Our onboarding program is divided into two categories: new employee orientation onboarding program and company introduction onboarding program at the integration phase after M&A.
The reality is that one out of 5 new hires quits in their first 45 days and approximately 30% of employees don’t make it past their first year. The research is clear; a systematic and comprehensive onboarding process is good for both employee and employer. In fact, formal onboarding increases the chance of keeping a new employee for at least 3 years by 69%. In one study by the Bureau of Labor, statistics indicate employees were productive two months earlier with an effective program. Employees get up to speed quicker and stay on the job longer when their first year experience is well managed.
Our onboarding program is a powerful tool to assimilate employees, both newly hired and newly acquired, by offering a concrete grounding of values and cultures in the company for all employees to work and communicate effectively with each other.
The program offers specific content menus for each company customized to their characteristics and interests which express how and what to convey in messages to their new employees. Our program has an easy plug-in template structure that saves production time. To make it easier to start your initial phase, Waterview Consulting can create the draft program using information on your company website or company brochures. You can add more information or edit using the live view of the program.
Onboarding Production Process
2.
Drafting
3.
Production
4.
Delivery
1.
Consulting
1. Consulting Phase
-
Discuss the main message and objective that you want to communicate with employees in your onboarding program.
-
Decide which content menus to introduce.
-
Discuss overall design theme.
2. Drafting Phase
-
Presents at least two design themes.
-
Plug in information such as corporate missions, history, corporate structure and other resources to the program obtained in the consulting phase.
-
Ask for our customer to review the draft. Add any alteration to finalize the draft.
3. Production Phase
-
Finalize the design theme and propagate to other pages.
-
Insert information, images, narratives, background music, videos and animation effectively into the program template.
-
Develop interactive functions and test pages.
-
Customer has 2 opportunities to review and edit during this production phase.
4. Types of Delivery
-
Delivery by a link. Employees can print out their certificate of completion as they successfully finish the program.
-
Delivery by uploading to LMS (Learning Management System) that allows managers to track and manage employees’ participation and progress.
New Employee Orientation Onboarding
According to the statistics of the U.S. branch of the Leadership Council, a UK based research institution, on average, one in five people resigns within the first 45 days of hiring. Approximately 30% of employees don’t make it past their first year. In fact, formal onboarding increases the chance of keeping a new employee for at least 3 years by 69% and another study showed employees were productive two months earlier with an effective program.
Lack of a structured onboarding program welcoming new employees into the company is one of the reasons of poor retention. Without important information such as the company's management philosophy, mission statement, vision, culture, history, direction, and the relationship between that person's work and corporate goals, it would be difficult to keep motivation and a sense of belonging at a high level for newly hired employees.
In addition, by incorporating and offering a clear overview of an employee training plan, career-up plan, employee handbook to explain compliance issues, internal regulations, newly hired employees feel more welcomed and prepared. It also creates a sense of responsibility and employee engagement leading to a better performance at the new workplace.
Onboarding program is an essential tool for new hires to perform at a high level from the day 1.
Onboarding at M&A Integration Phase
The most important thing in the corporate integration phase after corporate merger or acquisition is devising a plan to retain key persons on the acquired side in the company. There are many cases where the key human resources leave the acquired company during the integration phase, fearing that the culture and the value of companies are misaligned and get lost when the business strategy changes. Employees who hold the core roles in the acquired company, such as sales and manufacturing, and frequently may not participate in the acquisition negotiations, but they represent the primary infrastructure of the company. Most employees working for US companies are specialists in their duties and it would be difficult for employers to hire the exact person with the same knowledge base and skill set. Worse, if they were recruited by a competitor, it could shake the backbone of the company.
First thing to do at the integration phase: Communicate!
The first thing the acquiring company should do to retain key personnel is to communicate with transparency. Employers must communicate the growth strategy and vision, history, culture and the global presence of the acquiring company.
A well designed onboarding program will accomplishes these objectives. Critical information such as integration schedule and the process, the reorganization plan, and how the acquisition impacts each division and individual, are key components of the onboarding program. This format is design to obtain maximum commitment and quicker engagement from the acquired company’s employees.