Cultural Onboarding: An Important but Neglected Technique for Attracting and Keeping Employees

January 27, 2021
Category: Management

These days hiring employees is a challenge, and, in some parts of the country, it’s almost impossible. And when you do hire someone who looks like a great fit, they often no-show or leave after a short time.

This tough employment market has many contracting company owners scrambling for better solutions. But, one technique that hardly ever gets considered is what’s called “Cultural Onboarding.”

Many owners think of onboarding as orientation and initial training. I think of cultural onboarding as a three-phase process that starts with the applicant’s first contact with your company and continues through the first 90 days. Cultural onboarding is designed to ensure the employee fits with your company and to ensure they have the support they need to become fully integrated and productive in your business.

Cultural onboarding has been proven to help you attract the right employees and keep them longer.

To help you set up your own cultural onboarding process, I’m going to drill down into each of the three phases and share some ideas that you can implement at each phase to improve your hiring and retention results.

PHASE 1: The Hiring Process – Promote your culture and hire for fit

In my mind, the cultural onboarding process starts with hiring. One common reason why employees fail (or leave after a short time) is that there isn’t a good fit between their skills, attitudes, and needs, and the needs and culture of your company. So, your hiring process must focus on ensuring that prospective employees fit your needs, and it’s equally critical that you help your applicants decide if your company fits their needs too. And this all happens during the hiring process.

I can hear some of you saying, “Fit, shmit… I can’t even find applicants who can fog a mirror!” I hear you! It is counter-intuitive, but clients of mine who have focused on fit, and who have gotten pickier about who they hire, have actually found that their success in attracting and keeping good people has increased. That’s because hiring for fit creates a virtuous cycle by creating happier, more productive employees who strengthen your culture. This, in turn, helps your company become a magnet for applicants who want to work with other productive employees in a great company culture.

Here are some starter ideas that you can implement during the hiring process to promote your culture and hire for fit:

• Promote your job openings like a marketer. In these tough competitive times, it’s important that promote your job openings and your company just like a marketer does. Think about your applicants as your customers and a job in your company as the product they’re buying. Clearly communicate in your job ads, on your website, and anywhere else you look for applicants the type of company culture you have and the benefits of working at your company. This will help differentiate your company from others and help you attract and hire the best employees.
• Use hiring techniques that maximize fit. Favor possible hiring channels that will maximize fit between your company and your prospects. For example, employee referrals are great for this because, most likely, your employees have friends who are similar to them who will be a good fit for your company.

Also, to maximize fit with your culture when searching for applicants, clearly communicate the attributes you’re looking for in an employee, not just their skills and experience. For example, if you have a company culture that focuses on teamwork, make sure that you make “team player” a selection criteria in your job ads.

Use selection techniques that help you assess Fit. For example, there are pre-employment tests that can help you evaluate applicants’ behaviors, motivations, and soft skills like sense of urgency, teamwork, cooperation, taking personal responsibility etc. Consider adding one of these tests to your selection process. You should also build questions into your interview process assess these attributes

• Make sure that your hiring process is in alignment with your culture. Everything in your hiring process should demonstrate your culture. For example, if your culture focuses on being a great place for employees to work, ensure that your hiring experience demonstrates that by caring for your applicants throughout the hiring process. If you focus on teamwork, consider showing this the hiring process by conducting team interviews. In other words, walk your talk. I’m not going to repeat this point when I talk about Phases 2 and 3, but make sure that everything you do in those phases is in alignment with your culture as well.
• Give your applicants a “Realistic Job Preview.” Tell them what it’s going to be like to work for your company and in their job. Don’t sugar coat it. If they have to work nights and weekends, tell them. If the work is physical and will require them to work outside in the 90+ degree heat, make sure they know. Research shows that one of the top reasons why new employees quit is because they felt that their job was different from what they were led to expect in the interview.

PHASE 2: Acceptance Through Week 1 – Make your new employee feel welcomed and comfortable

When your applicant accepts your job offer through the first week, the period is a critical and scary time for your new employees. They’re entering unfamiliar territory, and there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether they’ll like the job, their boss, their peers, and about whether they’ll enjoy the work and be good at it? Some new hires will decide not to show up for the first day of work. Many others will quit within the first week.

One of my clients summed up the goal of PHASE 2 by saying: “It all boils down to hospitality. Treat them like a guest in your home. Make them feel welcomed and comfortable like you really want them to be there.”

Below are a few ideas for you to consider that will help make your new employee feel welcomed, reduce overwhelm, integrate them into your company, and ensure that they stay past the first week:

• Keep in touch before they start. Between the time that an employee accepts your job and actually starts is a time when fears and second thoughts rear their ugly heads. You can help relieve their anxiety by keeping in touch (even if it’s just a couple of days) to make sure that they stay connected and excited. You can also reduce first-day anxiety by letting them know the first day basics like where to park, what to wear, what they need to bring (paperwork or lunch, for example), who they should ask for when they get there, what they’ll be doing on their first day. Finally, call and confirm the day before to let them know you’re expecting them.
• Roll out the welcome wagon. Treat your new employee like a new friend at a party you’re hosting who doesn’t know anyone. Meet them when they arrive. Let them know that you’re happy they’re there. Introduce them to everyone. Touch base frequently to make sure that they’re doing ok. Don’t let them eat alone. You get the idea. Its awkward and intimidating being in a new place with new people. Making them feel welcome can make a huge difference in encouraging them to stay long term.
• Ease the overwhelm. There’s a lot to take in during the first week of a new job, and it’s easy to forget things and get overwhelmed. To ease the overwhelm, assign them an “orientation buddy” who can help them learn the ropes and answer the questions that they may be too embarrassed to ask their boss. Get their boss and co-workers involved in supporting their success too. Finally, make sure you check-in at the end of each day and at the end of the first week to ensure that everything is ok.

PHASE 3: Week 2 Through 90 Days – Surround them with support

The first 90 days is particularly rough for new employees. During this period, they’re still learning their jobs, getting used to the company, and deciding whether they fit in your culture. Most employee turnover, especially in the field, happens in the first 90 days

A recent survey by BambooHR found that there were two primary reasons why employees quit that are important for you to consider when designing your cultural onboarding to support your new employees beyond the first week:

1. They felt overwhelmed and neglected. There’s so much for an employee starting a new job at a new company to learn. Yet many new employees report feeling like they’ve been thrown in the deep end and are struggling to swim.

Your employees need ongoing training, encouragement, and feedback to feel comfortable and proficient in their new job. Without this support, they feel overwhelmed, unqualified, and they often quit. One of my clients, for example, was having a terrible time with employee turnover during the first 90 days, and those employees who stayed underperformed. He built a 90-day orientation and training program with increased weekly feedback and formal reviews at 30, 60 and 90 days to combat this problem. The result was that turnover dropped dramatically, and employee satisfaction and performance increased.

2. “Their boss was a jerk.” The second reason employees quit their jobs after a short time is that “Their boss was a jerk.” There’s a saying in human resources: “People don’t leave bad companies; they leave bad managers.” If you’ve ever been in a situation where you’ve had a bad boss, you know how miserable it can be!

So, you must train your managers to manage positively, coach new employees, give constructive feedback, and model your culture to support your new employees throughout the 90-day onboarding process.

Seriously consider implementing a cultural onboarding process in your company

I hope you can see the power that cultural onboarding can have for helping you attract and keep good people. While money is essential, most employees want to work for a company where they feel that they fit and can be happy. And they want a job where they have the structure and support to do good work.

Implement a cultural onboarding process in your company. Look at your current hiring and onboarding process with a critical eye and find the weak links where you’re not promoting your culture, hiring for fit, or supporting your new employees through the first 90 days. Then implement some of the ideas that I’ve outlined here. In this dog-eat-dog tough job market, you need every edge that you can get.

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