Kristine’s Cartoons: How to Win at New Brancher Trivia

Onboarding is important, in fact, it’s so important that we do what we can to make it a really exciting time at Red Branch Media. We make it a game!! Meet the Brancher is a wonderful way to learn more about our new people. It’s a couple of surveys and a Family Feud style format. This edition of Kristine’s Cartoons shows just what it’s like to play the game with our latest Branchers Josh, Lindsey and Cate. Why make getting to know our new hires such a big deal?

• The average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the individual’s first-year potential earnings. (From the US Department of Labor and Statistics)
• The successful aren’t immune, and they’ve had to learn from their mistakes. Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh once estimated that his own bad hires have cost the company well over $100 million.
• 66% of employers said they experienced negative effects of bad hires in 2012. Of these employers, 37% said the bad hire negatively affected employee morale. Another 18% said the bad hire negatively impacted client relationships. And 10% said the bad hire caused a decrease in sales.  (A study from the National Business Research Institute)
• 43% of respondents from the same NBRI study cited the need to fill the positions quickly as the main reason that bad hires are made.
• It costs $7,000 to replace a salaried employee, $10,000 to replace a mid-level employee, and $40,000 to replace a senior executive.  (From HR.com)
• As much as 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions.  (From Harvard Business Review)
• 36% of 1,400 executives surveyed claimed that the leading factor of a failed hire, aside from performance problems, is a poor skills match. The second leading factor at 30% was unclear performance objectives. (Study done by Robert Half)
• 41% of companies polled by Vitamin T Staffing Firm estimated that a bad hire cost more than $25,000, and 1 in 4 said that it cost them over $50,000.
• SayIt Communications calculated the ROI of a bad hire at -298%.
• 75% of the demand to hire new employees is simply to replace workers who have left the company.
• 60% of companies don’t set onboarding milestones for their employees.

Here are some other ways you can ensure your new hire has an awesome day:

• Get the paperwork out of the way (or better yet, get a system that requires no paperwork)
• Have their computer and phone ready before day one
• Assign them a mentor and give them specific things to go over during their time together
• If you have values, state them and then ask the mentor to show these values in action within the company
• Show them around the building and introduce them to their team members and people they will see regularly
• Have someone help them set up their email, social accounts and intranet
• Have a colleague in their department show them basic tasks related to their jobs (if applicable)
• At the end of the day, round them up for an inspire speech and answer any questions they have