What's the Secret to Productive yet Cost-Effective Induction of New Employees for a Globally Dispersed Workforce?

I have been asked to design an induction program for all new recruits across all our branches (in various states). What makes the most sense: to have all new employees go through induction at our corporate office, or to dispatch someone from our corporate office to travel to the various locations to conduct inductions? New employees frequently join our company, and on varying dates—so how could we devise a cost-effective program?

—Looking for a Better Way, staffing & recruitment director, services, New Delhi
To minimize cost and maximize the effectiveness of the orientation I would suggest the following approach:

Identify orientation content that can be delivered via the Web or self-paced reading/learning.

Identify content that needs to be delivered in person (e.g., company history, values, specific requirements of the role, performance expectations and culture).

Train local line operators (not HR) on key components that need to be delivered in person. This has the added benefit of providing some line accountability and visibility during orientation, which new recruits will perceive as positive.

Leverage WebEx and other interactive online sessions to deliver information on day-to-day topics, such as benefits and submitting expense reports.

Monitor the overall effectiveness of the program by asking new hires for feedback immediately after the orientation program. Follow this with another round of employee questions about six months later, when they have been on the job for a while and can better assess the program's effectiveness.

SOURCE: Garrett Sheridan, Axiom Partners, Chicago, June 29, 2007.

LEARN MORE: A previous Workforce Management article, Running the Global Recruiting Machine, discusses the recruiting/onboarding practices of ClientLogic. Another view takes issue with the traditional orientation model used by many companies


How Could We Ensure Employee Evaluations That Avoid Subjective Measurement?
How do we go about grading our employees properly and objectively?

—Fair-Minded, HR assistant, finance/insurance/real estate, Blantyre, Malawi
Ensuring your evaluations are fair and objective requires a little planning.

Fully Understand and Communicate Expectations
Many supervisors don't effectively communicate performance expectations to their employees. Misunderstandings about expectations result in diminished focus on the important aspects of the job, lower productivity and quality, and perceived (and real) unfairness in performance evaluations.

A job description that lists specific activities to be performed, the measurements to be reported, and the time allocated for each task—and the required results—helps eliminate many potential misunderstandings. By making result expectations clear to your employees in advance, the evaluation process becomes fair and balanced.

Focus on Data
If you've developed a good job description, you've already outlined the measurable outcomes you expect. Next, you need to consistently measure and record these outcomes. One of the simplest ways is by keeping a performance "plus and minus" log on each employee. Simple forms are available from numerous sources, or you can create your own.

Have your supervisors carve out 10 minutes a day to record the performance results of their employees that either exceed or fall below expectations. (Since it's unlikely that every member of your team will do something noteworthy each day, 10 minutes should be more than enough time.)

At the end of the appraisal period, it is very easy to roll up your notes and complete the appraisal form. Keeping detailed, regular notes on performance helps supervisors objectively rate performance and provides employees with better, more credible input.

Involve the Employee
Asking the employee to be involved in measurement and record keeping of their results will further improve the perceived fairness of those results. Give your employee a plus-and-minus log and ask the individual to note significant accomplishments, misses or extra value added.

Periodically meet with employees to go over the log together, and use the employee's log as one of the inputs for the annual performance appraisal.

Telling your people clearly what you expect, and measuring and providing specific comments on performance results, helps supervisors offer evaluations that are objective. Employees will be more appreciative of the performance evaluation they receive.

SOURCE: Richard D. Galbreath, Performance Growth Partners Inc., Bloomington, Illinois, June 29, 2007.

LEARN MORE: Please read Six Steps to Successful Performance Appraisals for additional advice.


How Could We Determine Whether We Are Getting Optimum Effectiveness From Our HR Processes?
What are the qualities of a good HR practice? We have various processes—for example, for vacancy management, talent management, absence management, etc.—but we aren't always certain whether our processes are running optimally. What are the steps to making an assessment?

—Making Practices Perfect, HR analyst, finance/insurance/real estate, Cape Town, South Africa
Let's start with a definition: A process is a recurring set of activities, events, steps or tasks that result in a desired outcome. To determine the qualities of a "good" process, you must determine two basic things:

1) If the process meets the requirements of the customer(s) that it serves, and ...

2) If it does so in an optimal way.

To clarify a little, the answer to the first question determines whether the process is effective, and the second question gauges its efficiency and quality. For example: Reducing the cost or time to process a benefits claim would be a measure of efficiency—and quality may be the accuracy of the process, or even the experience of the customer. You could successfully process a benefit claim with a process that is slow, but in which the customer's experience is bad. By striving for optimal performance of a process, we are striving for a balance between efficiency and quality, and not sacrificing one for the other, if possible.

The only way to gauge these elements is to properly measure them—and you must truly understand a process before you can effectively apply metrics to it.

If you want to dig into your processes, document them and attempt to refine and improve them, there are several tools that you can use to do this, including:

SIPOC diagrams, which are graphical tools that can help you understand the key elements of a process. SIPOC identifies the Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers of a process.

Flowcharts that can visually identify the steps used in a process.

Process maps that can visually represent the process beyond the steps in a flowchart to illustrate things such as timing, responsibilities and requirements.

Through the use of these tools you can increase your understanding of your processes and take steps to effectively measure and improve them.

To summarize:

It cannot be a good process if it doesn't satisfy its customer. Once that is accomplished, any efforts to improve and optimize a process must still keep the customer in mind and balance efficiency and quality.

You cannot effectively measure and improve a process until you have a clear understanding of it and its elements.

A SIPOC diagram will help you establish who and what are involved in a process.

A flowchart will show what happens in a process.

A process map can show what happens and also establish who does what and when in addition to how and where the different elements fit into the whole process.

With these tools you will be on your way to improvement.

SOURCE: Scott Weston, Ph.D., SPHR, is the author of the upcoming book HR Excellence: Improving Service Quality and Return on Investment in Human Resources, San Francisco, May 8, 2007.

LEARN MORE: Rather than myopically focusing on processes, HR professionals should set aside time to envision their strategic roles.


How Do We Help Retiring Employees Make the Transition?
I am looking for information regarding our responsibilities to retiring employees. What types of resources are available to assist those who are retiring or that have given notice that they plan to retire?

—Lost, benefits coordinator, transportation, Calgary, Alberta
While many organizations spend time educating their employees about their retirement benefits, few take the time or money to help ease the transition for employees moving from work to retirement.

There are a number of issues to deal with as an employee begins retirement. For many people, work is the centerpiece of their lives and a big part of their identity. Although retirement sounds like fun, the reality of this major life change can be very frightening and stressful.

Not only does the financial picture change, but so does lifestyle. The better planned a retirement is, both in financial matters and lifestyle, the easier the transition will be. Here are a few things to help your soon-to-retire and recently retired employees make the passage into their new lives easier and more successful:

● Financial Planning—The biggest stressor can be the concern over not having enough money to do the things they want to do in retirement. Helping pre-retirees and those already retired to understand their expenditures will help them to create a realistic financial plan that includes future income, health costs, housing, hobbies and vacations.

● Lifestyle Planning—When offering pre-retirement planning to employees, make sure to cover lifestyle issues as well as financial planning, including:

Keeping up a daily routine.

Maintaining and renewing relationships.

Redefining who they are.

Following their passion—through new work, new interests, volunteering.

Making good health a priority.

Managing through any transitional depression.

● Transitional Planning—Provide resources to help with the transition:

Make sure to include spouses in retirement planning meetings and mailings.

Provide resources to help employees find a good financial advisor.

Offer a one-year free membership to retirement organizations.

Provide reading materials. Good books include Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes, by William Bridges; and How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor, by Ernie J. Zelinski.

SOURCE: Nenette Kress, Segal/MGC Communications, New York, June 20, 2007.

LEARN MORE: Please read Post-Retirement Money Management for more on this issue.