Over the past decade, dramatic changes in workforce dynamics have compelled organizations to take a different view of recruiting and onboarding practices. When correctly implemented, such changes offer companies the opportunity to gain competitive advantage. What these organizations need to do first is understand the dynamics that are changing the face of the workforce and then establish and/or tailor recruiting and onboarding practices and programs accordingly. A number of factors contribute to this changing landscape.
First of all, the scarcity of talent has been a major concern of business leaders, as noted in two McKinsey Quarterly global surveys. In 2006 at the time of the survey, which polled more than 10,000 respondents, business leaders indicated “finding talented people as likely to be the single most important managerial preoccupation for the rest of this decade.” The second survey on organization, completed by more than 1,300 executives in November 2007, “revealed that nearly half of the respondents expect intensifying competition for talent—and the increasingly global nature of that competition—to have a major effect on their companies over the next five years. No other global trend was considered nearly as significant.”1 That, however, must be weighed with the environment caused by the economic crisis that erupted in 2008.
Massive layoffs across many industries, corporate bankruptcies and store closures, and mergers and acquisitions of many companies have now created a dynamic where more and more individuals are vying for fewer jobs. In addition, many companies have scaled back on ambitious hiring programs. While more talent may be available for jobs, there could be a mismatch of available talent. Individuals who are seeking new jobs as a result of the economic crisis might not have the appropriate skills needed for those jobs that are available. On the other hand, new industries, such as “green” companies and products, will arise that will create jobs and demand different skills than may have been seen in the past. Displaced employees from other industries might need to learn different skills for these new types of jobs. Hence companies need to reassess their staffing needs in light of the financial debacle that began in earnest in 2008 for not only current conditions today, but for when the economy turns around in the future and hiring demands increase. This will also cause companies to reevaluate their career development programs and processes to ensure they keep pace with workforce needs.
Another factor is that in the United States, baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964,2 are attracting a great deal of attention. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics News published in December 2007, total employment is projected to increase 10 percent between 2006 and 2016. The labor force filling these jobs will not only be more racially and ethnically diverse, but is also projected to grow more slowly than in the past. Part of this slow-down in growth is due to the aging and retiring of baby boomers. “The number of workers in the 55-and-older group [during this 10-year period] is projected to grow by 46.7 percent, nearly 5.5 times the 8.5 percent growth projected for the labor force overall.”3 This condition could potentially create a significant number of additional job openings. However, on the flipside, the global economic crisis of 2008 and beyond has the potential to create yet another situation where baby boomers remain in the workplace longer than anticipated to catch up on lost savings to retirement accounts. More flexible workplace arrangements may need to be made to accommodate the needs of an older workforce.
Then there is the explosive growth in emerging countries such as China and India, which has created a huge need for hiring often very young workers in large quantities and at a rapid pace, in order to keep up with new job openings that are being created.
Factor into the equation the introduction of Generations X and Y (those born between 1965 and 1975 and between 1976 and 2001, respectively4) to the workforce, and we see the need for a dramatic shift in the approach to selecting and retaining the best talent in the marketplace. Unlike the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) who preceded them, Generation X and Y workers often don’t adhere to traditional concepts such as employee loyalty or long-term tenure with one employer.
Generation Y, sometimes referred to as the Echo-Boomers, the Millennials, the Trophy Generation or Trophy Kids, or the Net Generation, among other names, is the group of people born anywhere between the second half of the 1970s and the mid-1990s to around the year 2000, depending on the source.5 This group offers a particular demographic challenge. According to an article in the McKinsey Quarterly published in January 2008, Generation Y’s world view has been shaped by a number of factors, including “the Internet, information overload, and overzealous parents. HR professionals say that these workers demand more flexibility, meaningful jobs, professional freedom, higher rewards, and a better work-life balance than older workers do. People in this group see their professional careers as a series of two-to-three-year chapters and will readily switch jobs, so companies face the risk of high attrition if their expectations aren’t met.”6
People have more complex needs than a paycheck and a workstation. They are affected and motivated by whether they feel valued by the company, whether their skills are appreciated and fully leveraged, and whether they feel challenged, fulfilled, and recognized for their contributions. According to Kaiser Associates, Inc., new recruits are looking beyond their early tenure at their new company; they are looking at what companies are doing to address their early career development needs, how quickly and easily they are able to become familiar with company culture and performance values, their ability to develop friendships and social connections, and the ease with which they’re able to handle the basic administrative needs associated with becoming a new employee.7
The structures of companies are also changing—in some cases with little or no forewarning. Unprecedented changes related to the financial turmoil in 2008 caused a record number of mergers and acquisitions of large financial institutions. This resulted in members of Organization A becoming new employees of Organization B overnight. Additionally, companies such as IBM use well-thought out company acquisitions to quickly fill critical skill gap needs. These strategies lead to two different cultures merging, a “marriage” that needs nurturing and caring so that productivity by the acquired company does not falter.
According to Kaiser Associates, Inc., a 2006 global study of more than 3,700 job seekers and 1,250 hiring managers, conducted by Development Dimensions International and Monster Intelligence, states that “32 percent of corporate employees who have been in their current job less than six months are already job searching.”8 Dissatisfied new employees can quickly become disengaged, significantly reducing their discretionary effort in the form of extra time, energy, and brainpower. They “down-shift” their naturally hardworking pace because they do not sense that anyone in the company cares. Equally harmful, they can have second thoughts about their job choice and be open to the opportunity to move companies. This is extremely costly to the company, not only in terms of the financial and personnel resources invested throughout the recruitment and onboarding processes, but also in terms of productivity lost and the compounding error of sending a newly trained employee straight into the arms of a competitor, not to mention the damage to a company’s reputation of being an unreliable prospective employer.
Taking these dynamics into consideration when planning onboarding programs is the natural next step after mutual talent and employer selection. Effective onboarding and orientation approaches can help new employees navigate a company’s complex processes, policies, tools, and culture. These programs can help new employees feel connected to the business and understand how their work contributes to the company’s success.
In this chapter, we provide insights into the overall onboarding process, including a review of the selection process that helps ensure a match between company and prospective employee expectations, and success factors for onboarding new employees and for what to do in the months thereafter. We share examples and lessons learned that IBM uses to 1) recruit via a structured interview process that focuses on employee skills and competencies needed for the job and 2) subsequently acclimate new employees through its robust new employee orientation program, with well-documented evidence of the positive results for the company’s bottom line, as well as for employee engagement, satisfaction, retention, and productivity.
In the talent management universe, the new employee orientation and mainstreaming process is known as “employee onboarding.” According to Brian Platz, Executive Vice President and General Manager of SilkRoad Technology (www.silkroadtech.com), in an article for About.com, he says, “Keeping in mind that companies never get a second chance to make a first impression, your business should make absolutely sure that new hires feel welcomed, valued, and prepared for what lies ahead during the new employee orientation or onboarding process.”9
Each “wrong” selection decision can be costly in terms of managing an employee that has been disillusioned or who doesn’t possess the appropriate skill to do the job, and even more if one factors in lost opportunity cost with clients. Hence, companies need to implement recruitment and selection processes, and subsequent onboarding programs that align the expectations of both the company and the job incumbent.
According to Kaiser Associates, Inc. having such onboarding programs “have become strategic tools by which companies are able to differentiate themselves from their recruiting competition.”10 If the company’s screening and selection process is robust enough, a new employee will start a job with the correct skills needed to succeed in that role, augmented by an initial excitement about the future. But if new employees are treated in ways that demonstrate a lack of preparation for their arrival, inadequate direction or training for their tasks, perceived ineffectiveness in handling their questions as new employees, and indifference or an unwelcoming attitude from their managers, they may quickly become disenchanted and fail to form a close bond with their new company. Without appropriate training on navigating the complexities of the new company’s business landscape and culture, new employees can feel stifled.
Since the early 2000s, IBM has hired thousands of new employees worldwide, with a critical need to select the right skills. Its mix of new employees is very diverse in terms of the number of countries where hiring occurs, the types of hires that come into the company via various sources, and the physical location of these new hires.
IBM has a significant global presence. According to the 2008 IBM Annual Report, IBM operates in over 170 countries, with approximately 65 percent of its revenue located outside the United States.11 Employees at IBM and its wholly owned subsidiaries totaled 398,455 in 2008 and increased 11,897 from 2007. The United States remained the largest country, with about 115,000 employees; however, about 71 percent of its workforce was located outside the United States, with increases in Asia Pacific and Latin America. “The company continues to add resources aggressively in emerging markets, particularly in the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India and China—where employment totals approximately 113,000.”12
Many of IBM’s new employees therefore come from outside the United States, and they include all levels of experience, from new college graduates to experienced professionals with years of industry expertise. Another group of IBM’s new employees come through strategic or business transformation outsourcing deals in which IBM takes over specific operations of another company, whose employees become IBM employees. From 2000 to 2008, IBM acquired over 100 companies,13 which also added significantly to its employee base. Lastly, about 40 percent of IBM’s employee population work remotely and beyond the confines of a traditional IBM office, such as from a home office or a client site. Bringing new employees into an environment where work colleagues are not co-located creates a need for special attention to ensure the new employee does not get “lost” or feel isolated. Each of these hire types has different needs and expectations that must be addressed as part of the onboarding process.
As companies study the dynamics that are changing the workforce landscape and design new onboarding programs and supporting processes or enhance existing ones, a number of critical success factors come into play. These factors are instrumental in selecting the right employees and quickly acclimating them into the company so that they achieve high levels of productivity early in their tenure. This not only benefits the company, but also helps the new employees achieve work satisfaction and meet their career goals and expectations. Based on IBM’s experience of providing formal onboarding programs over the past decade, these critical success factors include the following:
• Executive support—For any onboarding program to succeed, it has to be supported by senior management. Executives at the highest levels of the company must take the concept of onboarding new employees seriously and treat it as a business imperative. They have to provide adequate funding to design, develop, deploy, and maintain the program and act as advocates to ensure the entire organization “buys in” to ensuring its success.
• Requirements—The program needs to be reevaluated on a continual basis. Therefore, gathering requirements from managers, employees (particularly those that have been recently hired), and executives is key to ensuring that the program meets the needs of the various constituencies. It is also important to talk with leaders from different business units across the company to ensure their unique requirements are part of any onboarding program.
• Cultural differences—If a company is global, it must understand the cultural differences and needs of a global audience. What works from a training perspective in one culture might not be as effective in another culture.
• Mandatory attendance and completion—Whatever formal aspects of the onboarding program are deployed, attendance in and completion of the program must be mandatory. To ensure all new employees have ample time to acclimate to their new environments, onboarding programs cannot be optional.
• Holistic approach—Successful onboarding is more than just attending a class on Day 1; it is a holistic program that includes many facets from the day the person is recruited to months after the first day of work, when the new employee ends the “honeymoon period” and strives to meet longer-term career goals.
• Customization—One size does not fit all when it comes to onboarding programs. The needs of university hires with little or no job experience will be much different from those of 20-year industry experts who may have worked for multiple companies during their careers. Local cultural preferences need to be considered. That is, because some cultures are more collaborative than others, online learning may have nominal impact for employees who are used to high levels of collaboration. Furthermore, employees who did not necessarily choose to join the new company but were brought in either through an acquisition or merger, will have different needs than a recruited employee who made a conscious decision to join the company. This is coupled with generational differences as mentioned earlier in this chapter. Trainers must understand these various audience types and create an orientation program that is flexible enough to allow for audience differences. It should be noted however, that each audience doesn’t necessarily need its own orientation program. All new employees need to learn about “core” knowledge, including the company’s strategy, its culture, policies, processes, and other information. When there are audience differences, attention must be given to determine if customization is required.
• Content design—It is important to involve content design specialists in the design of the program to ensure that requirements are met and needed customization follows learning design standards. A well-crafted program designed by instructional experts, particularly for complex environments where multiple aspects of the program need to be customized, will yield a more pointed program that will truly meet the needs of the different audiences.
• Measuring success—Even the best onboarding programs need to be constantly measured and evaluated to ensure they are meeting the needs of new employees. Quickly changing environments and workforce dynamics leads to a continual need to update and even overhaul new employee orientation programs and onboarding practices. Measurements that determine not only program effectiveness and relevance, but also the impact on the business will help garner support across the entire organization. Benchmarking against other organizations ensures that onboarding programs do not become stale and allows the firm to leverage other company’s best practices.
According to an article by Laurie Friedman in the November 2006 issue of T+D (Training and Development) magazine, “Recruitment efforts bring potential hires to your door, but how well your organization manages the interview process will influence whether the candidate takes the position. It also provides the candidate with a long-term impression of your organization. The first impression can create a lasting impression, so make the most of that first meeting. Additionally, there are several crucial questions that need to be answered prior to the candidate’s arrival, such as: What will potential new hires learn about your company during the interview process? Are they kept waiting prior to meeting the hiring manager? Are employees friendly and welcoming? How is information shared about why your company is a great place to work?” Even if the candidates themselves are not hired, they may refer other potential candidates, and the company would want the referral to be a positive one.14
Any unique characteristics of the job should be explained to the candidate. These characteristics may be positive for some candidates but negative for others. For instance, a job might require significant travel. That could be appealing to some candidates; however, other candidates might not be in a position to travel for significant periods of time due to their personal situation. All aspects of the job should be explored during the interview process so there is a clear understanding of job expectations before an offer is made by the company or accepted by the candidate. Once the new employee is in the door, what was promised in the interview needs to become real. An onboarding program can help build this bridge.
We begin by exploring the first two components in the sidebar on the next page, “A Checklist of Actions for Bringing on New Employees,” which are related to recruitment and selection. To ensure that the best possible candidates are hired and ensure linkage to skills and competencies important to the company, IBM uses a refined behavioral-based interviewing process that has been successfully used in other large companies. This is a competency-based, structured approach to interviewing that focuses on an applicant’s past behavior and experience, which is an indicator of future performance.15 It gives managers and other interviewers a clear roadmap for selecting better candidates.
According to Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers™, “The premise behind behavioral interviewing is that the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in similar situations. Behavioral interviewing, in fact, is said to be 55 percent predictive of future on-the-job behavior, while traditional interviewing is only 10 percent predictive. Behavioral-based interviewing is touted as providing a more objective set of facts to make employment decisions than other interviewing methods.”16
In fact, one reason the structured approach works is that it focuses on the applicant’s behavior. In the behavioral-based interview, the applicant is asked to provide examples of behaviors from his or her past experience. Behavior is defined as evidence of what a person has said or done (or failed to do) in a given situation. For instance, if the candidate is applying for a project manager job role, the hiring manager is interested in determining whether an individual can perform project management tasks, what they actually can do and how they did such to achieve successful results. Typically, the questions are open-ended so the manager can get complete information on how the candidate handled themselves
Checklist of Actions for Bringing on New Employees
Based on IBM’s experiences with onboarding new employees, the following is a “checklist” of actions companies should consider to ensure their recruitment and onboarding programs and processes are effective:
in a given situation. Examples of questions the manager could use to determine a candidate’s ability to manage projects might be as follows:
• Tell me about the most challenging project you have managed.
• Describe a situation you have been in when you were faced with an uncooperative project team.
• Describe some techniques you have used to increase the productivity of the project team.17
Probing situations such as these will provide the manager a view of the candidate’s past performance and provides insights so the manager can assess whether the candidate was actually able to manage projects.
In contrast, in a more typical interview, the manager might ask general questions that only capture the candidate’s viewpoint and do not demonstrate that they actually have the skills they’re being hired to provide. Typical traditional interview questions might be as follows:
• Tell me about yourself.
• Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.
• Tell me about the skills you possess to manage projects.
• Have you managed complex projects in the past?
Questions of this nature will lead to general, even subjective, statements by the candidate and do not illustrate whether the person has been able to demonstrate the skills they supposedly possess. Additionally, the last question in this second list could lead to a simple yes or no response, which does not provide any useful information to the manager.
Behavioral-based interviewing benefits include assuring that the employees hired have the right skills for their jobs and are well-suited to their roles. Reliability is increased by using a consistent approach. This more effective hiring leads to both significant cost savings and an enhanced reputation in the marketplace.
At IBM, the behavioral-based interviews center around the concept of competencies. The activities and requirements of the job are matched with the knowledge, skills, abilities, and values described in the competencies. Subject matter experts, including managers and employees, confirm that the competencies reflect critical requirements for success on the job. The selected competencies provide the framework for interview questions and rating that are provided to interviewing managers.18
Once an offer is made, the onboarding process begins, which is covered in detail in the next section. Examples are used from IBM’s experience with new employee orientation over the past decade.
A formal onboarding program has a big impact on employees. It lets them know that people care about them, teaches them about the company, its culture, its values, and what it stands for and helps them learn how to find resources. It can have an extremely positive impact on morale and on how an employee views the new company. The need for onboarding programs is important from many perspectives, as is shown in Table 4.1.
In the late 1990s, IBM embarked upon an in-depth analysis to enhance its onboarding efforts. Stakeholder interviews with new employees, managers and executives, as well as other studies provided anecdotal evidence of positive differentiation between employees who participated in onboarding versus those who had not. At the time, onboarding consisted of a class, held on the first two days of employment. Maintenance of the program was primarily decentralized, which meant that each business unit determined what it wanted to include in the two-day program, how it would be administered, and whether their new employees would even participate in the program. This led to inconsistencies in how new employees were acclimated and what they were taught. Eventually the employee orientation process became repetitive, inconsistent, and inefficient.
In the early 2000s, IBM’s business environment started to change. More and more new employees were being hired in emerging countries outside the United States. IBM was earning increasing revenues from strategic outsourcing, a process whereby IBM provides IT support for clients. The company also introduced Business Transformation Outsourcing, which transforms and provides a client’s business process in areas such as human resources, procurement, customer care, and finance and administration. Often employees of the client joined the IBM workforce as part of these deals. Additionally, IBM was now aggressively acquiring companies as part of its strategy to quickly gain skilled resources and potential market share. In fact, its largest acquisition came in 2002, when it acquired PwC Consulting, the global management consulting and technology services unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Overnight, more than 30,000 employees from various countries joined the ranks of IBM.
It became clear that the existing two-day program would no longer meet the needs of such a changing new employee population, nor would a decentralized approach work where each country or business unit created their own versions of the program. In fact, extensive research yielded significant input to the creation of a new program. Wide-ranging discussions with IBM executives, managers, and new employees yielded the following concerns:
• Two days of orientation training was not adequate.
• New employees didn’t have a “go to” person who could answer basic questions.
• IBM’s intranet was a great resource but was overwhelming to new employees.
• Many new employees were remote from their manager and their peers.
• New employees didn’t feel “connected” to the company.19
As a result, a total overhaul of IBM’s onboarding program was completed, and in May, 2002, IBM deployed its new employee orientation program called Your IBM. As IBM instructional designers poured through research, best practices inside and outside the company, and input from internal studies, they came to several conclusions about how to change the company’s onboarding program. One of the first major assumptions was that onboarding needs to begin prior to the employee’s first day. Another was that the company’s values must be instilled right away and must be memorable so that new employees quickly confirm they had made the right employment choice.
According to Mel Kleiman, managing partner of the Hire Tough Group, which specializes in proven approaches to employee recruitment, selection, and retention, “Orientation should be geared toward reinforcing new employees’ ‘buying decisions.’ The focus must be on convincing them they made the right choice when they signed on.” Kleiman, also author of Hire Tough, Manage Easy—How to Find and Hire the Best Hourly Employees, say that employers have to address what’s foremost on employees’ minds. “These are the same issues that worry kids on their first day of school each year: ‘Will they like me?’ ‘Will I be safe here?’ ‘How hard is the work?’ ‘How will I be graded?’”20
In addition to first-day reactions, according to Craig R. Taylor, Senior Vice-president of Marketing and Business Development at TalentKeepers, and a contributing editor of T+D magazine, “Longitudinal research on employment patterns reveals what most experts agree are three fairly definable periods in the employee lifecycle, in which the risk of voluntary turnover is highest.” The first phase is the initial 30 to 60 days with the new company, where proper acclimation is key. The second phase is after 1 year to 18 months on the job. Productivity may be up at this point but the new employee may have certain expectations that may or may not be met. The third phase, according to Taylor, is after 3 years, when career growth expectations emerge. If expectations are not being met, the company is at risk of the new employee leaving the organization.21
IBM instructional designers and other onboarding experts considered not only changes to the Day 1 class component, but also introduced a preboarding component, and a continuum of learning activities and other support mechanisms that would span the employees’ first year. Resources were centralized, best practices were determined, and the global program was rolled out consistently throughout the company.
The next section offers an in-depth description of the various aspects of Your IBM, the onboarding program IBM has used since 2002. The program has gone through several major changes since 2002 to keep up with changing dynamics and a continual need to refresh the curriculum as company policies and practices change. In fact, every year or two the program is reevaluated to ensure it keeps pace with employee and company needs.
At the time of this writing in 2009, the program is going through another transformation to meet the needs of an evolving new employee workforce. This new version of the program is a result of extensive recent research from new employees, managers, and executives. One of the components that is under development is how IBM extends the new employee orientation beyond the first year and to reflect a more holistic “new employee experience” that spans the employee’s first two years. These changes are discussed later in the chapter.
Lastly, a robust measurement strategy helps to provide input to the reevaluation process. Specific examples related to the Your IBM program are further described in Chapter 9, “Measuring Success.”
IBM’s Your IBM onboarding program that had been in place since 2002 has various components that begin when the prospective candidate accepts the position at IBM. Once the individuals begin work, they participate in a multi-faceted orientation program that spans the new employee’s first year. This next section provides details of this program including the following components: pre-hire education, the new employee orientation program, and periodic “Touchpoint” calls. In addition, we cover the role of the manager and the new employee’s buddy.
After the selection process is complete, new employees should be interested in better understanding the company and its business, its benefits, and policies in a more intimate way prior to their official start date. At IBM a pre-hire website offers them the ability to get connected to the company, provides them some basic information that will be useful during their first few weeks at the company, and also offers valuable information for family members. While information may vary by country, typical information contained on the website includes such topics as:
• An overview of the learning program, including the objectives and operational aspects of the workshop and the subsequent learning activities
• Tips for getting started with completing the required forms needed on Day 1
• A pre-hire checklist to ensure new employees have all the information they need to begin work, where to report, and other useful administrative information
• What to expect on their first day at work
• What to expect in the first few weeks and months, with a focus on how to connect with other company employees
• A description of the buddy program
• Information on the employee benefits, medical plan choices, and career development
• Company values
• Guidelines for conducting business
• General company information
• How to order business cards so that the cards are ready as soon as the employee begins work
• Other local country content
The comprehensive orientation and development process for all IBM employees begins on new employees’ first day and continues through their first year at the company. All new employees—independent of hire type—engage in the Your IBM learning program for new employees, however, the workshop is customized based on hire type and in some cases business unit and country location. For these customized versions, there is core content that must be included to ensure consistency across the company, but flexibility is allowed to remove or add certain topics, depending on local need. Its key elements are
• A workshop during their first week of employment, which varies from one to two days, depending on hire type
• Introduction to a comprehensive new employee website (different from the pre-hire website described earlier) that provides easy access to all the resources new employees may need and is customized with their own learning and development plans for the first year
• A personalized online learning program that provides the next level of orientation to be completed over the next several months
• A series of Touchpoint webinars or e-meetings on topics that are important to new employees
The purpose of the program is to provide a holistic learning program to new employees so they quickly become acclimated to IBM’s values and legacy, which are the foundation of IBM’s business goals and strategies, and to provide the tools, tips, and advice that will guide new employees toward becoming successful IBM employees. Activities and discussions are planned around IBM’s values and business strategy, as well as how to effectively collaborate within the IBM matrix.
The program is designed to help new employees learn about the company and provide on-going support throughout the employees’ critical first year at IBM. The program explores the company’s history and its plans for the future so that employees can gain a broader context and deeper perspective of the organization.
The learning program blends online and face-to-face activities that help new employees learn about the company, connect with other IBM employees, and begin to grow their careers early in their tenure at IBM.
While the program is a view of an onboarding program that meets the needs of a new IBM employee, the components covered in the entire continuum—both the live workshop and e-learning components—should be considered as potential content for any company program. Through extensive research over the past decade, program topics have proven to be of value in quickly acclimating employees to their new work environment for maximum productivity.
The Your IBM workshop was designed not only to impart important information, but also to help create a learning community so that participants learn from instructors and guest presenters, as well as from one other. Employees often form a special bond with other new employees whom they meet in their first two days of orientation. The workshop typically includes topics such as the following, but the topics are customized based on hire type and in some cases by business unit and country:
• IBM leadership through the years—A historical view of how IBM leadership and strategy has evolved since inception.
• Company values—A strong connection to the company’s values and how these values drive employee behavior in conducting business and maintaining relationships.
• Company strategy—A view of IBM’s strategy and how the new employee would fit within that strategy. This topic is often covered by an IBM executive in the workshop, bringing additional insights to new employees early in their tenure.
• Matrix—IBM is a highly matrixed organization, with employees often taking work direction from one or more managers or other leaders beyond their immediate supervisors. The workshop helps new employees understand this matrix, how to work within it, and how to maximize the relationships and organization configuration they will encounter as a result of a matrixed structure.
• Benefits—Highlights of the benefits offered to all employees, including but not limited to health and life insurance, vacation and personal day policies, sick leave, flexibile work practices, employee services, and retirement planning.
• Compensation—Highlights of the overall compensation program, including the salary program, year-end bonuses, and other rewards.
• Career development—An overview of IBM’s career development process and how employees need to work with their managers and potential mentors early in their tenure to make the most of their career advancement. This module includes a discussion of the annual business goal setting and year-end performance appraisal process, as well as the individual development planning process for creating a personal career plan.
• Workstation setup—If appropriate, new employees are provided a laptop computer during the workshop. The employees are given basic instructions about their new laptops, including hardware and software “how to’s.”
• Tools and resources—An overview of IBM’s intranet, with a focus on those websites that are most beneficial to employees early in their tenure, as well as different IT applications they will need to process travel expense accounts, purchase supplies, find information on other employees via the corporate directory, and other useful items.
• Next steps—Employees leave the session with an action planner of things to do in the subsequent 30, 60, and 90 days and beyond, so that their first year is impactful and productive. This includes an introduction to the next component of the learning program, i.e., the personalized online learning component and the periodic Touchpoint calls.
In addition to this classroom experience, learning is provided to the new IBM employee via a new IBM employee website, which when initially developed in 2002, began as a well-organized and comprehensive source of relevant information and resources for the new employee. From a central portal, new employees accessed new employee information and resources, career development guidance, corporate strategy, company values, competencies needed, recommended books, and much more. Today, with the introduction of Your IBM+, the website has evolved into “The New IBMer Zone,” designed to help new employees easily find vital information, connect with helpful coworkers, and begin to build a sense of their IBM communities. For example, it provides new employees direct access to details about IBM’s business strategies, professional development, innovation initiatives, and productive online tools. The new employee can also receive customized development plans based on how long he or she has been with the company. Blogs, Wikis, social networking, and Web 2.0 innovations help new employees share knowledge and experiences with other IBM employees. There’s even a way to connect with other new employees hired at the same time. The New IBMer Zone is one of the most frequently visited websites on IBM’s intranet.
In addition to providing information and resources, the website is also the portal for the employee’s online e-learning program and planning tool, which begins with a four-phase series of key e-learning activities that all employees historically have engaged in during their first few months with IBM. New employees use an online tool to create a personalized learning plan composed of certain required and optional topics based on what is relevant for the particular employee. These topics are reviewed by the New Employee Experience team at least once annually for relevance and change over the course of time as new company practices, policies, and programs are deployed throughout the year.
At the time of this writing, the online e-learning program and post-orientation support described here is being updated in the new Your IBM+ program to reflect on-going support needed by new employees throughout their first two years versus just their first few months. This will reduce the “overwhelmed factor” reported by many new employees and provides employees what they need when they need it. Work-based and virtual learning activities provide active employee engagement in the process, and any “traditional” e-learning that remains in the program has been reduced in size/length to increase “consumability.” Designed to enable integration and alignment with business unit, job role, and geography-specific learning targeted at specific segments of the new employee population, the post-orientation learning and development activities expand the use of other “players” and programs in the new employee’s daily life such as his or her buddy, a mentor, peers and colleagues, and manager.
Another important part of the orientation and development process is a series of Touchpoint sessions, which are webcasts and e-meetings throughout the employee’s first year on important, often timely, topics for new IBMers. More than 9,500 employees participate each year in these calls on topics such as The Power of Mentoring, Manager/Employee Collaboration, Professional Development at IBM, Working Effectively on a Team, Setting Your Goals, Understanding Compensation, and Your 401k. Replays are available on the New IBMer Zone website, and surveys show a high satisfaction rating.
In Michael Kroth’s book The Manager as Motivator, he writes, “Employees inevitably point up when asked why the workplace is such a miserable environment. It’s the boss, they say, or their boss’s boss who makes it a depressing place to work. There is only so much you can do about the management chain, but my question to you is, ‘Are your employees pointing their fingers upward at you?’ A manager has more opportunity than any other organizational influence to directly motivate an employee. He or she has the most power to set the department’s organizational climate. Managers set the tone, translate organizational strategy into employee performance and developmental plans, provide the clearest link between rewards and punishment, and in virtually every other way stimulate...employee action more directly than any other force can.”22
This is even more critical for a new employee, who has made few connections in their first months and must rely on the manager for some of his or her very basic needs. From the beginning, managers are encouraged to reach out and welcome their new employees into the IBM culture. One of the biggest success factors that new employees cite as instrumental to their early development and acclimation at IBM is their managers and the relationship they establish with them.
The program has provided various ways for managers to get involved in their new employees’ learning, thereby establishing a good rapport with them. Manager Discussion Guides are made available to help managers assist new employees in their assimilation into IBM. These guides are provided after the new employee exits the orientation workshop and are meant to work in conjunction with the e-learning; discussion topics and exercises are recommended to help the managers be actively engaged in the new employee’s learning. This helps the managers in the employee’s acclimation to the company and allows a formal time when employees can ask clarifying questions. Managers automatically receive monthly updates on their employees’ progress in completing the online learning.
A buddy who helps with both business unit and job-specific information is assigned to the new IBM employee, whether that person is fresh from college or a professional hire with years of job experience. The buddy program is highly customized by hire type and in some cases might vary by business unit or country, based on need. For instance, employees hired through acquisition or outsourcing deals have a similar type of buddy program, but it is customized to their particular environments.
The buddy is assigned at least 10 days before the new employee’s first day to ensure that the buddy is available right from the beginning of the new employee’s IBM career. This buddy assists the employee in finding and learning about the essential information and people to help the employee get off to a quick and successful start, while freeing the manager from the time-consuming tasks of anticipating and answering new employees’ basic questions.
The buddy helps new employees navigate the organizational structure of the company and become familiar with key websites so that the employees are productive and engaged as soon as possible. Buddies also help with the basics, such as locating the site cafeteria, explaining processes, and giving new employees information on the local area if they have recently relocated. The buddy is also instrumental if the new employee is working from home or remote from an IBM office. The buddy helps the new employee learn collaboration techniques for working remotely but yet staying connected to work colleagues.
The buddy is typically an employee who has been at the company at least two to three years and who has similar skills and career interests as the new employee. They may spend as much as 10 to 15 hours with the new employee during the first 60 days. The buddy is separate from others who may be involved with hiring and orientation, such as a mentor, trainer, or the manager. If the connection is not working for either the new employee or the buddy, the employee can be reassigned a new buddy. Employees and buddies are surveyed after the first 10 days to determine early whether the match is working.
Buddies are asked to email new employees before their first day to introduce themselves and provide their contact information. The buddy plays a large role in the new employee’s first week. Following is a description of suggested roles the buddy might play in any company during the first week to ensure a fast and successful start:
• Assist manager with introductions to department members.
• Provide introductions to new team members, specific location information, and other pertinent information.
• Give a tour of the working area, including the restrooms, cafeteria, vending machines, copy rooms, fax machines, mailroom, confidential waste bins and conference rooms, if applicable.
• If the new colleague is located at a client location, share pertinent information regarding the arrangements.
• Provide some quick tips about surviving the first few days—include local “lore and ways of the world.”
• Point to useful information on working as a remote employee. Share personal experiences if applicable.
• Plan to “connect” with the new employee on a regular basis to ensure they feel comfortable with the company.
• Ensure the new employee knows where to find the buddy for urgent issues. Consider using email, phone calls, instant messaging, or face-to-face meetings.
• Provide information about new hire networks, as applicable.
• Hold on-going debrief meetings to ensure that new employees are comfortable with resolving issues.
A buddy assignment is typically an additional task the employee is asked to accomplish in addition to their regular work responsibilities. Employees that have been a buddy to a new employee have reported numerous personal benefits. It is a rewarding experience to be able to help new employees navigate their first few months. In addition, fulfillment of the role can be used as additional input to the employee’s annual performance assessment so the employee gets “credit” for taking on this additional role.
As part of IBM’s workforce strategy, the company often hires supplemental employees. Supplemental employees are hired and employed directly by IBM for a limited period of time and are often hired for a specific skill they possess. Supplemental employees require some introduction to company policies, practices, and tools so they can quickly be productive, given the short-term nature of their employment with IBM. Supplemental employees are provided access to the new employee e-learning program and are given a personalized learning program based on topics relevant to them since some topics may not be required given the short-term nature of their employment.
IBM’s new employee orientation program uses a very robust measurement process that leverages Donald Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation model.23 Employees complete surveys immediately after the initial orientation workshop, and at the 60-day, 90-day, and one-year marks. These surveys give regular feedback on the impact that the program elements are having on employees’ job satisfaction; their ability to assimilate; do their jobs; understand IBM values, strategies, and goals; and to work the IBM matrix.
In addition, managers of new employees are asked to provide feedback via a survey conducted periodically over the employee’s first year. This helps ensure managers give input related to the impact the program has had on the new employee.
Periodically, impact surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one discussions are held with new employees some time after their hire dates to capture additional data and application of what was learned in the training. An impact study conducted for program attendees in the United States from May 2003 to April 2005 indicates that the program had a highly positive impact on attendees when compared to new employees who did not go through the program:
• 50% greater retention rate for program attendees
• Higher annual performance assessment ratings for program attendees
In addition, the study revealed other significant results, showing that new employees who went through the orientation program
• Rated IBM higher as an employer
• Felt more comfortable understanding IBM and felt more integrated into IBM
• Were assigned to key work projects faster
• Collaborated with other IBM employees more effectively24
Managers and buddies are also surveyed to ensure a holistic view of measurement is collected. Output from this iterative measurement methodology is used as part of the improvement process for continuous updates to the onboarding program. Additional information on measures of success of the program is covered in more detail in Chapter 9.
This chapter has been dedicated to discussing IBM’s historic approach to onboarding and new employee orientation. The orientation program and onboarding processes have continued to evolve over the last decade as changes to the business and the needs of new employees have demanded refreshing and revising the program and processes. As IBM moved into 2009, it significantly expanded its focus on new employees from strictly learning and development. The new approach is now referred to as “The New Employee Experience” and is an initiative to look at and improve all aspects of the new employees’ experience, including changes to the Your IBM new employee learning program.
In 2008, input via a “jam session” and virtual workshop that Human Resources conducted with IBM employees, managers, and new employees worldwide provided insights into program and process changes. The results25 are summarized as follows:
• New employees of all types are impressed with the type of information they were receiving during the orientation. However, in many instances, they are somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information provided in their initial days with the company and expressed the need for ongoing support.
• Although the Your IBM program offered e-learning and Touchpoint calls following the 2-day orientation workshop, there was a need to revaluate the approach to post-orientation learning for new IBMers to ensure employees were effectively engaged and taking advantage of the content.
• In addition to the Your IBM learning program, a number of other learning programs are targeted at new employees based on their geography, business units, and job roles. The need arose to develop a global new employee program that was better suited to integrate with these specialized programs so that the new employee had a more holistic approach to orientation without redundancy from other programs.
• The design of new employee learning needed to enable easier and more effective customization for new employees joining the company as part of an outsourcing arrangement or acquisition.
• Innovative changes to the new employee learning design and delivery were needed to optimize learning delivery expenditures and ensure all employees had access to the program.
The input from the study provided the basis for the changes that are being implemented. IBM designed, developed, and recently piloted Your IBM+. This program replaces the previous version of Your IBM described earlier in this chapter. In addition to program changes, the team that supports the program, now called the New Employee Experience Virtual Team, changed its focus to evaluate the entire new employee experience in IBM, not simply the learning and development aspects.
Michael Cannon, Manager with New Employee Experience, Effectiveness & Success at the IBM Center for Learning and Development, says, “I can’t overstate the importance of all new IBMers having access to the information and resources they need to understand the history, values and culture of IBM, and to get off to a fast and effective start from their very first days with the company. The newly released Your IBM+, The New IBMer Zone, and the work of the New Employee Experience Virtual Team not only provide a great orientation to our company, they ensure that throughout their first 2 years, employees have access to critical information and resources needed to succeed and thrive in the dynamic, complex and exciting company that is IBM.”26
To ensure a consistent and integrated message throughout the two years of new employee learning activities, Your IBM+ is anchored by four themes critical to new employees of all types: 1) Being an IBMer, 2) Understanding IBM, 3) Collaborating across IBM, and 4) Developing myself and my career.27
The new program enhancements focus on several key areas including 1) identifying the main resources that help new employees become productive quickly and ensuring employees can find what they need without a lot of intervention, 2) driving a values-based culture and ensuring new employees understand the company philosophies and IBM brand, 3) better enable managers with the right resources so they can help their new employees succeed, and 4) ensure new employees have a clear understanding of how they can grow their skills and advance in their careers at IBM. The content that is taught in the new employee orientation training is also updated, with a focus on use of social networking technologies to help new employees collaborate with other IBM employees around the globe. This will not only help new employees in their day-to-day jobs, but it will give them a better appreciation of different cultures and what it truly means to work and collaborate in a global company.
The Your IBM+ program consists of three components28 that include the following:
• Pre-Employment—Learning material is provided soon after acceptance to ensure this important window of opportunity before day one with the company is leveraged to begin developing the soon-to-be employee.
• Orientation Day—A refreshed, one-day facilitator-led learning event as well as an option for a remote virtual facilitator-led version to ensure maximum coverage of new employees in all countries around the globe. Orientation day still provides a high touch kick off to Your IBM+ learning activities that will follow in the coming two years for each new employee. It emphasizes IBM’s culture/history/values/structure and the critical importance of collaboration and social networking to effectiveness in IBM.
• Post-Orientation Day—Employees are provided with on-going support throughout the employee’s first two years. Work-based and virtual learning activities enhance active employee engagement in the process, and any “traditional” e-learning that remains in the program has been reduced in size and/or length.
Program measurements are also updated to reflect the new facets of the program to ensure that it stays fresh and continues to meet the needs of new employees and IBM.
Talent selection is the process of finding the right person for the right job at the right time. This means finding the right person for the company and the right company and position for the person. An effective tool for this at IBM has been behavioral-based structured interviews.
As crucial as talent selection is, it is only the beginning. Employee orientation and onboarding are critical not only to employee productivity, but also to employee retention. Onboarding, especially when seen as a long-term process, determines in large part whether new employees find their places, begin to make contributions quickly, and discover paths for growth that makes them choose long-term involvement. Talent selection and successful onboarding are the linchpins of career development and employee engagement. They set the stage for everything else that follows.
Endnotes
1Guthridge, Matthew; Komm, Asmus B.; Lawson, Emily. “Making talent a strategic priority,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2008. p. 2. More than 10,000 respondents completed the 2006 survey. The 2007 survey on organization was completed by more than 1,300 executives.
2Sincavage, Jessica R. “The labor force and unemployment: three generations of change,” Monthly Labor Review, United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. June 2004. p. 36.
3United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. News. USDL 07-1847. Employment Projections: 2006-2016. December 14, 2007. pp. 1-2.
4Sincavage, Jessica R. June 2004. op. cit. p. 36.
5Generation Y. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y#Howe_and_Strauss:_.22The_Millenials.22.
6Guthridge, Matthew; Komm, Asmus B.; Lawson, Emily. January 2008. op. cit. p. 4.
7Kaiser Associates, Inc., “Making On-boarding Work: Driving Organizational Effectiveness through Improved New Hire Retention, Quicker Time-to-Productivity, Accelerated Career Advancement & Enhanced Recruitment Results,” http://www.KaiserAssociates.com, 2007: p. 3.
8Ibid, p. 4.
9Platz, Brian. “Employee Onboarding: One Chance for a Positive New Employee Experience,” About.com http://humanresources.about.com/od/orientation/a/onboarding.htm.
10Kaiser Associates, Inc. 2007. loc. cit. p. 4.
11IBM 2008 Annual Report. “Generating Higher Value at IBM,” p. 2, ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/annualreport/2008/2008_ibm_higher_value.pdf.
12IBM 2008 Annual Report. “Management Discussion: Employees and Related Workforce,” p. 1, http://www.ibm.com/annualreport/2008/md_7erw.shtml.
13IBM 2008 Annual Report. loc. Cit. p. 1.
14Friedman, Laurie. “Are You Losing Potential New Hires at Hello?” T+D magazine, November, 2006: p. 25.
15IBM Human Resources Team. IBM Intranet. Employment—External Hiring Website.
16Hansen, Katharine, Ph.D. “Quintessential Careers™: Behavioral Interviewing Strategies for Job Seekers,” http://www.quintcareers.com/behavioral_interviewing.html.
17Pass, John; Delany, Tanya; Thurston, Chuck. “Interviewing: IBM’s Behavioral Based Structured Approach: Steps,” Manager QuickView. Modified March 31, 2006.
18IBM Human Resources Team. IBM Behavioral Based Structured Interview Reference Guide. p. 4.
19Bopp, Mary Ann; Wasson, Maura. “Rapid Acclimation: IBM’s Innovative Approach to Training New Employees” presentation. May 9, 2006. p. 8.
20Cochran, Barbara Ann. Hire Touch Group. “New Employee Orientation Programs: The Key to Starting Employees Off Right,” http://www.babyshopmagazine.com/spring00/employee.htm.
21Taylor, Craig R. “The Tides of Talent,” T+D, April, 2003. pp. 34–38.
22Kroth, Michael. The Manager as Motivator (Westport, CT; Greenwood Press, Praeger Publishers, 2006), Chapter 1.
23Kirkpatrick, D.L. Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 1994).
24Your IBM Team. “IBM: New Employee Learning Program. Impact Measurement Results,” October 2005.
25Cannon, Michael. “New Employee Experience, Effectiveness, and Success.” IBM Corporation, April 8, 2009.
26Ibid.
27Ibid.
28Ibid.