Employee Onboarding & Company culture

This was my first experience at Temkin Group in taking the the lead in conceptualizing, writing, and producing a report. With the help of my mentor, Aimee Lucas, I conducted phone interviews with vendors and practitioners, and translated examples from interviews, along with secondary research, into best practices and processes. The goal was to improve the onboarding experience and bring attention to the issues that arise when company culture is treated as an afterthought. I was able to gain valuable experience conducting interviews and creating a novel narrative and framework that would be actionable and effective. Overall, I was very proud that I was able to complete the process and step outside my “research associate” role, which mainly entails supporting the other members of the team.

Executive Summary

A company’s culture reflects the attitudes and behaviors of its employees and influences almost every aspect of the employee journey and experience. However, despite its importance, many companies fail to orient new employees to their culture during onboarding. Rather than helping new hires form long-term connections with the organization and its values, companies often use this time to teach new hires about the organization’s processes. Companies instead should use their culture as a focal point during recruiting, hiring, and onboarding and then continue to emphasize it as employees acclimate to their roles. This report explores how companies can align new employees with their culture; describes how companies can infuse culture throughout the four stages of the new hire journey: establish cultural fit, set behavioral expectations, reinforce positive performance, prioritize sustaining culture; Shares examples of best practices from a number of companies, including Adobe, Crowe Horwath, LexisNexis, Oxford Properties, Touchpoint Support Services, and Safelite Autoglass; provides a checklist companies can use to execute their culture-focused onboarding program effectively.