Case Study
The Problem
One of the cornerstones to Rare’s Theory of Change is training. Rare trains local people in all countries the organization works; Rare also exclusively uses locally-based personnel in every regional office. Rare trains these local citizens not only in conservation and development concepts, but also how to be trainers themselves. This ensures that when Rare leaves a region, local people will continue the work and spread key information, thus maintaining the benefits from such work.
Unfortunately, at the US office in Arlington, VA, the structure for onboarding is not highly organized, nor is it uniform. When I arrived at Rare very little had been prepared for me as a new employee. I did not have a computer. The information technology (IT) department had not yet established my email or my internal accounts with the organization, so I could not log onto a spare computer and work from there. I received training on the fly, as people realized I had started and needed to learn the organization’s mission and structure. Additionally, I needed to be trained on how to use the organization’s internal monitoring and evaluation system. I was offered that tutorial three months after I started. I would not have been able to do my job if I had waited that long to receive the information from that course. Instead, another employee trained me on the system within my first week, allowing me to do the work I was hired for.
My onboarding experience at Rare was by not unique. Other employees have also not received proper instruction on different aspects of the organization or some of the organization’s internal computer systems. As such, I recommend that Rare changes its onboarding protocols.
Recommendations
Below are the suggested changes for Rare’s onboarding process
1) Each employee should receive an introductory orientation within the first week of his/her start date. Training should be both instructor lead and also computer based. Each new person should be exposed to Rare’s mission statement, Theory of Change, anti-terrorism policy, anti-corruption policy, history of the organization, and organizational structure. For each of these topics, the new hire should have to take a test or sign a document of completion (an online signature would suffice) at the end of each tutorial. By being accountable for completion, the new hire will hopefully pay attention to each topic, and a person in Human Resources would be able to monitor who has and has not yet completed a specific learning module. The HR person can then follow up with any non-compliant staff, thus ensuring each person receives the necessary information.
2) Each new person should receive a tour of the office within his/her first week.
3) Rare offers a critical social marketing training course periodically throughout the year. This course teaches private sector marketing tactics to promote social change. The class on social marketing should be scheduled every other week. This will ensure that new hires will receive this necessary information that is a cornerstone to Rare’s work within two weeks to a month of beginning work, regardless if there is a conflict in the schedule with other orientation sessions.
4) Each team should go out to lunch with a new hire within the first two weeks of the new hire’s start date. This allows the team to get to know each other as people and makes the new person feel welcomed.
5) Each supervisor should schedule check-in meetings each week for the first three months with a new hire. This gives a regular structured time during which the new employee can ask questions, bring up concerns, and receive feedback on work.
6) Tutorials on Rare’s internal systems and overviews of campaigns should be scheduled as brownbag lunch sessions every month. Thus if no one signs up, the lecturer does not have to give the class. If new employees have been hired recently, however, and desire to learn the information, the class is already scheduled and the new person can easily find it and sign up.
Conclusion
By structuring the onboarding process, a new hire will a) learn basic information about the organization, its lingo, and its methodologies, and b) know to whom to reach out if he/she has any questions or concerns. A structured onboarding process should reduce confusion and frustration, both for new hires and their supervisors. Additionally, a structured onboarding process will help promote Rare’s organizational culture to new employees. Overall, improving the onboarding process should lead to more competent new employees and provide a more welcoming atmosphere for those people just starting Rare’s unique work.