SuperManager: Department Onboarding – Getting Employees Acclimated to the Group
Christine: You’re listening to SuperManager, the podcast for people who manage people and business with ideas, trends and expert interviews to help you be a SuperManager.
Sam: So today’s topic is going to be department onboarding, not just onboarding for the company but for the department. I am Samantha Naes with CN Video. We do corporate video production and I have with me my group of SuperFriends:
Vicky: Victoria Wors go by Vicky. Wors Consulting, a human resources consultancy.
Sally: Sally Bowles, Prefix Technologies. We work with small and medium sized businesses to alleviate the headaches and financial risks associated with technology.
Natalie: Natalie Meyer, president of Hoopayz, we advocate for your company, your employees, HR and your brokers.
Sam: I was listening to, I don’t remember what it was. It was a daily video that I watch on business or having a conversation with someone and they mentioned that a lot of companies have like mission, vision, values for the organization and you’ve got onboarding for the organization. They were actually recommending that each department have a mission, vision and values for that individual department. And I got to thinking about it. I thought that actually is kind of true. The larger organizations that I’ve worked for, like back when I used to work at Washington University, I was in computing and communications and it’s almost like the organization is a community and the department is a small business within the community. They kind of have their own set of rules. A lot of organizations work that way. The department is kind of its own entity. And we’ve been doing some department onboarding, which I feel is as important if not more than onboarding for the entire organization. These are the people that you’re going to be working closely with and what your department is responsible for.
Sally: Absolutely.
Natalie: Yeah, and I think each department has their own set of things to focus on at all times. You know, and especially when you break down something, if you’re in the IT department, you’re going to have a whole different set of values and things that you need to follow through on versus the HR person or Sales.
Sally: One of the things I’ve discovered, especially in being in consulting for as long as I have, companies have various attitudes toward new employees. What kind of information, you know, all the way from let them find out for themselves to, uh-
Sam: That’s the way they did it when I started, when I entered the workforce.
Sally: A lot of companies do that.
Vicky: Well, it’s almost like, is that part of their trial by fire? They make it on the other end and they find out for themselves all these wonderful things then, “Oh God, they made it.” If not, then they, you know, they, they did not pass the gauntlet. So the issue in many companies that I’ve been involved in is number one, most of my clients don’t have the money for having separate orientation or onboarding. Number two, most of my clients are family owned with a single owner and in reality they really don’t value that HR piece.
Natalie: Sure.
Vicky: Or HR has lost the trust.
Sam: I would think the level of turnover now would make it a little bit more important. Because back when it was trial by fire-
Vicky: -that with a sledge hammer. You know, okay, it’s beyond me how employers, especially those that are entrepreneurial, that are family-owned, don’t take in consideration the cost of the human factor within their organization.
Sally: Turnover is very expensive, but I think in the right fit that people do value their employees and they don’t want them to leave in a year and I think people are willing to sit down and explain expectations and protocol and get you with maybe even a buddy in that department to get you oriented. I know that years ago they thought onboarding was telling you about how to sign up for our retirement plan or health insurance and then they would-
Sam: Which it kind of is, still but-
Sally: Right, but I mean you would, you would do that as a whole regardless of how many different departments were represented and then they sent you to your new department and you were kind of on your own to figure it out.
Sam: But the amount of time that it saves, I mean talk about hitting the ground running. When you enter – there’s two things that kind of come to my mind. One is a trend that I’ve been seeing, and I don’t know if the rest of you are seeing it, but the, the new employees entering the workforce right now, their stress levels are extremely high. They are in serious debt from college. They’re going through culture shock, going from an environment where they can do no wrong and they receive awards for everything they do right or wrong to being in a workforce where they’re being paid to do a job and they have to adhere to certain standards and rules. And so it seems like it’s a little bit more stressful now than it was way back when when we got tossed into the deep end and just had to figure out how to swim. And then the second thing is, because people don’t stay at the job as long, you want to get them going sooner, you don’t want to send six months of them figuring out-
Vicky: You want to shorten the attenuation- of the attenuation time from the time they hit the door untill they are productive, you need to shorten that.
Sam: If they’re only going to be around for a couple of years, you want at least most of that to be productive time.
Vicky: Well, one of the things, and part of it is from an HR perspective, everyone today feels they can do the function. You go in, you go into companies-
Sam: What do you mean in HR employees?
Vicky: In HR, people who are not trained in the legal aspects of human resources, people who are not trained just in interviewing, just in investigating, just in documentation, just in how you pay people.
Sam: So you mean HR people need orientation into their departments as well as regular employees.
Vicky: But I mean the whole idea is, is that HR is now a function. It’s an accounting function that reports to finance and that is an absolute shame.
Natalie: And it’s hard, I think, for all the HR people because especially if they’ve been in the HR world for a long time with all the changes and all the technology being incorporated. And then beyond that you also have all the changes with healthcare, which that’s the second biggest cost to any company usually these days. After payroll is healthcare. And now the HR person is in charge of this huge cost for the company and they may or may not have been taught all these things and they, they have all this responsibility on their shoulder.
Vicky: But the HR person is usually a glorified administrator and that is when my heart gets cut out. When I see that.
Natalie: Well, I mean it’s hard. They’re being asked to put all this stuff on them, and-
Vicky: But they don’t know it-
Natalie: And they haven’t been trained the right way and it’s not their fault. And that’s in a big organization, maybe even a small organization, they don’t even have an HR person, so.
Sam: What’s interesting about what you two are saying is that, when I started specializing in onboarding and video orientation programs, I thought human resources were going to be my target market. They were going to be my target audience, people that I dealt with. The department orientation that I do, and even on a corporate level, it’s typically management that reaches out to me, not human resources. It’s a department manager that says it would be really beneficial for my team if they understood. So they’re, they’re recognizing the problem. And then dealing with it themselves and just making it a part of their budget, and-
Vicky: Well because human resources is too busy with benefits and payroll and which I believe HR should not have payroll because of phantom payrolls.
Natalie: Exactly. And I can’t even tell you the number of times in the benefits world, we’ve gone to do something and meet with someone in HR and they’ve all the sudden said, “Oh, you know, we had a payroll snafu” or “payroll is due.” And I mean obviously you gotta get that out first cause if people are, ya know, but then I think it’s honestly taking away their time to do all these other things that HR is supposed to do because payroll happens weekly or biweekly or however theirs is set up. And that’s something that-
Vicky: But it’s not only that, it’s all the reports that go with it.
Natalie: Exactly.
Vicky: Getting back to where we were earlier about the HR function as far as onboarding and our topic, as far as the department onboarding, HR should work with each department, at least help them put together an agenda. Okay. So that when they receive a new person into their midst, so to speak, at least the HR group has given them, say, “let me give you some guideposts” so they at least know where to begin.
Sam: But if the HR person has other responsibilities and doesn’t have time, then it’s really up to the department manager to do it.
Vicky: Then they just need to call that HR person Accountant I or Accountant II and be done with it. You know, because HR is the individual’s go-to person for staffing and developing your, your people in retention program- we’re talking from the first day retention programs.
Natalie: Absolutely. Because the turnover is just too costly.
Vicky: Right, and the best day during an employee’s employment, the very best day that they will ever have, is their first day of their employment.
Sam: Oh, don’t know about that.
Vicky: It is down hill from there.
Sam: We have a little disagreement in the panel on that one.
Vicky: Well, you tell me.
Sam: First day can be tough. First day can be tough. I mean, they’re nervious-
Vicky: But you’ve got all the promise that they’ve told you we’ve got advancement, we’ve got promotion, we’ve got increases and then reality sets in.
Sam: It’s their responsibility to perform. What I’m hearing is they come in for their first day and they want to perform, they want to do good, and it’s extremely stressful. And I’ve had people cry, you know, just because they’re afraid that they’re not going to be able to do well. I’ve had people tell me after the fact how stressful their first week of work was just because they were, they weren’t prepared for it. They didn’t know what to expect, they didn’t know- And, and granted, these are people that are right out of college and this is their first full time position and it can be very stressful. But that’s a common situation.
Natalie: I think what you’re saying though is if onboarding is done the right way, then your first day probably is maybe one of your best days because your day, you know, it’s kind of like your first day of school, you’re filling out everything you’re doing, you’re getting set up. And if the company is set up the right way that they have all those pieces in place for you to just, okay, we need you to do this, we need to do this right. You know, I think that-
Sally: It’s the promise of their future.
Natalie: It does a lot of things and you know, I think that’s where you could say it’s their best one. However, on the flip side, if it’s a company that doesn’t have their stuff together, that first day can could be very exhausting because you’re just looking around like, “who’s going to tell me what to do?” You know, where’s the, where do I get a pen? Where do I, what do I start on? You know, like I think it’s like-
Sam: What am I supposed to be doing?
Natalie: Right, exactly.
Sam: I think one of the things that we do a little bit of but could do more of is we try to send that information before their first day. So like little videos about what to expect on your first day and messages about, you know, “when you get here, here’s where you’re gonna park” and kind of try to familiarize them with the environment a little bit before they even get here so that they don’t walk in with that anxiety, that idea.
Sally: I don’t think most people get that.
Vicky: You’re, you’re such a proactive individual. You know you’re on it.
Sam: Let the record show I’m blushing.
Natalie: The young generations, they don’t even know. I mean in anybody, regardless, they don’t know what to ask right away. You know, if they haven’t had a job they don’t even know to ask where do I park? What am I supposed to wear? What time do I need to be here? What, what’s the deal with lunch? What’s, you know, they don’t know how to even ask them questions cause they-
Vicky: Then, I fault our colleges and universities.
All: I do too.
Sam: Agreed, agreed.
Vicky: To prepare young, young, people.
Sally: They don’t prepare them.
Vicky: And they’re just very basic. While they got all of these statistics that got all of this methodology, all of this philosophy toward whatever they are majoring in, and-
Sam: Right, here’s how to do a certain job but not here’s how to-
Vicky: Function in the real world.
Natalie: Right. And even I think, I think internships are one of the best things, but at the same time they may not, you know, really paint an accurate picture of what you’ll be doing. Cause it’s very few people. I don’t think-
Sam: It depends on the internship. If you’re getting coffee and fetching lunch and just kind of watching maybe a little bit helpful.
Natalie: If it works out. I think that’s the best way for people to have an understanding. But I do think they should teach more life onboarding classes maybe at school. So that way when people go into buying a house, buying a- getting a job. All these things. People have an idea of what to expect.
Vicky: Here’s the opportunity, you know, “Hey universities, I’m here to come in and teach your seniors what’s going to be coming along.” Ya know? It’s like I love young people. I really do. They are just wonderful and, and they’re just, they’re just so bright and shiny, you know, they’re not tarnished yet. Okay. And you can, if you get a hold of them early on with all of that new knowledge, all of that promise that’s there, then you can set them on a course for success. Great. And you can sit back and then just kind of watch them get their wings and fly. It’s a trip, it really is.
Sally: But to do that, that young person needs a mentor, somebody at that company that is willing-
Sam: Well, or some proper onboarding other than “here’s the organization, here’s what we do, here’s, when lunch breaks are, and I mean they do need that information, but they need a little bit more about what to expect. And we had, I don’t remember what the discussion was, but we did a podcast last month where we were talking about it might’ve been about benefits or creating a positive work environment and somebody, it might’ve been Rod or Rick, I’m not sure, brought up the point of well, it depends on what department they’re in because your marketing department is going to want something different as far as benefits than your IT department than administrative. And I think it’s the same thing with when you’re starting the job, you can talk about company culture and you can familiarize someone with the culture of the company. But it’s gonna vary by department.
Sally: Oh, absolutely.
Natalie: Very much so.
Sally: Very by manager.
Sam: Yeah, yeah, yup.
Natalie: And coworkers and things like that sort. So you know,
Sam: Well and responsibilities and how what you do fits into the grand scheme of things and and all of that.
Sally: And I think big companies often forget that piece.
Sam: Yeah.
Sally: This is your department, but this is how your department affects the big, big picture.
Sam: Right, right.
Vicky: And people coming in, young or old, they need to understand how their department impacts other departments.
Natalie: Agreed.
Sally: Well, yeah, you need to know how your department contributes to everybody else and where to go, how we work with other departments even.
Sam: Yeah I was gonna say, you have to focus on the detail of what your responsibility is. You have to focus on what you’re doing and do the best job you can at it, but you have to understand the big picture and how that fits into how the product ends up affecting the consumer or the business as a whole.
Sally: Absolutely.
Natalie: I think that’s something that I think in the bigger organizations is where the problem comes in sometimes too, because people get so set on “this is your task, this is your task, this is your task,” and then there’s not as much-
Vicky: More siloed.
Sam: It is. And then it gets more into your department and no one’s sitting there ever saying, “Hey, here’s the bigger picture,” which I think would in turn make everyone a better employee because they could then say, okay, and they could be more-
Sam: You don’t have to know the details of what everyone else does, but you have to kind of have some level of familiarity and how what you do affects them and vice versa.
Natalie: Exactly. Lots of people think more proactively and maybe solve a problem that you didn’t even know that was the company had. But if someone knows how, okay, this is how this is, my department-
Vicky: Well this, this is an area, again, that gets into the aspect of organizational development. Okay. And from an org OD- it’s not overdose but OD standpoint- understanding who, who you’re dealing with on your teams and how do you engage them into the process. It’s dealing with assessments and understanding the employees that are involved and the manager that’s managing those. But if you don’t know that information, you’re just, you haven’t understood what the requirements are of your department, you’re going to miss a lot.
Sally: I think that’s probably one of the biggest issues with onboarding though, is somebody comes on, they’re excited, they’re nervous, they’re stressed.
Vicky: And you don’t know what you’re dealing with.
Sally: No, but also is somebody in that department, whether it be a new coworker or your manager going through expectations? This is why we do what we do.
Sam: Right.
Sally: And bring them on and make them feel part of the team right away versus sitting in an office by yourself, wondering, what to do.
Sam: Looking for your next job.
Sally: Yeah. Yeah.
Natalie: And that happens!
Vicky: Oh you’d be suprised!
Sam: I know.
Sally: No, I would not be surprised at all.
Natalie: And I think with how fast business is moving right now, companies get excited- they want to bring on someone new. They say, “Okay, we’re going to make this hire,” but everyone is so busy that it’s hard for people to even have the time to stop and train the person-
Vicky: Well, it’s a lean, it’s a lean organization. They don’t-
Natalie: Right.
Sally: They don’t allow, but if you don’t, you’re just gonna continue to have high turnover.
Vicky: That’s true.
Natalie: Exactly.
Sam: That’s where we come in.
Natalie: Yeah.
Sally: That’s right. That is where you come in. It is, you’re right.
Sam: With the video onboarding. Does anybody have an onboarding horror story?
Vicky: Oh, yeah! First day I got someone to a new manager and by the end of the week they said, “Well, I thought you were bringing me a new employee?” I did. They’d been sitting there for a week.
Sam: The manager didn’t know the employee was there?
Sally: That is terrible.
Sam: What was the person doing the whole week?
Sally: Looking for a new job!
Sam: Yeah!
Sally: I think my worst horror story is my entire onboarding took 10 minutes, 10 minutes,
Vicky: And that included all the signatures? Okay.
Natalie: Wow.
Sally: Told I could read the employee manual at my leisure. There’s your desk.
Sam: And there’s the manual.
Sally: Talk about feeling unwelcome. I had-
Sam: How long did you stay at that organization?
Sally: Not very long.
Sam: Yeah.
Sam: If you’re interested in some department onboarding or orientation video, contact me at CN Video at (314) 843-3663 that’s 314-VIDEO-ME.
Christine: Thanks for listening to SuperManager by CN Video Production. Visit our website at cn-video.com for additional episodes and lots of SuperManager resources, or give us a call at 314-VIDEO-ME.