paddock (Practice Forum Accelerating leadership performance Co-chairs), Advances in newcomer at the top: Lessons from the socialization: Ensuring new employee Bank of America’s executive on- success through onboarding. Society boarding process. Human Resource for Industrial and Organizational Management Review, 17, 442-454. Psychology Annual Conference, New York, NY. 62 Krauss, A. (2010). A qualitative study investigating the onboarding 56 Bauer, T. N., & Elder, E. (2006). of the hourly workforce. Poster Onboarding newcomers into presented at the Society for organizations. Presentation at Industrial and Organizational the Society for Human Resource Psychology (SIOP), Atlanta, GA. Management Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.; Van Velsor, E., & 63 Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. W., & Leslie, J. B. (1995). Why executives Stilwell, D. (1993). A longitudinal derail: Perspectives across time and study on the early development of culture. Academy of Management leader-member exchanges. Journal of Executive, 8, 62-72. Applied Psychology, 78, 662-674.

57 Watkins, M. (2003). The first 90 days. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

58 Pomeroy, A. (2006). Better executive onboarding processes needed. HR Magazine, 51, 16.

59 Dai, G., De Meuse, K., & Gaeddert, D. (2010). Onboarding

23 Used in conjunction with HRM best practices, effective onboarding will result in a faster learning curve for new hires, improved communication and a more productive and engaged workforce. Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Sources and Suggested Readings

Books and Book Chapters

Bauer, T.N., Morrison, E.W., & Callister, R.R. (1998). Organizational socialization: A review and directions for future research. In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resource management: Vol. 16 (pp. 149-214). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. The report looks at the socialization of newcomers in regard to three different trends: increasing cultural diversity in the workforce, the increasingly temporary nature of employment and downsizing. The authors provide a comprehensive overview of the research done thus far with regard to socialization and suggest that socialization can be better understood when considered in the context of the above trends. The most important areas for future research are highlighted, including the process of cultural learning, the effects of organizational characteristics, how new entrants develop power, pre-entry values and proactive behaviors other than information seeking. These authors encourage researchers to be mindful of the context in which one works, especially in regard to globalization and cultural diversity.

Bradt, G., & Vonnegut, M. (2009). Onboarding: How to get your new employees up to speed in half the time. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. What problems can an uninformed employee pose to an organization? The authors of the book address this question by explaining some of the most effective tactics in orienting new employees about organizational culture and norms and ways to enable newcomers to begin contributing as soon as possible to the organization. Not properly orienting new employees can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction on the part of the employee, but it also can ultimately hurt the organization as a whole. Consultants Bradt and Vonnegut have created the Total Onboarding Program and suggest ways to prepare employees quickly and efficiently, which ultimately leads to organizationwide success.

Sims, D. (2001). Creative new employee orientation programs: Best practices, creative ideas, and activities for energizing your orientation program. New York: McGraw Hill. This book provides strategies for companies that want to move the orientation process beyond filling out paperwork, toward familiarizing new employees with organizational norms and culture. The objective of this book is to inform those responsible for the orientation process how to effectively increase a newcomer’s understanding of the company’s mission and maximize new employee productivity. The author provides specific programs designed for an effective orientation as well as case studies for comparison. Preparation creates

25 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

increased success in the workplace, and areas for future research. The most looking at nonprofessional workers a comprehensive orientation program accumulated data and field studies are prior to entry into an organization provides the tools for that success. in the area of realistic job previews. and examining how these experiences Only a moderate amount of research influence the socialization process. Wanous, J. (1980). Organizational has been conducted on the other three In addition, the change and process entry: Recruitment, selection, and topics. The authors point out that that an individual experiences in socialization of newcomers. Reading, when one focuses on a narrow topic transforming from an outsider to MA: Addison-Wesley. within socialization, it quickly becomes an insider and contributing to the The author of this book addresses the clear that there have been relatively few success of the organization is studied important role that HR departments studies conducted, which accounts for further. In conclusion, the author finds play in an organization’s effectiveness. the large disparity between theory and inadequate support for the previously In addition to understanding the way data. held belief that prior work experience a business functions, it is important in similar settings will positively to understand the value of behavioral Watkins, M. (2003). The first 90 days. relate to socialization variables. The studies and how to effectively bring Boston, MA: Harvard Business School author emphasizes the importance new employees into an organization. Press. in future research to be mindful that This book offers solutions for what This book walks the reader through socialization is a continuous process the author considers “chronic human the necessary steps one must take in rather than a series of isolated events. resources problems,” including how the critical transition to a new role to choose the right employees for in order to become a successful and Allen, D. (2006). Do organizational the job, how to develop successful effective leader. The author describes socialization tactics influence incentive programs and how to the “break-even” point, which occurs newcomer embeddedness and effectively address conflict within the when the organization you work for turnover? Journal of Management, 32, organization. needs you as much as you need it. 237-256. The strategy outlined in this book New employees are a significant Wanous, J., & Colella, A. (1989). can be applied to a diverse spectrum investment for an organization, but Organizational entry research: Current of leadership positions and tailored at the same time, many organizations status and future directions. In G. to meet your specific needs. Based on experience the highest turnover rates R. Ferris & K. M. Rowland (Eds.), research and field work, the author among new employees. This creates Research in personnel and human describes how to build credibility a significant loss to the company resources management: Vol. 7 (pp. 59- during this crucial period, understand monetarily and productively. The 120). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. your own personal strengths and hypothesis of this study postulates This article focuses on four topics: the weaknesses, become a constructive that socialization tactics influence effects of realistic job previews (RJPs), negotiator and maintain balance. newcomer turnover and specifically the effectiveness of different recruiting that turnover is influenced by sources, job candidates’ job selection Articles embedding new employees into the process and the organizational organization. The author describes socialization of newcomers— Adkins, C.L. (1995). Previous steps that can be taken to entrench specifically the behavior and perspective work experience and organizational employees more firmly into an of the newcomer. To complete this socialization: A longitudinal organization. The findings of the study, the authors used research articles examination. Academy of Management study suggest that organizations that and previously unpublished work. The Journal, 38, 839-862. invest in continuous socialization key findings summarize past research The author of this article sets out methods have a lower probability of that has been conducted in regard to measure socialization variables worker turnover. Strong socialization to the above topics and suggests longitudinally. The study begins strategies for newcomers have the with organizational entry, specifically

26 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

potential to assist individuals in feeling practices to foster the desired level of more likely to engage in this self- more at ease by building relationships, commitment of their employees. focused control tactic. The newcomers’ minimizing uncertainty and creating attempts to frame their new situations structure within the new environment. Ashford, S. J., & Black, J. S. (1996). positively were related to increased Creating structural support enables Proactivity during organizational entry: self-reported performance and job new employees to feel a sense of A role of desire for control. Journal of satisfaction. independence and proficiency within Applied Psychology, 81, 199-214. their roles. Historical literature focuses on ways Ashforth, B.E., & Saks, A.M. (1995). that an organization influences Work-role transitions: A longitudinal Allen, N.J., & Meyer, J.P. (1990). individual behavior. This study examination of the Nicholson Organizational socialization tactics: examines a sample of organizational model. Journal of Occupational and A longitudinal analysis of links to newcomers and looks at the ways these Organizational Psychology, 68, 157- newcomers’ commitment and role individuals attempt to gain feelings of 175. orientation. Academy of Management personal control during organizational This article analyzes the prior work Journal, 33, 847-858. entry and how individual character of Nigel Nicholson, creator of the This study provides evidence affects the entry process. The study Nicholson model, which suggests that that newcomers’ organizational suggests that individuals proactively new role entry encourages individual socialization experiences are negatively seek information and feedback, foster personal and/or role development. related to role innovation after new relationships and negotiate Personal development refers to an employees have been on a job for job-change requirements. The individual’s intentional changing of six and 12 months, and positively actions of newcomers during the behavior and habits to fit the new related to organizational commitment entry process can be viewed in part circumstances and surroundings. Role after six months. Role innovation as manifestations of a desire to gain development refers to an individual’s and commitment were negatively control in the new setting in order to ability to change the role to fit his correlated at six months. The maximize performance and increase or her own requirements. Nicholson article suggests that organizations satisfaction. Individuals entering new believed that these two processes should be able to tailor newcomers’ work situations are thought either to were independent. The authors of this socialization experiences to foster a change their jobs or change themselves study suggest otherwise, and using the desired commitment-role orientation to create a better fit between the data collected from recent business profile. To facilitate analysis, the individual and the new job. Entry school graduates they maintain that authors build on the findings of into a new organization often requires the Nicholson model can be expanded Jones (1986), as well as their own an individual to temporarily lose and upon by considering the effects data from two successive graduating proactively regain feelings of control. of the new entrant’s desires as the classes of undergraduate and graduate Individuals with a high desire for interaction between personal and role business programs. In conclusion, the control sought more information, development rather than independent authors find that the best predictor socialized more, networked more variables. of role orientation, and the only one with interdepartmental colleagues, to contribute uniquely in multiple negotiated more job changes and Ashforth, B.E., & Saks, A.M. (1996). regression analysis, was the serial- tried to put a positive frame around Socialization tactics: Longitudinal disjunctive dimension. An important their situations. In addition to effects on newcomer adjustment. direction for future research will be individuals attempting to control their Academy of Management Journal, 39, to identify the processes by which surroundings, the study supports the 149-178. socialization tactics influence role argument that newcomers also can seek The authors of this study examine orientation. The authors also suggest control within themselves by focusing the effects of the socialization tactics ways in which organizations can on how they frame their situations. from Van Maanen and Schien’s (1979) facilitate and tailor their socialization Individuals who desired control were model and the effect of tactics on an

27 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

individual’s ability to adjust to new and Bauer, T.N., & Green, S.G. (1994). Socialization can be defined as the time unfamiliar work surroundings. Data for The effect of newcomer involvement in during which an individual obtains new the study were gathered from business work-related activities: A longitudinal knowledge and skills in order to become school graduates four and 10 months study of socialization. Journal of a productive member of an organization. after the start of a new job. Findings Applied Psychology, 79, 211-223. The authors of this study analyze the indicate that the methods were related This study analyzes a group of Ph.D. interaction between the newcomer negatively to attempted and actual role students based on data compiled from and the manager and how these two innovation, role ambiguity, role conflict, the time the new students entered individuals influence the socialization stress symptoms and intentions to quit. their doctoral program and again nine process. Specifically, the focus is on The methods were positively related months later. The authors look at the how knowledge is acquired within an to job satisfaction, organizational effects of behavior on socialization. organization—whether it is as a result commitment and organizational The findings indicate that the of the new employee actively seeking identification. In concluding the study, newcomers who actively participated in information or the manager providing the authors suggest that the interaction the socialization process and in work- information. The authors hypothesize between the tactics and newcomer related activities had less conflict, had that newcomers and employees can adjustment variables was stable over increased feelings of acceptance and work in conjunction to create a time. In addition, they comment on were more productive with greater more accommodating entry into the possible additions and enhancements to feelings of commitment toward their organization. The findings of this study, the current model and areas for future organization. These socialization which included 205 newcomers, 364 research. activities include having realistic co-workers and 112 managers, conclude expectations and learning about the that proactive behavior on behalf Ashforth, B.E., Saks, A.M., & Lee, organization prior to entry, attending of the newcomer was not a reliable R.T. (1998). Socialization and the same institution for undergraduate predictor of newcomer socialization. newcomer adjustment: The role studies and participating in doctoral The only predictor of performance, of organizational context. Human research. The authors conclude that job satisfaction and organizational Relations, 51, 897-926. role ambiguity is positively related commitment was accommodation, and The focus of this article is to review to submissions, and the possible different management behavior can be and evaluate a model that links context, explanation for this is that the more used to accomplish different goals in socialization and newcomer adjustment. research a student is engaged in, the socialization process. Managers and The authors also look at particular the more ambiguous his or her supervisors are an important part of reasons that an organization might adopt role may seem. In other words, the the socialization and accommodation particular human resource practices, a individual might not know how best process, and they can enable a more field of study that is generally missing to spend time in the many demands successful transition for a new employee from human resource management of a doctoral program. Organizational into the organization. research. It has generally been accepted commitment is also negatively related that organizations adopt HRM practices to self-confidence. Those individuals Bravo, M.J., Peiró, J.M., Rodriguez, based on the aggregate needs of the who are unsure of their abilities may I., & Whitely, W.T. (2003). Social company. The authors go a step further feel that they have fewer options in antecedents of the role stress and and also consider the best human moving forward. career-enhancing strategies of resource practices from a contextual newcomers to organizations: A standpoint. This research views the Bauer, T.N., & Green, S.G. (1998). longitudinal study. Work & Stress, 17, impact of socialization tactics with Testing the combined effects of 195-217. regard to three contextual variables: newcomer information seeking and This study suggests that there are two mechanistic/organic structure, manager behavior on socialization. overriding factors that provide for organization size and job design. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 72-83. a successful socialization transition:

28 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

1) socialization tactics and 2) the experience continuing socialization who were successfully integrated behavior of managers, supervisors and information and insight into role into the organization early on in the co-workers. The authors analyze the expectations and career progression, as socialization process. The relationship results of initial socialization strategies opposed to experiencing inconsistent between newcomer performance and and what effects associations with socialization. Interaction with team performance was also evaluated, peers in the workplace have on new- superiors and networks of support and results indicated that team employee stress levels and work-role also create feelings of acceptance into performance was an accurate predictor performance. The findings suggest that the organization, but newcomers who of individual performance and vice these variables have a positive impact do not receive consistent support are versa. Because group-based projects on the socialization of newcomers. more likely to feel disconnected from are an increasingly common part of the Creating a relationship with managers the organization as a whole. work experience, it is important for resulted in less role ambiguity and personnel departments to understand increased the success of work-related Chao, G.T., O’Leary-Kelly, A.M., the dynamic between individuals and adjustment. Nurturing a relationship Wolf, S., Klein, H.J., & Gardner, P.D. teams and know how to properly with co-workers also resulted (1994). Organizational socialization: integrate these two elements. How in positive career enhancement. Its content and consequences. Journal a newcomer interacts and assimilates Having initial positive socialization of Applied Psychology, 79, 730-743. into a new team is an important field experiences in a new organization can This article provides a review of the of research and will allow for more lead to lasting positive effects on the socialization research done thus far and effective integration, ultimately leading organization as a whole. These tactics specifically looks at the relationship to a stronger and more successful reduce stress and encourage individuals between different strategies for organization. This article more to become actively involved with the teaching organizational processes specifically looks at the role of teams strategies and the process. and the outcomes of socialization. within the high-tech world. Information about six socialization Cable, D.M., & Parsons, C.K. (2001). factors—proficiency, politics, language, Chen, G., & Klimoski, R.J. (2003). Socialization tactics and person- people, organizational goals and The impact of expectations on organization fit. Personnel Psychology, history—was collected from 594 full- newcomer performance in teams as 54, 1-23. time professionals and compared with mediated by work characteristics, This work provides analysis of the factors for three groups of individuals social exchanges, and empowerment. tactics that organizations use to create in different organizational transitions: Academy of Management Journal, 46, a positive fit between organization those who did not change jobs, those 591-607. and new employee. The authors who began a new job within the same Because many organizations are followed individuals for two years company and those who changed both moving toward group-focused and collected data from a series of jobs and companies. projects and work environments, surveys: the first distributed before it is more important than ever to students began their job search and Chen, G. (2005). Newcomer analyze the dynamics of teams and the last distributed 18 months after adaptation in teams: Multilevel the process of newcomer socialization college graduation. Results indicate antecedents and outcomes. Academy of in the formation of teams. The that two variables are associated with Management Journal, 48, 101-116. findings of this study indicate that two types of socialization tactics: The question of how newcomers both motivational and interpersonal newcomers’ fit perceptions and change with an organization over processes are accurate predictors of changes in individual values. This time is addressed in this article, which newcomer performance in a team study also indicates that perceptions studied employee performance. Results environment. The authors suggest of positive person-organization fit are of the study indicate that performance that to facilitate a smooth transition more likely to occur when newcomers improved the most for individuals into a team work environment, it is

29 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

necessary for organization members Although the field of research in adjustment are the appropriate criteria to communicate clear expectations, regard to organizational socialization to assess socialization progress. The goals and role requirements. Also is vast, the possible underlying patterns author suggests it would be useful beneficial for newcomer entry into a of organizational socialization have to consider the congruent processes group setting is choosing individuals been somewhat neglected. The authors that occur during the socialization with a high level of self-efficacy and of this article look at newcomer process. Building upon the empirical facilitating a sense of empowerment. learning, job satisfaction and intent research that has been conducted Empowerment results from creating to quit as indicators of socialization. might otherwise lead to the wrong clear expectations as well as team Results suggest that learning assists conclusion. This is a preliminary support and encouragement. In this newcomer adjustment during the early research paper, and the author suggests climate, teams have a greater chance post-entry period and has a positive building upon it in order to increase for success and productivity. impact on an employee’s intent to our understanding of motivation stay in the organization and job within an organization. Cooper-Thomas, H.D., van Vianen, satisfaction. This is consistent with the A., & Anderson, N. (2004). Changes presumption that after the initial entry Finkelstein, L.M., Kulas, J.T., & in person-organization fit: The impact period, individuals begin to feel more Dages, K.D. (2003). Age differences of socialization tactics on perceived and comfortable in their surroundings and in proactive newcomer socialization actual P-O fit. European Journal of Work their role within the organization. The strategies in two populations. Journal and Organizational Psychology, 13, 52-78. authors also suggest that context is of Business and Psychology, 17, 473-502. The authors of this article refer to the extremely important when analyzing The authors of this article explore the idea of fit as the degree to which an organizations, in that findings from influence of age on the effectiveness of individual’s personal values align with different organizations with extremely socialization tactics and the correlation the values of the organization. This different contexts cannot be used to of age to both socialization strategies study looks at possible explanations reach the same conclusions about and the resulting outcomes. Research and influences on perceived and actual socialization. was conducted with individuals from person-organization fit and how different the retail and academic sectors. In tactics can affect the transition process. Feldman, D.C. (1981). The multiple addition, the authors wondered The results of the study indicate that socialization of organization members. whether the style of information- perceived fit is influenced by socialization Academy of Management Review, 6, seeking influences the outcome of tactics, job satisfaction and group 309-318. the socialization process. Findings commitment, but these same elements The author of this study suggests that of the study indicate that there is a do not influence actual fit. The tactics because organizational socialization negative relationship between age and do not necessarily change an individual’s can be defined so broadly, research covert forms of information-seeking. overall perceptions but rather change his that has been conducted is not Both groups of subjects found that or her perception of the organization’s necessarily cohesive. This article lays information-seeking was an important values. Over time, perceived and actual out a more comprehensive view of part of the socialization process, fit become more harmonious and organizational socialization using but each group employed different aligned. three different perspectives of the strategies to obtain the desired socialization: the view of socialization information. Covert, or non-direct, Cooper-Thomas, H.D., & Anderson, as determining and learning information-seeking may correlate to a N. (2005). Organizational performance expectations, the view of sense of ineffective socialization tactics socialization: A field study into socialization as the cultivation of new in part because newcomers may assume socialization success and rate. skills and proficiencies, and the view of their organization is unwilling to offer International Journal of Selection and socialization as changes in team ideals. overt information or that co-workers Assessment, 13, 116-128. Also missing from studies of newcomer lack knowledge.

30 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Fisher, C.D. (1985). Social employee. Successful socialization found that GPA does not account for support and adjustment to work: can lead to employees remaining at socialization success or failure. Those A longitudinal study. Journal of an organization longer, to greater who had the highest and the lowest Management, 11, 39-53. feelings of job satisfaction and to GPA and did not anticipate their entry overall better fit for the employee in into an organization had lower levels Entering a new organization can the organization. The authors suggest of job satisfaction than those who had often be a difficult transition. Role there is a lack of research in regard to high/low GPA and had anticipated expectations are often unclear, which direct outcomes of socialization tactics. entry. can lead to high levels of stress. Direct outcomes include such results High rates of newcomer turnover are as effective learning of organizational Jones, G.R. (1986). Socialization costly, but unfortunately, they are not norms. In conclusion, the authors tactics, self-efficacy, and newcomers’ uncommon in some organizations. suggest that further research is needed adjustments to organizations. Academy Co-worker and supervisor support in this area to expand upon these of Management Journal, 29, 262-279. can help facilitate a transition and help findings and to explore their validity. This article looks at the correlation new employees in the socialization between socialization strategies and process. This research study explores Holton E.F. III, & Russell, C.G. personnel outcomes. Specifically, the interaction of workplace stress (1997). The relationship of the author was interested in how and organizational support. Findings anticipation to newcomer socialization information provided during the suggest that social support has a processes and outcomes: A pilot socialization process influences positive effect on reducing stress and study. Journal of Occupational and newcomers during the adjustment helping to smooth the transition Organizational Psychology, 70, 163- period. In addition, the self-efficacy of into a new organization. The 172. newcomers was examined, as was the author describes the importance of This study explores the effect of resulting influence on socialization. organizations offering some form of anticipation and non-anticipation Because a new employee’s assumptions support for newcomers. This includes on socialization into a new about an organization are often open channels of communication organization. The author suggests inaccurate, the newcomer must between new hires and supervisors. that new graduates with low levels readjust his or her perceptions, seek It can also be beneficial to create of anticipation one year later have new information and reevaluate role a mentor system in which new less organizational commitment, expectations in order to be successful. employees are paired with a co-worker motivation, satisfaction and feelings The results of this study indicate that whom they can ask questions. Finally, of fulfillment than those graduates socialization tactics are important support from other new employees can who highly anticipated their jobs. in the assimilation process and that ease the transition as well. Individuals who had feelings of different socialization strategies result anticipation were more likely to in different behavioral outcomes. Haueter, J.A., Macan, T.H., & Winter, have positive feelings toward their Socialization tactics are particularly J. (2003). Measurement of newcomer organization, higher levels of important in the orientation process, socialization: Construct validation of commitment and greater levels of during which new employees receive a multidimensional scale. Journal of involvement. Three factors were used information about role expectations Vocational Behavior, 63, 20-39. in this analysis: proper understanding and requirements. The ability to effectively and efficiently of the organization, the perception socialize newcomers is vitally important of the actual transition into a new to the success and productivity of an organization and understanding of the organization. The initial entry into organization and organizational norms. an organization can create problems Influencers such as grade point average with the proper acquisition of new (GPA) were considered, and it was information on the part of the new

31 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Kammeyer-Mueller, J.D., & additional important indicator of Klein, H.J., & Weaver, N.A. (2000). Wanberg, C.R. (2003). Unwrapping turnover is the level of commitment The effectiveness of an organizational the organizational entry process: felt toward an organization. And level orientation training program in Disentangling multiple antecedents and finally, experiences or events occurring the socialization of new hires. Personnel their pathways to adjustment. Journal of after entry into an organization can Psychology, 53, 47-66. Applied Psychology, 88, 779-794. also influence turnover. An individual’s Job orientation is a form of This article looks at several perception of an event is more socialization and training intended different factors in the socialization important than the nature of the event. to assist newcomers in becoming adjustment process, including The authors conclude by indicating familiar with an organization and role knowledge of the organization, that further research is needed to expectations. The authors of this study newcomer personality, outside fully understand the influence that wonder how important voluntary influences on role understanding, time has on turnover rates. They orientation programs are to the and organizational integration and hope to stimulate movement in this success of socializing new employees. team development. These factors and direction by initiating this important Following a group of new hires, results were compared to such factors conversation. both before and after orientation, as organizational commitment and the authors found that orientation turnover. Because turnover is so costly Kim, T., Cable, D.M., & Kim, S. has a positive impact on conveying to organizations, it is important to (2005). Socialization tactics, employee organizational goals, values and culture analyze and understand the possible proactivity, and person-organization to those who attend orientation when influences on newcomer retention. fit. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, compared with those individuals who Results indicate that individuals with 232-241. do not attend the orientation session. a proactive personality are more likely This article looks at the influences They also found that orientation to experience a successful adjustment that proactive behavior has on the training positively affects an employee’s into the organization, leading to socialization process and whether commitment to an organization. greater role acceptance, integration employee behavior results in changes Because these programs are one of and knowledge of the workings of the in the person-organization fit. the primary vehicles for conveying organization as a whole. Person-organization (P-O) fit refers important organizational culture and to the suitability of an employee for information, it is suggested that further Kammeyer-Mueller, J.D., Wanberg, a job or a task. Obviously, P-O fit is in-depth research is needed on this C.R., Glomb, T.M., & Ahlburg, inherently important for the success subject matter. D. (2005). Turnover processes in a of an organization, but the challenge temporal context: It’s about time. comes in finding individuals who are Louis, M.R., Posner, B.Z., & Powell, Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 644- best suited for a position. The authors G.N. (1983). The availability and 658. of this study conclude that proactive helpfulness of socialization practices. The authors of this study attempt to behavior is at least as important Personnel Psychology, 36, 857-866. analyze turnover in the context of as the socialization tactics of an The authors of this study analyze time and explain that when viewed in organization. Newcomers who seek different socialization tactics available this way, there are several consistent out and create meaningful relationships to employees and indentify tactics predictors of employee turnover. The with supervisors attain high levels of that are viewed by newcomers as most article begins by describing the main P-O fit and are as successful as the important and beneficial during the predictors and the relationship they organization’s socialization tactics in transition into a new organization. have within an organizational setting. creating a positive fit. Because the socialization process can One of the most reliable predictors affect the subsequent performance of turnover is the perception of costs of a new employee, and because on the part of the newcomer. An there are both direct and indirect

32 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

costs associated with the socialization mitigate turnover intentions, and new Meyer, J.P., & Allen, N.J. (1988). process, it is important to understand employees who held a high level of Links between work experiences which practices are effective and clarity expectation had a greater rate and organizational commitment produce desirable results and which of turnover than those individuals with during the first year of employment: practices are less beneficial. This article unmet clarity expectations. A longitudinal analysis. Journal of reviews several different socialization Occupational Psychology, 61, 195-209. tactics and discusses which are most Maier, G., & Brunstein, J.C. (2001). The authors of this study explore influential on a newcomer’s attitude. The role of personal work goals in individual work commitment at Results of the study indicate that newcomers’ job satisfaction and different points in the year following regular contact and relationships with organizational commitment: A student graduation. Findings co-workers are an important factor in longitudinal analysis. Journal of indicate that employees who had the success of socializing employees Applied Psychology, 86, 1034-1042. the most accurate organizational and subsequent commitment and This study looks at the relationship and role expectations prior to entry satisfaction. The authors suggest that between an individual’s organizational and those with the greatest ability a mentor program can be beneficial goals and their effect on a for self-expression had the highest to new employees and can increase new employee’s work attitude. level of organizational commitment. organizational commitment. Establishing job goals can create Because organizational behavior has feelings of satisfaction, structure been closely linked to turnover, it is Major, D.A., Kozlowski, S.W.J., Chao, and organizational commitment. important to understand the drivers G.T., & Gardner, P.D. (1995). A The findings of this study indicate of commitment and the variables longitudinal investigation of newcomer that a relationship exists between that motivate an individual to stay expectations, early socialization goal commitment and levels of new or leave an organization. This article outcomes, and the moderating effects employee satisfaction. Newcomers who analyzes the influence of the individual, of role development factors. Journal of felt their organization was conducive the job within the organization and Applied Psychology, 80, 418-431. to their career goals and objectives organizational characteristics to gain Because expectations are not always felt a higher level of organizational a better understanding of why an an accurate description of one’s commitment. As might be expected, the employee feels commitment toward actual role function, it is important to opposite was also true: those individuals an organization. In conclusion, the understand the consequences of unmet who had specific goals but felt that their authors find that self-expression expectations. The authors of this study organization did not create the proper warrants further analysis, but go one step further, and rather than conditions to attain those goals had a preliminary results indicate that this simply explaining the consequences lower level of commitment. To maintain variable is an important indicator of of unmet expectations, such as lack of commitment over time, it is important newcomer turnover. commitment and increased turnover, that individuals reach a level of goal they discuss possible ways to mitigate success in the workplace. In conclusion, Morrison, E.W. (1993a). Longitudinal the negative impact of a newcomer’s the authors explain that individuals have study of the effects of information unmet expectations. This study a strong affinity to create their own seeking on newcomer socialization. suggests that negative effects can at socialization tactics. Newcomers who Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 173- least partially be alleviated by involving enter an organization with specific goals 183. supervisors and co-workers in the evaluate their organizational experiences This article analyzes the connection role development process. Working in based on the ability to achieve their between new employee socialization groups and teams can create a system personal goals. tactics and proactive information- of support and lessen the negative seeking. Such strategies on the part of effects of unmet role expectations. the newcomer can accelerate and assist However, this form of support did not the transition into an organization.

33 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

More than 100 accountants were commitment toward an organization, such as job structure, strategies and followed. The more frequently and role expectations and individual group culture, the author of this article persistently an individual sought out attitude. Although the importance begins to ask questions about the rate information regarding his or her role of these relationships has been at which new employees move beyond and specific job expectations, the understood for some time, the exact the initial stages of socialization and quicker and more successfully the nature of the relationship remains the types of interactions that help person was able to assimilate, become relatively unknown. What types of facilitate this process. A relatively quick comfortable in the organization’s relationships are most beneficial to socialization period is desirable for culture and fully embrace the the socialization process? The author both the organization and the new socialization process. analyzes relationships with both strong employee. An individual ready to move and loose ties, as well as those that beyond the socialization process means Morrison, E.W. (1993b). Newcomer are diverse and homogeneous, in an that job anxiety is reduced, and the information seeking: Exploring attempt to understand the socialization focus can be on job performance—and types, modes, sources, and outcomes. process from the perspective of the for an organization it means increased Academy of Management Journal, 36, social network. productivity. In conclusion, the article 557-589. suggests that organizations may be able This study addresses the limitations Ostroff, C., & Kozlowski, S.W.J. to increase the speed of socialization of previous socialization research (1992). Organizational socialization by initiating interaction between strategies, in that the author takes as a learning process: The role of new employees and insiders by into account the fact that newcomers information acquisition. Personnel creating a mentor system, conducting are engaged individuals who actively Psychology, 45, 849-874. performance evaluations and setting up seek out information about their The authors of this study wanted to social activities, among others. organization and the environment find out what type of information they will be entering. New employees acquisition newcomers go through Reio, T.G., & Callhan, J.L. (2004). are an important factor in the during the socialization process. Affect, curiosity, and socialization- success or failure of the socialization Results indicate that new employees related learning: A path analysis of process. Individuals who actively seek rely on co-workers and supervisors antecedents to job performance. information about their organization as valuable knowledge centers. The Journal of Business and Psychology, 19, are generally found to successfully type of information an individual is 3-22. experience socialization. It was found seeking was found to determine whom How an individual’s emotions that newcomers discriminately seek the newcomer approaches. Because such as anxiety and anger influence out information from different sources the socialization process is vital to the the socialization learning process is depending on their objective. long-term success of an organization, the focus of this article. Data were it is valuable to understand how collected from over 200 employees Morrison, E.M. (2002). Newcomers’ newcomers acquire pieces of in service industries, and anxiety was relationships: The role of social information. Information-seeking was found to negatively influence curiosity, network ties during socialization. found to be at least as important as the organizational learning and job Academy of Management Journal, 45, formal socialization process. performance, while anger was a positive 1149-1160. influence on these same elements. This article looks at the correlation Reichers, A.E. (1987). An Because these emotions are such a between the socialization process and interactionist perspective on newcomer determinant of job performance and how it is affected by relationships. socialization rates. Academy of outlook, the authors suggest ways to Relationships between new employees Management Review, 12, 278-287. mitigate the negative effects through and their peers and supervisors Because socialization research has specific job learning processes and, as a have an effect on an individual’s largely focused on situational factors, result, influence overall job satisfaction.

34 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

Riordan, C.M., Weatherly, E.W., socialized more successfully with entry. For example, individuals with a Vandenberg, R.J., & Self, R.M. (2001). the support of a social network and lower level of self-efficacy were more The effects of pre-entry experiences relationships with co-workers and influenced by training processes than and socialization tactics on newcomer supervisors whom the newcomer can those individuals who entered the attitudes and turnover. Journal of turn to with questions and requests for organization with higher levels of self- Managerial Issues, 13, 159-176. information. Many organizations fail in efficacy. Pre-entry experiences can and do this regard because of the existence of influence a newcomer’s perspective several common myths. For example, Saks, A.M., & Ashforth, B.E. (1996). of the organization that he or she is managers often believe that the Proactive socialization and behavioral getting ready to join. The selection best new employees will be fine on self-management. Journal of Vocational process is considered to be part of their own, that simply disseminating Behavior, 48, 301-323. the socialization phase, during which information allows the employee access Entering a new organization can lead an individual begins to form views of to what he or she needs, and that new to feelings of uncertainty and tension. the organization. This article analyzes employees will be able to successfully The authors continue the study of pre-entry and post-entry socialization sift through the given information. self-management in the socialization tactics and experiences together Many managers also believe that process, finding that emotions such as and the influence they have on a introductions to co-workers are all that anxiety, tension and stress are related newcomer’s work-related attitudes. is needed to make a newcomer feel to a newcomer’s ability to adjust to a The recruitment and training processes comfortable. Clinging to these myths new role and organizational norms. are costly for organizations, and so it is will often lead to longer periods for a Emotions also related to an individual’s in the best interest of an organization new employee to become a productive relationship management ability. to understand the most successful member of the organization. The findings of this study, which are way for a newcomer to integrate into consistent with previous research, an organization and its culture. The Saks, A.M. (1995). Longitudinal field indicate that there is a relationship authors suggest that socialization investigation of the moderating and between a newcomer’s ability to cope tactics should be associated with mediating effects of self-efficacy on and his or her active versus passive the attitudes of the newcomer as the relationship between training and participation in the socialization well as a newcomer’s perception of newcomer adjustment. Journal of process. Active participation includes work satisfaction, intent to stay and Applied Psychology, 80, 211-225. information-seeking, goal-setting and organizational commitment. Self-efficacy is one’s ability to become a self-management. Individuals who are productive member of an organization active in their socialization process Rollag, K., Parise, S., & Cross, R. and to properly accomplish a given generally have reduced feelings of (2005). Getting new hires up to speed task within that organization. The uncertainty and general anxiety. quickly. MIT Sloan Management purpose of this article is to analyze Review, 46, 35-41. the relationship between self-efficacy Saks, A.M., & Ashforth, B.E. (1997). Rapid onboarding is the process and the socialization process and the Organizational socialization: Making by which new employees become effect of self-efficacy on employees sense of past and present as a prologue contributing and productive members during the first year after employment. for the future. Journal of Vocational of an organization. This is of vital The study focused on attitudes Behavior, 51, 234-279. interest because if an individual and behaviors with regard to one’s The 1990s were a period of rapid does not successfully become job and the resulting levels of self- growth in the field of organizational integrated into the system, feelings efficacy. Findings indicate that there socialization. This article reviews of job dissatisfaction and decreased is a correlation between socialization the culmination of research from performance can result. This article tactics and a newcomer’s perceptions the previous five years. Patterns and suggests that employees will become and level of self-efficacy prior to trends in the field of study are covered,

35 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

as well as the major theoretical theory that the situation rather than indicate that newcomers predominantly perspectives. The major areas of focus an individual’s personality is a better use referents from inside their are socialization tactics, socialization predictor. organization rather than from outside training, socialization learning and the organization. Interestingly, content, group socialization, and Saks, A. M., Uggerslev, K. L., & newcomers associated the use of moderators, mediators and individual Fassina, N. E. (2007). Socialization referents with a negative perception differences. In conclusion, the authors tactics and newcomer adjustment: of their own performance. Possible address possible areas for further A meta-analytic review and test of a explanations might be that individuals exploration. Research has positively model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, view information-seeking from outside contributed to the understanding 70, 413-446. sources as a weakness. Newcomers of how newcomers adjust to new This article discusses the importance might be concerned that using organizational situations and their and effectiveness of socialization referents could be viewed as a sign ability to become productive members tactics on the process and success of of weakness or that they should have of that organization. The socialization onboarding. The authors attempt to prior knowledge of this information. process has been found to decrease speak to the limitations of socialization The authors conclude that because stress and contribute to increased levels strategies and suggest other possible socializing new employees is so vital of job satisfaction. theories. Findings of this study to the success of an organization, indicate that there is a relatively strong understanding information-seeking Saks, A.M., & Ashforth, B.E. (2000). relationship between socialization behavior is central to newcomer The role of dispositions, entry tactics and a new employee’s ability to adjustment. stressors, and behavioral plasticity successfully adjust to an organization theory in predicting newcomers’ and the organization’s culture. Sias, P.M., Kramer, M.K., & adjustment to work. Journal of Jenkins, E. (1997). A comparison Organizational Behavior, 21, 43-62. Settoon, R.P., & Adkins, C.L. (1997). of the communication behaviors of Because individuals react differently to Newcomer socialization: The role of temporary employees and new hires. similar circumstances, to successfully supervisors, coworkers, friends and Communication Research, 24, 731-754. predict behavior one must consider family members. Journal of Business & The information-seeking behaviors both the context of the situation and Psychology, 11, 507-516. of temporary employees versus new the organizational factors influencing The authors of this article explore the hires is the topic of discussion for the newcomer. The objective of this use of referents by new employees these authors. Research suggests article is to examine environmental in the decision-making process. that compared with permanent factors in relation to a new employee’s Individuals were surveyed at different employees, temporary employees ability to successfully and effectively intervals after initial entry into a new are less concerned with creating a adjust to his or her new role. The organization. Findings show that positive impression and image with authors studied self-efficacy in relation depending on the amount of time supervisors and, as a result, seek to four job-related stressors—including that has passed since entry into an information less frequently than those conflict and expectations—and the organization, newcomers use different hired permanently. In addition, these ability to predict a newcomer’s capacity groups for reference. At the time of individuals are less likely to provide for adjustment. The conclusion of the the first survey, which was the closest information to others and are therefore study indicates that there is minimal point after hire, newcomers most more likely to find themselves isolated support for the role of personality routinely used friends and family as in terms of communication and and behavioral plasticity theory referents, and at the time of the second information. Temporary employees in successfully predicting a new survey, individuals had begun to use lack a connection to their organization employee’s ability to adjust to work. co-workers and supervisors as referents and their role within the organization. The study results also support the for decision-making. Overall, results It is suggested that this lack of

36 Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success

communication on the part of the Wanberg, C. R., & Kammeyer-Mueller, perception of negative job information, temp can indicate an organization’s J. D. (2000). Predictors and outcomes which resulted in early entry turnover. inability to innovate and inability of proactivity in the socialization Individuals who were part of the to effectively provide information. process. Journal of Applied Psychology, experimental group and who stayed in The authors offer suggestions for 85, 373-385. the organization beyond four weeks organizations to improve new-hire This article seeks to provide new were found to have intentions of learning and active communication understanding on the productivity remaining with the organization for with temporary employees. of employees and how it is related to more than a year and felt increased the socialization process. Socialization levels of job satisfaction. Van Vianen, A.E.M. (2000). Person- refers to how newcomers gather organization fit: The match between information, obtain feedback and Wesson, M.J., & Gogus, C.I. (2005). newcomers’ and recruiters’ preferences create connections with co-workers Shaking hands with a computer: for organizational cultures. Personnel and supervisors, and what their An examination of two methods of Psychology, 53, 113-149. organizational outlook is. Results newcomer orientation. Journal of The authors of this study were indicate that an individual with a Applied Psychology, 90, 1018-1026. interested in the relationship between proactive personality is more likely The authors of this study explore employees and their organizations— to have a positive and effective the effectiveness of computer- also known as person-organization socialization experience. Personality based orientation programs on the (P-O) fit. They believed that prior is important in this process; a new socialization process. Newcomers research on the topic was limited employee who is an extrovert is in the study either participated in a in its approach in that it made the more likely to seek out feedback social-based orientation or a computer- assumption that individuals seek and communicate with peers in the based orientation on an individual out organizations that have similar organization. level. Findings indicate that although values as themselves and that mutual information content was not negatively attraction can account for similar Waung, M. (1995). The effects of affected, individuals who participated individuals within an organization. self-regulatory coping orientation on in the computer-based program The current study focuses on the newcomer adjustment and job survival. felt lower levels of organizational role of individuals’ favoritism for Personnel Psychology, 48, 633-650. commitment and satisfaction. organizational cultures. The results In this study, one group of new indicate that similar preferences employees (the comparison group) was for people and personality exist for given information regarding negative individuals within an organization, but job features and ways to cope with that such characteristics as motivation those negative aspects, and another and conscientiousness are not as group, the experimental group, was homogenous. A possible explanation given the same information and might be that these characteristics provided with additional training to are more position-specific rather increase self-efficacy to effectively than organization-specific, and so it deal with these possible negative is possible that a greater degree of situations. The original hypothesis preference variation exists. said that the comparison group would demonstrate higher levels of turnover than the experimental group, but in fact, the opposite was found to be true. The additional training provided to the experimental group created a

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