Talent Management - January 2009 - (Page 20)

a public account for patients and potential patients, complete with a comment wall and videos on several topics. The clinic also is working on using closed Facebook groups for internal education programs, and about 1,500 of its employees and students who have Facebook accounts can form communities. Companies can follow suit by creating Facebook groups for virtual “welcome aboard” meetings, trainings and ongoing education. Blogs Nuts About Southwest, Southwest Airlines’ blog, immediately conveys the playful spirit of the airline. The blog contains posts from employees, a video blog, news section and links to YouTube, Flickr, LinkeON THE WEB dIn, Facebook and Twitter. The Southwww.blogsouthwest.com/ west Media Center has ofﬁcial video and photo galleries and the airline’s podcast — another great way to interact with employees via familiar technology. The blog assists in the acculturation aspect of onboarding. First, this blog demonstrates to new hires that employees matter. New employees know they will have opportunities to communicate by posting comments and even their own blog entries, videos and photos. Second, the news section conveys important information about the company that will help new hires get up to speed quickly. Third, the links to social and interactive media sites encourage employees to form their own interest groups and interact beyond ofﬁcial channels. This can help new hires form relationships and become more personally invested in the company. Nuts About Southwest also has an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed that people can subscribe to so they know instantly when an update occurs on the site. This function can be put to good on-boarding use, as well. For instance, when important meetings and training dates are posted, new employees are automatically informed. Multimedia With the host of visual and audio capabilities available today, on-boarding efforts are limited only by the talent managers’ imagination. On-boarding has evolved from reading through inch-thick manuals to PowerPoint presentations, instructional videos and online tests. The possibilities the Internet provides leave no excuse for a lifeless or second-rate experience. International retailer Target offers almost an embarrassment of riches on its career site. Virtual tours include “Target Culture: Where We Work” and “Target Diversity.” The culture tour provides information on working at Target’s corporate locations, stores and distribution centers. Under “Stores” there are self-directed slide shows of “Our Team,” “Our Brand” and “Our Work.” Each of those sections is further subdivided to offer information about diversity, mentoring opportunities, collaboration, beneﬁts and more. Self-directed tours such as this, with dynamic visuals and bite-size bits of information, are ideal for onboarding. Employees feel empowered and engaged as Pre-Boarding All New Hires On-boarding is a vital element in new-hire retention and development, but these days, the method of on-boarding is just as important as the program’s contents. they learn procedures, policies and company culture. Such tours are not cheap, but given the cost of high turnover and the current generation’s work expectations, they are worthwhile investments. Leading companies such as AT&T, Best Western and Starbucks offer company overview videos, and others offer more detailed day-in-the-life job tours. The Home Depot offers four “Realistic Job Preview” videos using footage of employees to describe and demonstrate various jobs. The sales associate video, for instance, makes it plain that associates always are on the move and need to multitask and work ﬂexible shifts. This honest but upbeat format can help inform new hires so they know what to expect, and it provides yet another opportunity to drive home corporate values. A next-generation training video better represents a realistic work experience using real employees, and it’s tailored to a company’s speciﬁc brand and culture. The on-boarding process should begin as soon as the person is hired — before the ofﬁcial start date. Talent managers can reach out to new hires with an initial welcome e-mail or phone call. This is an opportunity to direct them to the company blog, social network or on-boarding site. Ideally, they can complete some of the required paperwork online or view job-speciﬁc videos. The Home Depot and Target tours are examples of how companies can provide relevant information and begin the acculturation process before the new hire’s ﬁrst day. With the ongoing and lightning-speed advances in Internet and media tools worldwide, new employees are not going to become less invested in Web 2.0 technologies — just the opposite. These technologies offer abundant opportunities to reach, engage and retain employees. Companies that do not integrate media-rich components into their on-boarding efforts run the risk of being left behind as workers turn to employers that demonstrate their workers’ value from day one. Ultimately, on-boarding with Web 2.0 technologies is an investment in an organization’s future. Joseph N. Impastato II is the president of nowHIRE, a Webbased recruiting and applicant tracking software module provider. He can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. 20 January 2009 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.blogsouthwest.com/ http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - January 2009

Talent Management - January 2009 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Integrate Web 2.0 Into the On-Boarding Experience Show ’Em the Money: Compensation Trends 2009 Transition at the Top How Hollywood Manages Talent and What You Can Learn Get the Most Bang With Limited Training Bucks Life After Layoffs Attract Specific Talent Groups Performance Management: Its Time Is Now Helping the Helpers Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - January 2009

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