Think Globally, Onboard Locally: Tips for Designing a

Global New Hire Experience Program

Nicole Dessain
Founder & Principal Consultant
talent.imperative inc

July 30, 2014

Meet the presenter: Nicole Dessain

Education
University of Hildesheim: International
Information Management (M.A.)
Career
Founder of talent.imperative, a next
generation talent management consultancy
Senior Manager at Accenture, management
consulting focus on talent strategy & talent
acquisition projects and research
DaimlerChrysler Financial Services expat and
positions across talent management
Hobbies/Interests
Travel

Travels
Most memorable adventureLondon
2012 Olympics!

Horseback Riding

Random Facts

Art & Architecture

I survived two surfing lessons

I went skydiving once!

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Yes, this accent really is German

Todays agenda
Understand impact of macroeconomic

developments on global talent strategy

Learn about key elements of a core onboarding
experience that allows for local customization
Receive tips and resources to get you started with
designing a global onboarding program

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Key talent trends in 2014

We used a unique method to identify 10 talent trends that will shape 2014.
1.

A key imperative: Solving the skills mismatch riddle

2.

Progress at Last? Women in top leadership roles

3.

Employment remix: Talent-as-a-Service

4.

talent.datafication and the rise of the underdog

5.

The growth market conundrum

6.

talent.experience is king

7.

From innovation to talent.preneurship

8.

talent.driven leadership is the new black

9.

The contemporary CEO emperor with new clothes no more

10. Talent as a board level imperative

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

4

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Trend #5: The growth market

conundrum
Trend Drivers

While China and India are still expected to lead in real

GDP growth, S.E Asian economies, along with Turkey
and South Africa, are expected to outperform Brazil and
Russia by 2016. (Source: EIU Country Forecast)
60% of CEOs intend to shift focus from BRIC countries
to other rapidly growing economies. (Source:
EIU/Accenture CEO Briefing 2014)
Emerging market countries are producing tough
competitors that challenge multinationals.
(Source: Deloitte Business Trends 2013)
In addition to nearby markets, these competitors are
expanding globally, including in the US and Europe.
(Source: Deloitte Business Trends 2013)

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Are you ready?

Do you understand your
organizations growth
strategy in emerging
markets?
Have you assessed the
talent risk for each
target country?
Do you have a localized
talent strategy?
Do your leaders exhibit
global awareness and
understand other
cultures?

Polling question #1
What was your hardest new hire/transition

milestone?
Contingent/temp new hire
Entry-level new hire

Remote/virtual new hire

Fist time supervisor/manager
Expat
External executive hire

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Onboarding is an integral part of

the talent.experience journey
The concept of re-recruiting is
really quite simple. Periodically
update your original job offer
(the one when they started or
with their last promotion) so
that it appears new, fresh, and
exciting to a top-performing
employees. And dont just
settle with re-recruiting once.
(Dr. John Sullivan)

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Polling question #2
What best describes your current state of

onboarding?
We have a leading practice onboarding program.
We are currently in the process of re-designing our

onboarding program.
We dont have a consistent onboarding program.

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

The business case for onboarding

Transitions are periods of opportunity, a chance to start afresh and to
make needed changes in an organization. But they are also periods of
acute vulnerability, because a new hire lacks established working
relationships and a detailed understanding of their new role. (Michael
Watkins, author of The First 90 Days)

Motivate new employees: Effectively onboarding new hires can increase

an employees discretionary effort in excess of 20%.

Reduce new hire turnover: Upgrading an organizations onboarding
process can lead to a reduction in new hire turnover from 70% to 16%.
Improve new hire performance: Effective onboarding programs can
improve employee performance by up to 11.3%. (Source: CLC)

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Top 5 challenges of onboarding

1.

2.

3.
4.

5.

10

Many programs attempt to include every possible task/procedure

resulting in participant information-overload.
Stakeholder involvement in the onboarding process is very often
not sufficient or valued. In many companies, there is confusion
over who owns onboarding.
Inconsistent commitment to following through with the entire
onboarding roadmap
Inability to update and maintain the new hire curricula to reflect
current business realities on a timely basis (e.g. system updates,
compliance requirements, etc.)
Insufficient blend of learning approaches (ILT, self-paced, OJT,
computer or web-based) due to cost or resource constraints

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Polling question #3
Which one of these challenges have you

experienced the most?

<Please corresponding number from previous slide>

11

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Onboarding program design criteria

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

Allow for business unit/geography specific customization

Business unit strategy, local org charts, local facilities and resources

Ensure effective & efficient delivery of new hire

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

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

Determine scope and differentiation

Remote/virtual employees? Contract/contingent/temp workforce? First time

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

Identify measures of success

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

12

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Elements of a comprehensive
onboarding program

13

Objective

Pre-Start

First Day

First week

First 30 Days

First 3-6 Months

Building
Partnerships and
Networks

Supervisor calls or
emails new hire,
welcomes them,
answers
questions

Lunch with team

and supervisor

Meet with buddy

and other new
hires; join social
media
collaboration
group for new
hires

Participate in
new hire
welcome day

Participate in
networking
activities for new
hires and buddies

Managing
Expectations and
Meeting
Performance
Objectives

Pre-read package
and/or access to
new hire portal for
job-specific
information

Meet with
supervisor to
discuss strategic
priorities, culture,
expectations, and
success measures

Discuss
performance
goals with
supervisor and
document in
performance
management
system

Attend new hire

and job-specific
training

Regular check-in
meetings with
supervisor to
calibrate progress
on goal
achievement

Understanding the
Business &
Integrating into
the Company
Culture

Personalized HR
support
experience

Overview of
business via new
hire portal/online
training

Cross-functional
peer meetings to
broaden
understanding of
business

Attend new hire

site visits and
business overview
meetings

Continue reaching
out to buddy to
understand
culture
intangibles

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Who and what?

Manager
How job is important to overall company success
Clearly articulated performance expectations & meaningful first work assignment

HR/Operations
Onboarding program ownership & coordination
Access to career tools and information

Senior Leadership
Welcome message from CEO
Presentations by and networking with Senior Leadership team

New Hire
Drives own learning and career growth journey
Asks for help and leverages ESS and online collaboration tools

Co-Workers
Brand ambassadors/testimonials
Peer mentors provide access to professional relationships & networks
14

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Onboarding resources & tools

Discussion guides for new hire & SMEs
Checklists for local coordinator, new hire,

supervisor, peer mentor, Executives: HRS & EA

Peer mentor training/briefing
Project plan and/or technology-enabled workflow
Binder and/or new hire section on intranet
Welcome
My Onboarding
Our Company
My Benefits
My Systems
My Location

15

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Onboarding program examples

India-based BPO providing phone and chat support for global customers
Harvard Business School field experiment to reduce 70% new hire turnover
Control group of new hires receiving individualized experience (incl.
senior leader how by working at company they can express themselves,
introduction to group, personalized sweatshirt)
Result: People who did the organization-focused onboarding process were
about twice as likely to quit than people who reflected on their strengths

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

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

people/week
Predictive analytics to determine what correlates with high performance
Six week coding boot camp working on real-life projects
At completion of boot camp, new employees can choose where they want
to work the rationale being that it is hard to determine which job to apply
for before you know the company

Sources: http://www.tlnt.com/2013/09/23/facebooks-talent-management-practices-theyre-simply-amazing/,
http://www.inc.com/laura-montini/facebook-cio-45-minute-onboarding-rule.html?cid=em01011week44day28a

16

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Stanford University new hire portal

Video:
employee
testimonials

Manager
resources

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

17

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Case study global onboarding

18

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Case study executive onboarding

19

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

How do I get started with (re)designing an

onboarding program?
Create a compelling business/value case
Gain buy-in about business sponsorship, scope, roll out

phases, pilots
Design metrics that align to business outcomes
Conduct target audience surveys/interviews/focus groups
to identify gaps in current program
Identify key stakeholders and involve them throughout the
process
Ensure role clarity and accountability for ongoing program
sustainability
Create forum for best practice sharing, especially in multisite/multi-geography environment
20

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Polling question #4
What are your global onboarding best practices or

lessons learned that you can share with todays

audience?

21

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com

Q&A

22

@Nicole_Dessain
talentimperative.com