If you have attended any of our Digital Transformation webinars, this quote will be familiar.
“The realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touchpoint in the customer experience life cycle.”
– Altimeter
In this Perficient webinar The Internal Impacts of a Digital Transformation: How to Effectively Manage Culture, Collaboration, and Knowledge, we discuss how changing the Customer Experience is linked to internal culture and process changes, not simply technology or tools.
I was thinking about how these intersect while watching this webinar from IBM. While the webinar – “Employee Onboarding within IBM. How We Transformed Our New Hire 
Experience” is focused on IBM and the (IBM) tools used, its overall message and insights apply to anyone. Sadly I think most of us have had a less than stellar first day/on-boarding process. Part of it is that most managers don’t have sufficient experience with onboarding to be good at it, let alone great, simply because they don’t go through the process enough times in a year. I thought it was smart that the IBM process started literally at the front door. IBM made sure that receptionists and security knew when new hires were arriving and included them in the process.
There is a wealth of statics in the webinar but some that really stood out to me are:
- New hires make the decision to leave within the first three months.
- 54% who invested in onboarding saw increase in employee engagement
- 69% more likely to stay longer than 3 years if there is a well structured onboarding process. Onboarding had to be reinforced throughout the first months.
Additionally, new employees who went through the program, called New2Blue, had a retention rate twice that as those who did not. That is an amazing difference and has real value to the bottom line. Obviously it is easier to embark on Digital Transformation with a workforce that is committed and engaged.
The program ensures regular touch points with the new hire. This is most important for university hires, either undergrad or graduate, it can also apply to new employees who provide more than the customary two weeks notice. I also liked the idea of communities of new hires, especially for staff who were relocating to a new city.
I can’t forget the speaker, Phee Vania, who was engaging and did a good job with the flow and delivering the information. She also has a great title, Succeeding@IBM Program Manager.
Here is IBM’s public site for new hires referenced in the webinar. Obviously you don’t get to experience the communities but having this information available reinforces what IBM is doing to making new hires successful. If I was looking at new employers, which I am not, seeing a structure program such as IBM’s would make me feel more confident in joining a firm.
