5 thoughts on “Policy Option Memo – Proper onboarding for new hires”
1) Is the case for the seriousness of the problem sufficient? If not, how could it be stronger?
Marlon presents a very compelling argument for why better onboarding is needed to combat the high turnover rate at the Operations office. Based on how he built the case for implementing orientation, training and mentoring to incoming employees, I agree that this would greatly alleviate the problem.
2) Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author(s) that might solve the problem? What are they?
Given the thorough explanations that Marlon presented, and the fact that I’m unfamiliar with the more intimate details of how this department/office functions, I cannot come up with anything better.
I do wonder about why it should be that the employees in the Mayor’s office are forced to move on whenever the Mayor changes, however, that’s a question beyond the scope of this argument.
3) Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option(s) to choose? What more would it be helpful to know.
I’m not sure how available these figures might be, but perhaps this argument would be even more persuasive if you were to present a comparison between the cost of the onboarding program as it stands, and the cost of the proposed program.
4) Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
I think perhaps the easiest options to implement would be orientation and training. It’s relatively simple to put together the material for orientations and trainings, and you could involve current employees in their respective areas of work to contribute to the overall project.
Mentorship is a bit more involved so I imagine it would take a longer commitment. However, it would create not only an inclusive culture but a generally better working environment, so I would definitely encourage having it as a long-term goal.
1. Is the seriousness of the problem sufficient?
I believe Marlon has sufficiently outlined the problem as serious, as he has indicated that 50% of new hires leave the Mayor’s Office yearly. He also indicated that 25% of new hires leave within one year, which affects the delivery of services and possible re-election of the Mayor.
2. Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author that might solve the problem? What are they?
I think it would be a good option to benchmark other public agencies and public organizations that have successful on-boarding programs. As it may be easier and less costly to re-design the existing process to accommodate the new suggestions, than reinvent the entire process.
3. Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option to choose?
No I do not think I have all the information I need to make a decision, since I was not entirely clear on what the policy options were. The policy option needs to be clearly identified and proposed as such
What more would be helpful to know?
It would be helpful to know how staff feel about the currently on-boarding system. This could take the form of surveys or interviews in order to gather feedback on the process. It would also be useful to have some information as to how successful staff believe the current process is, so that satisfaction levels can be measured and areas of improvement identified.
4. Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
The combination proposed may be a good option but I believe the questions above would need to be answered in order to determine whether this is the best course of action.
1) Is the case for the seriousness of the problem sufficient? If not, how could it be stronger?
The case is real problem. I have worked with few offices in my life. While some offices did not call the training – onboarding, it was in fact onboarding. In the small private firm I was working many years ago, I had one on one training. I was thought from the scratch what to do, who to know, how to behave in situations. I have received basic information and training from the manager. Then for many months I had one on one, you could say buddy system assistance from manager.
The authors have real supportive arguments and real issue on their hands. In many companies there is no enough training, understanding of job needed to be done. It is not new hire fault, or the trainer, it is just time issue. The information and job responsibilities required for new hires to know need some processing. It takes time.
2) Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author(s) that might solve the problem?
What are they?
I do not think of any new option, and the author mention already time issue with training, which is supported enough in the paper.
3) Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option(s) to choose? What more would it be helpful to know.
I think we need a little more clarity on what is exactly the proposed option here. Do they want the more training, more mentorship, both, or something else altogether. Maybe checking out with present employees, to see how they imagine onboarding for new people. Then some ideas could be drawn from them.
4) Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
I really do not know which option is available. I think its regarding onboarding, but which part? If its regarding more training I agree, f its about more mentorship, I agree.
1) Is the case for the seriousness of the problem sufficient? If not, how could it be stronger?
I believe that you have convinced me that this is a serious problem. I’m also sure you would convince employers as well, especially since you were clear in adding money in the equation.
2) Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author(s) that might solve the problem? What are they?
No, I think clarity and connection is the essential elements in a job setting. You did an excellent job at covering that.
3) Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option(s) to choose? What more would it be helpful to know.
The only thing that I would ask is to provide an example of a company or organization that has successful onboarding.
4) Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
I feel mentorship was the best option. Even if you are confident, it always helps to know there is someone there to rely on. It may be the most time-consuming and not all veteran employees might agree to do this, but if you invest in your employees they would more likely stay. At the very least, they would appreciate it.
I think Marlon did a very good job describing the problems associated with the on boarding process for new hires. This is commonly seen in most places. Yes. it is very costly to train someone on the job and has that person leave in few months, as the new hire is not as productive the first few months. In some other circumstance, the company may have paid a recruiting firm a large sum of money to bring that person on board, and now the money is wasted. Other issues that Marlon didn’t mention were that the low retention rate affects the morale of the work place and that makes it harder to bring on new hire, as well as increasing the likelihood of other workers leaving as well. Constant short of staff increases work load for other workers and affects the quality of their works. This may cause them to leave the company as well. Also talented and good people hesitate to join a company where the retention rate is low, and the problem will keep perpetuate itself.
The three solutions that Marlon proposed were all good and a combination of three should be used. I think it would be very helpful if he could expand on why it is important to spread the orientation over a few months period , and the importance of regular on the job training. An example would help strengthen the argument.
Although mentoring is a very important part of the on boarding process, it is a difficult one to implement. The new hire needs to feel comfortable and have trust in his/her mentor to discuss potential problems or ask questions, and it would work much better if the mentor were genuinely wanting to help. Just having an assigned superficial mentor would not add much to the on boarding process. It would be helpful if Marlon has expanded on the mentoring solution a little more.
1) Is the case for the seriousness of the problem sufficient? If not, how could it be stronger?
Marlon presents a very compelling argument for why better onboarding is needed to combat the high turnover rate at the Operations office. Based on how he built the case for implementing orientation, training and mentoring to incoming employees, I agree that this would greatly alleviate the problem.
2) Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author(s) that might solve the problem? What are they?
Given the thorough explanations that Marlon presented, and the fact that I’m unfamiliar with the more intimate details of how this department/office functions, I cannot come up with anything better.
I do wonder about why it should be that the employees in the Mayor’s office are forced to move on whenever the Mayor changes, however, that’s a question beyond the scope of this argument.
3) Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option(s) to choose? What more would it be helpful to know.
I’m not sure how available these figures might be, but perhaps this argument would be even more persuasive if you were to present a comparison between the cost of the onboarding program as it stands, and the cost of the proposed program.
4) Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
I think perhaps the easiest options to implement would be orientation and training. It’s relatively simple to put together the material for orientations and trainings, and you could involve current employees in their respective areas of work to contribute to the overall project.
Mentorship is a bit more involved so I imagine it would take a longer commitment. However, it would create not only an inclusive culture but a generally better working environment, so I would definitely encourage having it as a long-term goal.
1. Is the seriousness of the problem sufficient?
I believe Marlon has sufficiently outlined the problem as serious, as he has indicated that 50% of new hires leave the Mayor’s Office yearly. He also indicated that 25% of new hires leave within one year, which affects the delivery of services and possible re-election of the Mayor.
2. Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author that might solve the problem? What are they?
I think it would be a good option to benchmark other public agencies and public organizations that have successful on-boarding programs. As it may be easier and less costly to re-design the existing process to accommodate the new suggestions, than reinvent the entire process.
3. Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option to choose?
No I do not think I have all the information I need to make a decision, since I was not entirely clear on what the policy options were. The policy option needs to be clearly identified and proposed as such
What more would be helpful to know?
It would be helpful to know how staff feel about the currently on-boarding system. This could take the form of surveys or interviews in order to gather feedback on the process. It would also be useful to have some information as to how successful staff believe the current process is, so that satisfaction levels can be measured and areas of improvement identified.
4. Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
The combination proposed may be a good option but I believe the questions above would need to be answered in order to determine whether this is the best course of action.
1) Is the case for the seriousness of the problem sufficient? If not, how could it be stronger?
The case is real problem. I have worked with few offices in my life. While some offices did not call the training – onboarding, it was in fact onboarding. In the small private firm I was working many years ago, I had one on one training. I was thought from the scratch what to do, who to know, how to behave in situations. I have received basic information and training from the manager. Then for many months I had one on one, you could say buddy system assistance from manager.
The authors have real supportive arguments and real issue on their hands. In many companies there is no enough training, understanding of job needed to be done. It is not new hire fault, or the trainer, it is just time issue. The information and job responsibilities required for new hires to know need some processing. It takes time.
2) Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author(s) that might solve the problem?
What are they?
I do not think of any new option, and the author mention already time issue with training, which is supported enough in the paper.
3) Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option(s) to choose? What more would it be helpful to know.
I think we need a little more clarity on what is exactly the proposed option here. Do they want the more training, more mentorship, both, or something else altogether. Maybe checking out with present employees, to see how they imagine onboarding for new people. Then some ideas could be drawn from them.
4) Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
I really do not know which option is available. I think its regarding onboarding, but which part? If its regarding more training I agree, f its about more mentorship, I agree.
1) Is the case for the seriousness of the problem sufficient? If not, how could it be stronger?
I believe that you have convinced me that this is a serious problem. I’m also sure you would convince employers as well, especially since you were clear in adding money in the equation.
2) Can you think of any options not mentioned by the author(s) that might solve the problem? What are they?
No, I think clarity and connection is the essential elements in a job setting. You did an excellent job at covering that.
3) Do you have all the information you need to make a decision about which option(s) to choose? What more would it be helpful to know.
The only thing that I would ask is to provide an example of a company or organization that has successful onboarding.
4) Which option or options seem best to you? Why?
I feel mentorship was the best option. Even if you are confident, it always helps to know there is someone there to rely on. It may be the most time-consuming and not all veteran employees might agree to do this, but if you invest in your employees they would more likely stay. At the very least, they would appreciate it.
I think Marlon did a very good job describing the problems associated with the on boarding process for new hires. This is commonly seen in most places. Yes. it is very costly to train someone on the job and has that person leave in few months, as the new hire is not as productive the first few months. In some other circumstance, the company may have paid a recruiting firm a large sum of money to bring that person on board, and now the money is wasted. Other issues that Marlon didn’t mention were that the low retention rate affects the morale of the work place and that makes it harder to bring on new hire, as well as increasing the likelihood of other workers leaving as well. Constant short of staff increases work load for other workers and affects the quality of their works. This may cause them to leave the company as well. Also talented and good people hesitate to join a company where the retention rate is low, and the problem will keep perpetuate itself.
The three solutions that Marlon proposed were all good and a combination of three should be used. I think it would be very helpful if he could expand on why it is important to spread the orientation over a few months period , and the importance of regular on the job training. An example would help strengthen the argument.
Although mentoring is a very important part of the on boarding process, it is a difficult one to implement. The new hire needs to feel comfortable and have trust in his/her mentor to discuss potential problems or ask questions, and it would work much better if the mentor were genuinely wanting to help. Just having an assigned superficial mentor would not add much to the on boarding process. It would be helpful if Marlon has expanded on the mentoring solution a little more.