Mission Critical: Post Hiring “Assimilation”

Mark, is all excited for his very first day at his new office, and is eagerly looking to meet his new colleagues with some basic predefined expectations in his mind.

What are these predefined expectations? … Will the new company be able to meet his expectations? … How will Mark feel about the new work place?…. Will he be able to perform…

Few questions which linger on the minds of Mark and the Company.  

As the recent trends shows, the companies are set to continue investing time, money and resources on outside/lateral hiring, it has therefore become even more critical to review the existing talent acquisition process and to evaluate, and if there is any need of change?

Nowadays, companies are taking No-Compromise approach on the quality of the candidature. Technology is also taking its part and has been inducted into the evaluation process to improve the quality of hires. Manual recruitment processes are now overtaken by the automatic tools and processes.

Companies have already started thinking of out-of-box and have come up with all sorts of evaluation criteria’s, some examples are:

• Behavioral analysis
• General intelligence
• Role / responsibilities profiling
• Extensive reference and  performance checking

All aimed to get the right talent for the right role.

Mark is also a no-exception and has been through all these parameters to get selected.

Do you think all above evaluation criteria’s will bring an automatic success for Mark?

Surprisingly, many companies suffer by limiting their approach to pre-hiring (non on-boarding, settling into new role) process. It is even more critical for companies to understand that these parameters can only determine the right fitment for the desired role but the actual success of the selected resource will require a broad approach.

Just consider a situation.…

• what if Mark believes there is a misalignment between the role discussed and the actual requirement
• what if Mark is not clear with some policies of the company
• what if Mark feels about some issues with his Reporting Manager
• what if Mark is not that satisfied with the overall processes
• what if Mark  is not happy with the work environment

Pre-hiring or Broader Approach: What approach will Mark’s company take?

As they say, it is often seen that the first day normally sets the tone of the new job.

Every new employee always remembers his first day and so will Mark. He is seen excited by the welcome he has received. He is greeted with a Bouquet of flowers coupled with a coffee mug/t-shirt. He is introduced to his reporting manager who had been eagerly awaiting his arrival and who introduced him to the rest of the team with all possible smiles…  His workplace is all ready for him.

Is that enough?

Assimilation / on-boarding don’t end on the first day.

It is the responsibility of the employer to put a desired effort for the new employee over the next couple of months and this could possibly determine whether Mark will be successful (productive) in the new role or not. He will go through all the constant feedback sessions carried out by employer over the next couple of months to evaluate his overall experience regarding new responsibilities, his reporting manager, company’s policies etc.

Assimilation process is seen as the biggest asset for the employee retention program. The program is set to:

• Understand new employee’s basic needs and to match the predefined expectation in the best possible way
• Make new employee settling down to the system and to make him feel of the WOW! factor
• Sort out at any issues the new employee has and help him to get productive at the least duration possible
• Align new employee with the company’s value, culture and sort out any behavioral issues he has
• Build a mutual trust factor amongst the employer and new employee

My take: How often we have seen companies not paying much attention on the newly inducted employee?

Surveys suggest that dissatisfaction level is the most amongst newly appointed employees and more or less being the main reason for underperforming. Employee, once grows with the company is able to perform better and is adjusted to the company’s culture better.

It’s always advisable to have a matured assimilation process in place that takes care of the new employee…….till he is well settled with the role and company.

Cracking “Counter-Offer” Dilemma

Mark, a Program Manager for an Investment Bank, with satisfactory performance. One day he had a discussion with his Reporting Manager and showed his interests to step down from the company. As per his Reporting Manager he is critical to the projects and definitely he doesn’t want to lose him at this critical juncture.

Do you think it is appropriate to offer a “Counter-Offer” to Mark?

One of the biggest dilemmas for an employee, candidate or an organization is to crack the Counter-Offer scenario. The biggest challenge to break, after successfully negotiated on candidate’s interest, salary, profile, which they seems to be happy with. On the other hand, a candidate immediately feels a WOW factor coupled with excitement, flattered on receiving such offers which might bring in a decent salary hike, fancy designation and impressive responsibilities.

So, the dead lock ends? Win-win for all, maybe-maybe not…

A familiar story?, Here are few facts worth considering before accepting such offers (as in case of Mark):

• “Do you think Mark should seriously think regarding long term relationship with his current employer?” – break in long term relationship because of element of disloyalty creeping in. Such offers might have short term perspective and every reason that employer doesn’t want to lose you at the critical juncture, for now!
• “Is there a replacement of Mark readily available?” –there is every possibility that an employer might think from the perspective of getting more time for his replacement and once identifying the same, can initiate the separation process. There is always an element of risk involved. Even the facts suggests that around 75% of people who accept counteroffers usually leave or let go within a year
• Why Mark wants to change his job? -there is always a dissatisfaction level initially that made him think to get separated from the company. Now on accepting Counter-Offer, a feeling of adjustment and compromising might creep in
• Offer Mark the best? – hiking him to senior level grade or change in designation for him might be temporary and every possibility for further rise/growth in the company can be limited
• What about Mark’s new employer, future? – break in trust & commitment to the new company might limit him to apply with the company for further opportunities that can be mighty lucrative and growth oriented

Dissatisfaction level cannot be changed with the help of counter-offers, it is process which starts from the day of joining and ends on separation. Get into the discussion with your boss and even the skip managers and try to sort out the issues and see the possibility of mutual consent.

My take– Always explore all options, discuss with all relevant stakeholders, friends, family before taking a decision on resigning and once you have made up your mind it is always good to stick to it, no matter what.