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.