Increase Employee Engagement & Retention Create an Onboarding Program Focused on Career Development & Mentoring a Research ebook by:
Employees Are Asking for Personal Development Opportunities Are You Listening? { icims Hiring Insights research shows that employees rank training & development opportunities and the availability of a mentoring program in their top five desired employment perks. Why Would I Personal goals and priorities influence everything about Want to Work an employee s performance, from their decision to apply for You? Job Seekers Offer Guidance to a job at your company to their decision to stay and grow on How to Position Your Company Culture to Attract the Best Hires with you over time. Employers need to be aware of these priorities to create an onboarding program that will keep new hires engaged and position them for success. a Research ebook by: To this end, icims Hiring Insights surveyed more than 450 talent acquisition professionals and 400 employees to learn what aspects of company For more information about culture best support new hires for success. Our other employment perks on this list, check goal is to help you gain a better understanding of icims Hiring Insight's research-based how your company culture and programs can ebook Why Would I Want to Work for You? keep top talent engaged and growing within your organization rather than seeking greener *Facts highlighted with this icon are proven pastures elsewhere. through icims Hiring Insights research. Share these facts with your friends and colleagues via your social media outlets! Increase Employee Engagement & Retention
Employees Want a Supportive, Nurturing Work Environment What Type of Company Culture Best Suits Your Personality? HIRING PROFESSIONALS Which of the Following Best Describes Your Company Culture? 50% 49% The majority of employees prefer to work in a 40% 42% family-like, team-oriented environment that emphasizes mentoring and will nurture their 30% career development. 20% 10% 21% 24% 19% 9% 11% 24% The majority of hiring professionals report that they offer employees this kind of supportive working environment. This is a valuable aspect of your employment brand that you can leverage to hire and retain top talent if it s true. 0% 1 2 3 4 1 Family-like, with a focus on mentoring, nurturing, and teamwork 2 Results-oriented and competitive, with a focus on personal achievement 3 Dynamic, entrepreneurial, with a focus on risk-taking and innovation 4 Hierarchical, structured, and controlled, with a focus on efficiency and stability
Employers Believe That They Are Providing Career Development Opportunities HIRING PROFESSIONALS What Types of Employee Career Development Activities Does Your Company Provide Or Subsidize? Internal training programs 63% Professional seminars, webinars, or podcasts 62% Tuition reimbursement 47% Mentoring programs Internships or apprenticeships In-person networking events A library of career or job-oriented books We do not provide any career development curriculum for employees 12% 20% 28% 31% 30% Other 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
But 50% of Employees Report Insufficient Career Development Training from Their Employers Just claiming that you offer a particular kind of culture is not enough your employees need to be aware of your initiatives and be encouraged by their manager to participate. Otherwise, even if you think that you offer a supportive environment, you might discover that your employees believe otherwise. Are You Satisfied With the Career Development Programs Through Your Employer? After all, half of the employees surveyed report that they either are given no career development support from their employer (23%) or that the opportunities offered are not helpful (27%). 23% 17% 33% 27% Yes, my employer provides excellent training and development programs internally No, my employer s training and development programs (internal or external) are not very useful My employer does not offer any form of training or development for employees like me Yes, my employer pays for me to attend very useful training classes from external providers
What s Missing? The Mentor How Do You Want to Be Managed? 42% of employees look to their manager to fulfill a coaching or mentoring role. Coach or mentor Hands-on manager Democratic manager 10% 32% 42% If an employee s manager believes in and promotes individual and company-wide training opportunities, the employee is more likely to recognize and take advantage of the development opportunities offered. While many managers may believe that they fulfill this coach or mentor role, employee feedback reveals that managers still have a long way to go to prove themselves worthy of the title mentor. Entrepreneurial manager 9% Flat organization (few or no middle management) 5% Authoritative manager 2% 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%
Employees Report that Work Is the Best Place to Find a Mentor Where Did You Find Your Mentor? Current or former employer College or university 11% 68% The potential for a manager to serve as in a mentoring role begins during the hiring process and continues into new hire onboarding. Since 42% of employees are already looking Other 8% to their manager to fulfill a mentoring role, Professional association 7% and 68% of employees indicate that they have found a mentor at a current or former Face-to-face networking 4% employer, the stage is already set for a manager to move into a mentoring capacity Social media (ex. Linkedin) 1% as part of the new hire onboarding experience. Mentor website Print media (ex. Trade magazine) Govt. Entity (ex. Sm. Bus. Admin) 1% 1% 0% icims Hiring Insights recommends the following five steps to assure that all employees receive the information needed from the earliest stages of onboarding to develop a healthy, positive relationship with their manager/mentor figure. 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 10.0% 30.0% 50.0% 60.0% 80.0% 70.0% VIEW STEPS
STEP 1 Introduce the Manager as Mentor Within Your New Hire Portal icims Hiring Insights discovered that 51% of employees believe that a career mentor would help them develop, but only 17% report having a mentor today. To encourage your new hires to see their manager as a potential coach or mentor figure, personalize each new hire s onboarding experience from the very beginning by featuring information about his or her manager within the new hire onboarding portal. Include a picture of each manager and a quick Q&A or ask managers to record quick videos highlighting each manager s short-term goals for the team and leadership style. Do You Believe That Having a Career/ Professional Mentor is or Would Be Helpful in Developing Your Career? Yes Maybe No 17% 32% 51% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 20% 10% 0% 30% Do You Have a Mentor Helping to Drive/Guide Your Career? 60% 50% 40% 17% 55% 28% Yes, I have a mentor No, I do not have a mentor and have never had one in the past I do not have a mentor today, but I had one in the past
STEP 2 Highlight the Manager s Relevant Experience as Part of New Hire Onboarding Please Identify What You Believe is the Most Important Consideration When Choosing a Mentor 39% of employees identify experience in their chosen job role and 33% of employees identify experience in their chosen industry as the most important factor when choosing a mentor. Experience in your chosen job role Experience in your chosen industry 33% 39% As part of the new hire s first week, include a task for the employee s manager to discuss the manager s personal career path and industry experience as part of your Experience in multiple industries 8% onboarding process. Encourage managers to have this discussion over lunch or outside of the office to further Experience in a related but different job role 7% build a personal relationship. Other 6% Related educational background from any trade school or university 4% Experience in a related but different industry 3% Related educational background from a top university 1% 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%
STEP 3 Encourage Managers to Discuss Career Development & Training with Employees Manager buy-in can be incredibly important when it comes to an employee s belief in (and awareness of) your training and development opportunities. Work with managers to determine the most important career development opportunities that you could offer their new hires and then begin to implement these programs based upon identified need. By offering career development opportunities tailored to your employees needs, you increase the likelihood that managers will support your programs and their direct reports success in learning new and necessary skills. Skills training is vital to employers as a key element in supporting employee ramp-up to productivity, and is highly desirable from the employee perspective as well. icims Hiring Insights' employee survey revealed that job/skills training was ranked as one of the top three employment perks by employees. 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rank Employment Perks from Most to Least Important (Excluding Salary and Health Insurance) Retirement plan Flexible schedule Job/skills training and development Company s reputation for modern processes, management & technology Mentoring program Tuition reimbursement Environmental/community/ volunteering program Employee discount programs Transportation benefits Gym or exercise membership or facilities Free refreshments/free meals On-site daycare or daycare reimbursment
STEP 4 Reveal Employee Growth Potential From the Beginning While an employee s direct manager serves as an important cultural ambassador for your company culture, he or she is not the employee s only potential source for career inspiration. Within your onboarding portal, include Q&As or short videos featuring some of your game-changing employees. New hires may be particularly interested in learning more about those who started with your company at an entry level and have advanced their career within the organization.
STEP 5 Follow Up with New Hires to Create a Constantly-Improving Onboarding Experience As part of your new hire onboarding program, consider anonymously surveying recent hires a few months into their experience with your organization to assess the support and training they have received to date. Ask new hires to provide feedback on your onboarding program and training opportunities. Ask them what aspects of the onboarding program they found most helpful in preparing them for career success and what suggestions they have for additional enhancements to your program. Compile this data and analyze trends to make improvements on an ongoing basis.
Final Thoughts While not every manager will serve as the same kind of mentor, the fact that new hires and employees actively prefer their managers to take on a coaching or mentoring role should be indicative of the importance of providing new hires with ample opportunity to get to know their manager during their onboarding experience. By including information about specific management styles and potential for growth and development within your new hire portal and onboarding tasks, you increase the likelihood that your new hires will connect with their manager and receive the tools and trainings they need to succeed. icims offers branded New Hire Onboarding Portals to give candidates a sense of what it will be like to work at your organization. Employers may also personalize the new hire experience based upon New Hire Category, offering the opportunity to introduce each new hire to his or her specific tasks and team. New Hire Onboarding Portals are seamlessly branded to the look and feel of each client's existing corporate website and can include specific pictures, logos, terminology, colors, and fonts. Portals can also easily support embedded social media widgets for Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 technologies to provide further opportunities for interaction and branding. icims is the leading provider of talent acquisition solutions that help businesses win the war for top talent. icims empowers companies to manage their entire hiring process within the industry s most robust Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). Built on the foundation of a best-to-market talent acquisition software suite, icims PaaS framework, UNIFi, allows employers to expand the capabilities of their core talent acquisition technology by integrating with the largest partner ecosystem in talent acquisition to help them attract, find, screen, and manage candidates. Offering scalable, easy-to-use solutions that are backed by award-winning customer service, icims supports more than 3,200 contracted customers and is one of the largest and fastest-growing talent acquisition solution providers. To learn more about the icims Talent Platform, call 1-800-889-4422 or take a look at our demo: On the candidate side, the new hire onboarding process is incredibly simple, accessible via the web, and can begin as soon as an offer has been accepted. Share this ebook with your network!
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