Achieved Strategies

There are signs that the job market is slowly heating up. So, I want to take this moment to share my thoughts on an often broken system after new employees are hire.  But first a little context…

During the interview process, the hiring manager will sell the value of working for the company.  Easier said, the manager is on his/her best behavior positioning the company in the best possible way.  And when the job offer is extended, promises are made to the employee.  I’m not talking about the black and white of a new job like pay and benefits.  I’m talking about the culture, work opportunities, training, belief systems, and so on.  It’s these things that when betrayed can have devastating impacts on the company.

See, when we begin work for a company, most of us are hopeful.  We want to make a contribution to the company.  We want to show that we’ve got skill.  We want to make a difference.  These are the hopes that fill most new employees.  These hopes are encouraged during the interview process.  Yet when the employee starts the job the reality doesn’t match these promises.

• The new employee isn’t put on projects because he’s new.
• The new employee attends a ton of new training, but has little to no context to apply it.  She’s learning too much and overwhelmed.
• The new employee was told that transparency is an important value.  Yet he was “spoken to” after sharing a perspective opposite his manager’s.

When examples like these are contradictory to what was “sold” during the interview process, many employees begin to disengage.  The degree of disengagement can vary depending on the employee and the disparity between what was sold and reality.

Unfortunately employee morale, turnover, work quality, and quality of social interactions begin to plummet.  And the nasty thing about this is how few organizations look at the disparity.

Organizations need to look at the hiring process managers follow.  We often see a disconnect between what each area manager does and what HR wants.  Furthermore, silos and the resulting incestuous thinking flavors the hiring process: we’re different than the rest of the organization; We follow a different set of rules and hold different expectations.

What’s important is that managers follow a hiring practice that paints a realistic picture of the company.  And the follow-on practices, policies, expectations, and procedures must reinforce the key points in the hiring practice.  Organizations can save money when there is alignment in these areas.

What would you suggest organizations do to improve in this area?