3 Practices for Successfully Onboarding Producers

“Here’s where you’ll be sitting. The bathroom is down the hall. Someone from HR will come by to go over some forms with you. We’ll take you out to lunch around noon.”

For many companies, the official onboarding process doesn’t go much beyond a few general conversations, especially when the new hire is an experienced producer who found success at previous jobs.

That’s a big mistake.

According to 2013 Aberdeen Group research, a formal onboarding process increases the chance that an employee will stay with a company for at least three years by 69%.

More employers are wising up to the idea that formal onboarding can have a serious impact on productivity and company culture. Here’s how three companies have mastered the onboarding process—and a few tips on how you can integrate their principles into the hiring process at your agency.

Zappos: Focus on Culture

What would you do if your company offered you $2,000 to quit?

Every Zappos hire goes through the same training as its call center reps. It doesn’t matter if you’re an accountant or a lawyer—everyone participates in the same four-week course that covers company history and culture and puts employees on the phone with customers.

At the end of the first week of training, Zappos makes this offer to all new hires: If you want to quit right now, we’ll pay you for the training you’ve done, plus an extra $2,000. The idea is that employees who are only working there for a paycheck will take the money and run.

That’s fine with Zappos, which is only interested in hiring people who want to be a part of the company for the long haul. After just one week of company culture training, less than 1% of new hires take the offer and quit.

The lesson: Onboarding gives you a chance to show new hires how your firm operates. This is especially important for producers, who are accustomed to a different company culture. The mindset and characteristics that made them successful at other jobs could actually hinder their ability to engage with your company’s processes and culture. While implementing a $2,000 resignation offer may be extreme, working to truly integrate culture conversations into onboarding will be your best bet at setting new producers on the right course.

IBM: ‘Unofficial’ Onboarding

There can be a big difference between what employees hear during orientation and what they hear the first time they attend a company lunch outing or happy hour. Current employees are often eager to share what it’s “really” like at work.

IBM takes an active role in unofficial onboarding with its Connections Coach program. Every new hire gets a Connections Coach, an experienced employee who acts as an unofficial mentor. IBM encourages new hires to go to these contacts with questions they don’t want to ask their manager, such as, “Where can I get a cup of coffee?” The contact person makes sure the new hire feels at home and fits in with IBM’s culture.

The lesson: Workers are going to learn the ins and outs of your organization one way or another. You want conversations among employees taking place on your terms. Official or unofficial mentor programs that begin on each new employee’s first day can help make this happen while acclimating new employees faster and increasing their engagement and loyalty.

Google: Start Early

Leave it to Google to find a way to increase new hires’ productivity by 25% with a single email.

Hiring managers at Google are responsible for scheduling the activities of a new hire’s first day. The company’s analytics team recently discovered that if managers receive a reminder email about organizing appointments and tasks for each new hire’s first day, the new hire reaches peak productivity a full month earlier, or 25% faster.

The email includes just five things the hiring manager should do before the employee’s first day:

1) Discuss your new hire’s role and responsibilities.

2) Match your new hire with a peer buddy.

3) Help your new hire build a social network.

4) Schedule onboarding check-ins once a month for your new hire’s first six months.

5) Encourage open dialogue.

The lesson: Hiring managers should be thinking about engaging new employees before their first day—and long after it. When you’re evaluating your onboarding process, don’t just look at new hires. Monitor how hiring managers bring employees up to speed, both in terms of company culture and productivity. Continually review your process and think about how else you could make their first day, week or month more productive for them and the organization.

Judith Vaughan is a director of content development at The Institutes.