Day One Provisioning and Acculturation Onboarding

Employee satisfaction is a vital aspect of acculturation onboarding. Here at Emerald Software, we believe a user-friendly system that makes it easy to fill out all the required forms can deliver that first spark of happiness. Zipping through the transactional process at record speed also leaves the new hire with plenty of time to start becoming socialized on the first day. Making introductions is an important step, but the rubber really meets the road when your new hire sits down at his/her workstation for the first time.

Giving New Hires What They Need

You only get one opportunity to wow employees with your organization's ability to plan/provide effectively for their first day of work. Every time new hires have to sit and wait while you scramble to locate or set up something that should have been ready and waiting, they become more anxious. Here are some of the thoughts that may be running through their heads:

• I really want to get to work and start making a good impression on my new boss. Will I be able to do anything productive or is this day a total waste?
  
• Gee, I'm putting this person to a lot of trouble and inconvenience - was there something I should have done to prepare better?
  
• These guys don't seem very organized - is every day going to be this hectic? I hope not.
  
• They can't even find a trash can for me - and IT said they can't set up my phone until Wednesday. Did I make a mistake in taking this job?
  
• Why don't they have safety equipment in stock for all their new employees? Does this company just not care?
  

Mistakes happen and sometimes people drop the ball. However, if there is a pattern of unpreparedness this is something that has to be addressed on a structural level. You need an actual business process in place for provisioning new hires. Do you have requisitioning software that makes it easy to plan ahead and hold each department accountable for doing their part?

The AllegroHR Staff Service Request (SSR) system does just that. It's not limited to tangible items - managers can requisition anything and everything a new hire might possibly need. You can even add fun stuff that's designed to acculturate employees and make them feel at home. Do you have water bottles or ball caps with your company logo? Make sure these items are included in your standard SSR for every new hire to welcome them to your team.

Dress Code Acculturation For New Hires

Does your company have a dress code? Most organizations do, either formally or informally. However, not every employer has one in writing. That can be a big mistake since policies that aren't written down are basically unenforceable. An acknowledgement of the receipt and acceptance of your dress code policy should be included during transactional onboarding. However, if you really want new hires to take your dress code to heart, you need to acculturate them.

By their very nature, corporate dress codes are arbitrary. Some group of people has to sit down and come up with the rules. For industries that don't require employees to wear a uniform, even explaining definitions is tough. The questions (and complaints) are endless. What's business casual versus casual Friday? Why does it matter how employees dress if they aren't meeting with customers? Who makes these decisions anyway?

Get New Employees On Board

One way to increase acceptance of your dress code is by presenting it in a fun way. Most people are visual learners. Having them memorize a list of written rules probably won't work that well. It's easier for them to grasp the corporate aesthetic you are going for if you use pictures or photos. Putting together an online orientation module using our acculturation portal would be fairly easy.

A library of photos showing various outfits labeled "This Matches Our Look" and "This Doesn't Match Our Look" could prove very helpful. You might even categorize these pictures for different situations. For example, slacks would be tagged as OK all the time, jeans (without holes) as OK for casual Friday, and shorts as not OK anytime.

For extra fun, you could even incorporate a test with a series of different outfits shown side by side. The new hires would be asked to check a box to indicate which one follows the dress code. This not only makes the process interactive; it gives you data to analyze later to see how well employees understand your policy.

Special Notes:

Avoid using terms like "right" and "wrong" or "acceptable" and "unacceptable". That way, people don't feel like they are being judged for apparel choices they might make off the clock.

If you show photos of outfits during orientation, use an equal number of male and female examples. That way, one group won't feel singled out.

Always present information in a positive way. Focus on a message such as: "This is what we are hoping you can help our organization achieve with this dress code". New hires should feel like it is a team effort rather than an attempt by their employer to control them.

Make very sure that your dress code isn't discriminatory in regards to race, sex, religious belief, or any other protected status.

New Hire Acculturation - It’s Personal

When you start planning your acculturation onboarding program, it's important to remember that each new hire has a unique path to productivity. Sure, there are some things that everyone has to do like going through training and orientation. You will obviously require participation in any activities that are essential to achieving your organization's core objectives.

Nudge - Don't Push

However, some of the other steps are more like suggestions. You don't want to force people to get involved on a social level. That's got to happen naturally (with some subtle encouragement). If a new employee just isn't interested in uploading a bunch of additional content to their profile on your intranet portal, continuing to push them in that direction isn't productive.

Instead, your onboarding system should be intelligent enough to generate prompts that nudge new hires in the direction they are already inclined to go. For example, your acculturation onboarding system might "notice" that an employee is participating regularly in commenting on your corporate blogs. Your BPM software could easily be pre-programmed to send that type of individual an email suggesting that they create a new blog as way to participate in the social network.

Everyone Learns Differently

When it comes to stuff your new employees absolutely must do, there are often multiple avenues that can be used to reach the same goal. Suppose you have a series of learning module new hires must complete during their probationary period. A successful acculturation portal might offer several ways to access the required information.

For example, employees who learn best from training manuals might use a login to complete one text based module online each day until they finished the entire course. Workers who want a more interactive environment might choose to participate in a live orientation webinar where they could ask questions. Both groups would be tested in the same way to ensure knowledge retention levels are high.

Providing multiple learning venues also helps highlight shortcomings in each approach. You might find that employees attending the webinar are consistently scoring poorly on a topic the instructor isn't covering in detail. Or, you could discover that your text based learning module needs to use clearer language so new hires aren't confused by terms they don't know.

Keep Score and Ask for Feedback

In addition to objective scoring, you should also seek ongoing subjective input. Ask new hires about their satisfaction with the onboarding experience and if they have suggestions for improvement. After all, these employees have a lot invested in becoming productive quickly. Most people take pride in doing well at a new job - it's personal. So, make it easy for them with a flexible, highly targeted acculturation portal that matches the needs of your diverse work force.

Acculturation - Making Out-Of-State Employees Feel At Home

Acculturation onboarding gets interesting when you have employees at locations in multiple states. You want them to feel tied in with the culture at your company's headquarters. At the same time, you need to recognize that each workforce will have its own social customs and way of communicating. If you've ever had employees from the Northeastern seaboard on a conference call with coworkers in the Southern U.S., the differences in style are pretty evident.

It's sadly common for there to be some tension between the corporate office and satellite locations. The people at headquarters often think that their colleagues at smaller sites simply can't cut it (otherwise they would be promoted and relocated to the main office). Folks working at secondary locations view the bigwigs at Corporate as hopelessly out of touch.

Taking Steps to Fix This

Better communication of your organization's overall objectives and vision is critical for bringing all your employees together as a team. Giving everyone access to the tools necessary to get things done is also vital. For example, if the people at headquarters have all the latest technology, their compatriots at other worksites need to be equally well equipped.

When it comes to acculturation, the easiest way to provide the same level of access for all your new hires is through an online portal. Each employee will experience a smooth, easy first day with all the required forms and policy acknowledgements presented in a virtual format. This includes forms that are specific to their state such as W4s for income tax withholding selections.

By the way, if you haven't seen our brand new state tax forms map, I highly recommend it. We put together this complimentary resource for all employers to use - not just our customers. That's because being super-helpful is one of Emerald Software's core valuesJ

More on Acculturating Disparate Workforces

Ideally, everyone on your payroll should be using the same platform for interoffice communication. Our software integrates readily with intranet site products like Microsoft SharePoint that provide collaborative features and social networking tools. You can also build your own system from the ground up using our AllegroHR Acculturation Portal product.

Remember that employees love to connect with other people who share their hobbies. Special interest groups that can interact long-distance are one way to build bonds between your out-of-state workforces and the employees at your corporate office. Have someone set up a SIG for WoW and watch the networking begin. Just make sure they aren't playing on company time!

A strong online culture can actually break down barriers between people from widely varying backgrounds. Giving new hires the opportunity to socialize with coworkers at all your organization's locations helps them see the big picture. Remember to use this platform to instill your corporate values in new employees at all your locations through positive, consistent messaging.

Onboarding New Hires in a No-Smoking Environment

It's impossible to please everyone all the time - that's a fact that HR professionals know all too well. No matter what the rules are, someone will always be ticked off or feel singled out for persecution. Sometimes, employers can hide behind "It's the law" to deflect rancor.

That's the case now in Vermont where smoking has been banned in the workplace. No longer can employees ask to have an indoor space set aside for lighting up during the harsh New England winter. They must brave the cold or do without. Non-smokers are generally happy to have a smoke-free workplace. Smokers are likely to grumble but comply.

How do you help new hires keep a good attitude when some of your workplace rules aren't popular? A fun, interactive acculturation portal can make a difference. You will still need to obtain signed acknowledgements during the transactional phase; but this isn't where employees really get on board with the idea of fitting in with your corporate culture. That happens during the socialization stage.

Ideas for Successful Acculturation in a Non-Smoking Environment

Present your "no-smoking in the office" policy along with a link to an instructional sheet about the effects of second hand smoke on the body. Combine this with your organization's stated commitment to promoting employee health by maintaining a high level of indoor air quality. This information should be offered in a non-judgmental way. Smoking is still an individual choice and even non-smokers don't like employers sticking their noses into people's personal lives.

To prove that you are supportive of all your employees, provide a premises map that shows sheltered outdoor locations where smokers can gather when the weather is nasty. Follow that with an invitation to participate in an employer-sponsored smoking cessation program. Set up an SIG so smokers can share tips for quitting. This can be part of a larger forum where workers support each other in achieving their health/wellness goals.