Investing in Your Own Success: Employee Onboarding and Education Strategies

Employees represent the heart of any organization on multiple levels. Typically, employee salaries and benefits represent one of, if not the single largest, cost of any business. Yet, once employees enter the doors, companies often begin to move to the next issue on their priority list. However, successful employee engagement is a never-ending opportunity to build a stronger company.

Consider the role your employees play in the following:

• Product quality and industry knowledge
• Client satisfaction and service
• Visible external brand representation

These are all essential components that drive the differentiation between you and your competitors. In fact, they are likely the most influential components when you consider your customers have a world of options to choose from as partners.

Based on the Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report, an estimated 59% of global employees are not engaged.¹ With significant discussion around “quiet quitting” or putting in the minimum effort required to simply maintain their employment, how can you create a culture that achieves increased engagement, offer better satisfaction, and improve retention?

Establishing a Culture and Pathway to Success

As a follow-up to Brad Traczyk’s column (see the last issue of ODT; July/August 2023) on automation as one tool to help employee engagement and create better opportunities, it makes sense to start at the beginning.

When you first onboard an employee, you are setting them up for all they will learn with your organization. It’s a chance to help them understand how the organization works, and hopefully get them to think about how they can further enhance the work being accomplished.

One of the first steps in being thoughtful about engagement is having a plan. When a new team member joins the company, having a specific process to help them succeed is critical. Employees are not afraid to make a move quickly if they don’t find the environment they hoped for while interviewing. According to the 2022 Job Seeker Nation Report, nearly one in three new hires will quit in the first 90 days.²

What is essential for a new employee beyond their specific role?

• How can the likelihood of their success be increased?
• What do current employees wish they knew when they started their roles?

Once you consider those aspects of any new onboarding, you can begin to create a concrete program.

Our Experience

As a specialty manufacturer focused on the medical device industry, we are very targeted in growth efforts and want to ensure our team members have an outstanding orientation as that directly translates into the experience that our customers will have with the company.

Two years ago, we began a program called Lowell U to help make the transition for any new associate easier and support them in their journey. Our focus at Lowell U is beyond the day-to-day details of an employee’s specific role; rather, the first two weeks are spent on very specific elements that improve the connection with the organization.

• Vision and Mission
• Core Values
• Safety
• Teamwork
• Ongoing development
• Customers for Life
• History of the Company
• Current Facilities and Capabilities
• Customer Profiles

I expect many of these topics are addressed by other organizations across industries, but by emphasizing the culture in the first full weeks, we emphasize the importance of our commitment early on as a foundational process. It’s about the commitment we make to each other and our customers.

When we review the customer profiles, it’s not just a snapshot of those we work with, but a deep look at the cardiovascular and orthopedic components we manufacture and, most importantly, what that means to our customers and their patients. We spend time on how the work we do changes the lives of people all over the world. That level of connection has created a deeper level of insight and satisfaction for our associates who have shared that feedback with us, and now, “they see beyond the part number” thanks to this effort. To hear such positive and meaningful comments from employees that may not have initially considered the impact they have each day reinforces our commitment to this type of onboarding.

At the completion of the initial Lowell U program, new associates continue with their manager on developing career plans as they begin their work and are supported by them in their roles. Approximately 30% of our associates have been with us for less than two years and retention rates have been excellent.

Learnings and Ongoing Connection

Approximately 51% of currently employed workers said they are watching for or actively seeking a new job according to the previously referenced Gallup Report,1 and it’s important that you’re not seeing that level of disengagement.

Consider implementing ongoing monitoring of key metrics that provide improvement opportunities, including turnover numbers, performance data, and employee satisfaction surveys and qualitative feedback.

It’s easy to overlook the ongoing communication and commitment needed to support employees. Days become busy and customer issues always take priority but without a true interest and commitment in their growth and well-being, you put the customer at risk through constant turnover and dissatisfaction. By prioritizing the importance of culture and training from day one, we are proud to note almost 30% of our workforce has over 20 years spent as part of the organization, representing extraordinary staying power. Lowell Inc. is celebrating its 60th year in 2024. We are confident some of the associates we’ve hired, onboarded, and trained in the last two years will be with us when we reach our 100th year in 2064! 

References

1. bit.ly/odt230951
2. bit.ly/odt230952

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As vice president of sales and marketing for Lowell Inc.—a contract manufacturer of complex, implantable medical devices based in Minneapolis, Minn.—Phil Allen’s responsibilities include sales, customer support, strategic planning, and marketing. Lowell Inc. helps solve the most critical orthopedic and cardiovascular implant machining requirements. For nearly 60 years, the organization has invested in the technology to manufacture and test finished components and assemblies down to the submicron level.