ONBOARDING

The Invisible Impact of COVID: Newcomers’ Integration Time Has Doubled

January 13th, 2021 | Onboarding

The Invisible Impact of COVID-19 on Integration and Onboarding

Time-to-integration’ is one of the key metrics, when we help our clients with optimizing their collaboration.

In short, this metric investigates the time it takes for new employees to be fully integrated into the informal social structures of an organization. The faster you integrate or onboard new employees, the quicker this impacts time-to-adding value. Obbviously, the slower you are with integration or onboarding,  “the more likely you are to reinvent existing methods and procedures if you don’t know of their existence”.

What Impact Has COVID-19 on Onboarding and Integration So Far?

For many years, we have delved data on integration and onboarding. This is data from before the COVID-19 pandemic – and during. As a result, we can compare the speed of integration and onboarding before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How fast were new employees integrated into organizations in a time when they mainly worked from the office and were onboarded onsite? This is the time before COVID-19. And how does this compare during  COVID-19 in a time when new employees worked from home and were onboarded remotely?

Is there a difference in onboarding before and during COVID-19?

The answer is yes

COVID-19 HAS RESULTED IN LONGER ONBOARDING TIME

It took companies on average two years to get new employees integrated before the COVID-19 pandemic.  During COVID-19, this has taken much longer. The time that a new employee is integrated into the informal collaboration networks has doubled. It now takes 4 years to have the same network as anyone else in the company.

This key insight in the invisble impact of COVID-19 on onboarding matters!
It comes at a price when you do not discipline your onboarding.

If you don’t take onboarding serious, you are not only risking to reinvent the wheel. It is also a waste of resources. Christoffer Kønigsfeldt and Jeppe Hansgaard calculated that “if you can speed up the time-to-integration of a newcomer from 24 months to 18 months, you speed up the time-to-adding value. In the first year, you can already generate an additional value of $ 34,000”.

The Invisible Impact of COVID-19 on Onboarding

How Can You Improve Onboarding During COVID-19?

As Mike Klein mentioned in the article Nine Opportunities for 2021, “new employees will be continuing to come on board as economies recover. Getting them productive will require more than preparing them to perform the practical aspects of the new roles. They will need to know how to be connected with the right people, why the organization behaves the way it does and above all, what to prioritize”

Answers to these questions become visible when mapping and understanding the current state of collaborative relationships, alignment and perceptions. This is what we do on team and organizational level!

Do you want to continue to read this article and find out what the other difference is between life before and during COVID-19? Click here to read The Invisible Impact of COVID (Part 2)

ONBOARDING

The Invisible Impact of COVID: Newcomers’ Integration Time Has Doubled

January 13th, 2021 | Onboarding

The Invisible Impact of COVID-19 on Integration and Onboarding

Time-to-integration’ is one of the key metrics, when we help our clients with optimizing their collaboration.

In short, this metric investigates the time it takes for new employees to be fully integrated into the informal social structures of an organization. The faster you integrate or onboard new employees, the quicker this impacts time-to-adding value. Obbviously, the slower you are with integration or onboarding,  “the more likely you are to reinvent existing methods and procedures if you don’t know of their existence”.

What Impact Has COVID-19 on Onboarding and Integration So Far?

For many years, we have delved data on integration and onboarding. This is data from before the COVID-19 pandemic – and during. As a result, we can compare the speed of integration and onboarding before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How fast were new employees integrated into organizations in a time when they mainly worked from the office and were onboarded onsite? This is the time before COVID-19. And how does this compare during  COVID-19 in a time when new employees worked from home and were onboarded remotely?

Is there a difference in onboarding before and during COVID-19?

The answer is yes

COVID-19 HAS RESULTED IN LONGER ONBOARDING TIME

It took companies on average two years to get new employees integrated before the COVID-19 pandemic.  During COVID-19, this has taken much longer. The time that a new employee is integrated into the informal collaboration networks has doubled. It now takes 4 years to have the same network as anyone else in the company.

This key insight in the invisble impact of COVID-19 on onboarding matters!
It comes at a price when you do not discipline your onboarding.

If you don’t take onboarding serious, you are not only risking to reinvent the wheel. It is also a waste of resources. Christoffer Kønigsfeldt and Jeppe Hansgaard calculated that “if you can speed up the time-to-integration of a newcomer from 24 months to 18 months, you speed up the time-to-adding value. In the first year, you can already generate an additional value of $ 34,000”.

The Invisible Impact of COVID-19 on Onboarding

How Can You Improve Onboarding During COVID-19?

As Mike Klein mentioned in the article Nine Opportunities for 2021, “new employees will be continuing to come on board as economies recover. Getting them productive will require more than preparing them to perform the practical aspects of the new roles. They will need to know how to be connected with the right people, why the organization behaves the way it does and above all, what to prioritize”

Answers to these questions become visible when mapping and understanding the current state of collaborative relationships, alignment and perceptions. This is what we do on team and organizational level!

Do you want to continue to read this article and find out what the other difference is between life before and during COVID-19? Click here to read The Invisible Impact of COVID (Part 2)

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2021-10-26T15:40:49+01:00Onboarding|
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