Attention General and Plant Managers; Onboard Your New Managers

By John Alleman 

A Familiar Scenario
   You’re the newly hired plant engineer. It’s your first day of work at a 250-employee food manufacturing plant. You meet with the HR supervisor and she tells you that your boss, the plant manager, will be tied up in meetings all morning. You spend two hours watching videos on lockout tagout, food GMP, and confined space entry. You then sign a series of documents for payroll and next you follow the HR supervisor around for 20 minutes to find an extra white smock and bump cap for you to wear. She then walks you through the plant to your new office. As you reach your new office, she tells you that she is late for another appointment and rushes off. As you look around your new office, you note there is no computer or phone. There are also numerous boxes and papers stacked on your desk. About 30 minutes later, the plant manager arrives and greets you. He apologizes for the mess in your office and informs you that your new cell phone and computer have not yet been ordered.
   Sound familiar? For many newly-hired managers, this scenario is all too real, leaving them to wonder, “Did I make the right decision in coming to work here?”

Why is this Important?
   New employee retention and return on investment (ROI) are the goals of any effective onboarding program. The successful integration of a new employee into your company can’t be left to chance. It needs to be a thoughtful, well managed process that acclimatizes the new hire to his or her new culture and makes them productive employees as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Consider the following points:

·       90% of new hires will decide within six months on whether or not to leave the company, according to a 2006 study conducted by the Aberdeen Group. Turnover adds costs

·       Well onboarded employees can be 25% more productive in their first year according to the same 2006 Aberdeen Group study. Texas Instruments discovered that a well-executed on-board program allowed new hires to reach breakeven productivity two months earlier than non-onboarded new hires

·       Other retention tools like bonuses and performance-based incentives may not be appropriate options during these difficult economic times

What Needs to be Done?
   The two main objectives of an effective onboarding program are to ensure that the new employee achieves a good person-to-organization (P-O) fit, and becomes a fully contributing member of your team in the shortest time possible time.
   The “P-O fit” simply means that the individual work culture and the company’s culture can be readily adapted together. In most cases, the individual’s culture will change more than the organization’s culture, but the organization’s culture will change, even if only very slightly. This is known as the “integration” method of acculturation: the process of both the person and organization adapting to each other’s new culture. It’s the most common method used in a manufacturing setting.
   Improved employee productivity has a direct impact on new employee ROI. In his book The First 90 Days, James Watkins describes how important it is to get to the “breakeven point” where the employee’s contributions will add more value to the organization than the value of resources that new employee has consumed.
   The model for an effective onboarding program is shown in Figure 1 and it illustrates how integrating a new employee requires both “hard” and “soft” skills and tactics.
   Assuring a good P-O fit requires the “soft skills” of leadership and insight into what motivates people. One critical skill is the ability to effectively communicate the organization’s culture to the new employee. This requires, of course, an in-depth understanding of that culture. One invaluable tool is the organization culture survey instrument available at www.ufstudies.net/tim/VITA/OCP.htm. IPC can assist in administering and interpreting the survey.

Figure 1: New Employee Onboarding Model

   Other “soft” tactics to consider include assigning a peer as a “buddy” or short-term mentor to help the new employee understand the unwritten norms of the organization’s culture. For example, employees who go out for lunch more than one day a week, or who leave before 4 pm, could be regarded unfavorably. A peer mentor helps the new employee understand and assimilate these nuances more quickly.
   A variety of “hard” tactics can also pay ROI dividends when onboarding new employees: in particular, effective training in skills the new employee needs to be successful. For example, our hypothetical new plant engineer may be used to a different type of CAD software than the one used in his new place of employment. A wise manager will immediately allocate time for focused training on the program.
   From our original scenario, nothing is more frustrating to a new management employee than struggling for weeks to get his or her computer and phone up and running. Have these items ready for issue and use before the new employee arrives.
   Fully explaining the business is another crucial “hard” tactic. The plant engineer may not work directly with customers, but the decisions he or she makes will ultimately influence how the customer is served and which new markets are accessible. All new employees must understand the underlying concepts of the business in order to make decisions that are congruent with the best interests of the company. Additionally, management bench strength is critical for leadership succession planning; it is important for all managers to understand how the business runs as a system and not just their individual functions.

How is this done?
   The following table outlines a sample training plan that can be easily customized for any new employee. Note how many different instructors participate in the training delivery. A successful onboarding program is not delegated to the human resources department – it’s an ALL HANDS effort.

 Table 1: Sample New Plant Engineer Onboarding Plan