turnover Archives - InfinitiHR | Human Resource Consulting & HR Services

Have you ever seen a new employee leave after just one day of work? What was your first thought when that happened? Probably somewhere along the lines of “Wow, it must have been bad”.

Unless there was some type of unexpected challenge or emergency, this is not a good sign for a company. And it must be addressed because the result is unnecessary monetary loss. Turnover is costly, but new employee turnover is particularly troubling, because you have just wasted all the time and money you spent to hire them.

Don’t give up right away! Feedback is critical. A quick phone call and some soft questions to this former employee may help you identify key areas for improvement, repair your company’s image and set the stage for changes to current processes.

New job opportunities, family emergencies or changes in personal circumstances are not always the reasons why new employees don’t return. Generally, they leave because they did not like the way they were treated. They would rather go home and look for another job than to work in an environment where they know they will not be happy, appreciated or productive.

How can you make sure your new hires return to work feeling comfortable or, better yet, enthusiastic about returning to work after their first date of employment? How can the company improve new hire onboarding? (a.k.a. new hire orientation and the probationary or introductory periods)

According to an online source, “Onboarding, (organizational socialization), refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders.”

Here are six simple steps to improve your company onboarding process.

1. Organization

Prepare, right away. This includes preparing and mailing new hire orientation packages, or referring them to your intranet system to obtain necessary forms, policies, procedures and other paperwork, and request that they return this information to you no later than their first date of hire. Coordinate a company tour, order business cards, organize their work station, order supplies and make sure their equipment (including their computer and other technology) is working properly. Is training material current and relevant? Has a comfortable and productive location for training been secured?

2. Communication

Greet new hires on time; be confident, professional and friendly. Communicate with new employees by name. Answer their questions and follow up with them to make sure they do not need further assistance. Make sure they have contact information for various personnel and departments within and outside of your company. In other words, provide outstanding customer service to them while they get acclimated to the company, practices and procedures. Remember to demonstrate this same service throughout the new hire’s tenure with the company.

3. Appreciation

After accepting the offer, have the hiring manager place a welcome call. Make the new employee feel appreciated by inviting him or her to lunch on their first day. Introduce the new hire to their team, customers and others. Answer any questions he or she may have about the unit, department or the company.

4. Education

Use your employee handbook! Teach them about the company’s history, mission, and vision as well as the accomplishments and challenges, and goals and objectives. Explain how their skills and their role will help the company meet and exceed department and/or company goals and objectives. Inquire about personal goals and objectives. Give the new hire information about the company’s training and development offerings, such as webinars, offsite seminars, certification classes, etc. Review an education assistance benefit program if one exists.

5. Dedication

Do not give into “sink or swim”. Schedule follow up meetings! Hiring managers or mentors should be meeting daily during the first week of employment and at LEAST weekly after week one through first 90 days. You should also consider having the employee meet with and be accepting of feedback from one or two top performers and/or long term employees. Schedule some time for the new employee to meet with the president and/or one of the executive team members to learn more about the company from their perspective. Make sure the executive team is also interested about the employee’s career path, goals and expectations.

6. Expectations

Use the job description! Does the employee know what is expected? When conducting employee development meetings during the new hire period, the manager should be reviewing and discussing the job description. It should be clear how the job description fits with individual, team and company goals. Regularly discuss individual goals and objectives. Be open to feedback regarding work related challenges and obstacles. Schedule regular employee development meetings; emphasizing an open door policy. The new employee should always feel that the can easily access their manager when questions or concerns arise. Lastly, the manager should make sure the employee is aware of the standard steps to be followed for a 90 day and annual review.

After three months, the company should send a survey to the employee to obtain feedback about the organization’s customer service, quality of service and processes, and request any suggestions for improvement. The company should address any problems or concerns immediately so they are able to attract and retain top performers and continuously improve the company’s image, performance, processes and reputation.

Are you prepared to cut the cost of unnecessary turnover and obtain a greater ROI on your new hires?

Click the link to view our recent blog: The Three Most Common Job Offer Mistakes or check back for more on human resources, payroll, insurance and benefits.

Employees are an investment. At some companies, they are the most expensive investment. Would it surprise you to know that the cost of turnover for a $40,000 a year position (when factoring in hard and soft costs such as lost productivity) could cost you as much as $40,000 to $60,000?

Employees who are in their first year of employment are the most expensive to turnover, because the process of making a hiring decision costs time and money. Many turnover cost calculators are available for use and will ask you to factor in expenses such as cost of time for the interview, cost of overtime or temporary help and even the cost of a drop in morale if the departing employee was influential or well liked.

Let’s look at a simple example of an employee who only worked for 30 days at a small manufacturing firm and was hired as a floor manager at $60,000 per year.

Associated Costs

Multiple Interviews (rate of pay for those involved x time) $600
Cost of Company Vehicle $700
One Week of Off-site Training $1,400
Laptop $800
One month of Salary $5,000

TOTAL COSTS $8,500

In the above scenario, the employee just didn’t show up on day 31. No call, no notice. So do you have the option to withhold pay to recover some of this money? NO! In researching this situation further, it became clear that some good hiring practices could have saved this organization the time, aggravation and cost of turnover. At Infiniti HR, we don’t want this happen to you and so we have provided a couple of key steps to avoid a situation like this from arising.

Step One – Understand the Position

If you are tasked with filling an open position, first obtain permission to hire, determine your salary budget and establish a timeline. The best way to understand the position and determine the necessary skills, qualification and abilities is through a job description. If you don’t have one, draft one. If you need help with content, ask someone who has done the job in the past or ask the person who supervises the position. When outlining skills, qualification and abilities, gather information specific to the essential duties of the job such as computer skills, education level, need for heavy lifting, driving requirements, etc.

Step Two – Interviewing

You’ll start with an application and resume review. Aside from making sure that the applicant’s skill sets matches the position requirements, here are some key areas to focus on: grammar and spelling, gaps in employment (obtain an explanation) and relevant experience (a good resume will quantify successes). Once you have narrowed down your candidate pool, use phone screens to gather information on some very basic areas to determine if it is worthwhile to bring them into the office for an interview. Prepare ahead of time and make sure you don’t ask anything discriminatory such as marital status, race, national origin, religion age or disability. Effective in-person interviews start with preparing open ended, behavior-based questions typically formulated based off content in the job description. For instance, when hiring a customer service manager, you may want to ask the candidate to provide in detail an example of a situation where they were called on to resolve the complaints of an angry customer. The interviewer should be doing no more than 30% of the talking, particularly during a first interview. Put your best listening ears on and tune in for red flags.

Step Three – Selection

How do you make the right hiring decision? Many times one candidate shines far above the others and the decision is easy. Sometimes you may have to choose between two candidates. In that case, do second or even third interviews to gather more information. Before you make that official offer of employment, be as thorough as possible, starting with reference and background checks if necessary. Reference checks can often be done in-house and can be as simple as asking the applicant to sign a release of liability that can be sent to the former employer so more detailed information can be divulged. Background checks are typically outsourced to a third party and can often be worth the cost. Once a decision is reached, make your offer of employment both verbally and written. Verbal sends the message that you are excited for the new hire to start and opens dialogue in terms of benefit questions, salary negotiations and scheduling. Written offers of employment send a professional message, commence the expectation-setting process and should outline position status, compensation, benefits salary terms and any information related to first day of work and paperwork requirements. Finally, remember the importance of a good orientation and training. You only get one chance to make a good impression. Let the first day lay the groundwork for a successful employment relationship.

Following these good hiring practices will ensure you’re being diligent in hiring the right person for your company. It will also minimize the likelihood of any associated turnover costs.

Click the link to view our recent blog: Cutting Unemployment Claim Costs for Small Businesses or check back next week for more on human resources, payroll, insurance and benefits.

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