Onboarding Your New Employees

We often talk about onboarding new members: getting them to use more products and services per household during their first three to six months of membership. Every credit union serious about member retention should certainly be using that strategy. But there is another key group we should consider for an onboarding strategy: your new employees.

I’m currently reading Grow, by Jim Stengel. It is an excellent book about how ideals power growth (in other words, “companies with ideals of improving people’s lives at the center of all they do outperform the market by a huge margin”). It’s an excellent book and I’ll write a complete review in the coming weeks.

But one principle from the book is already striking: companies that grow put as much emphasis on their employees as their customers. One tactic they suggest is to onboard your new hires. They cite Method, a household cleaning products company, as an example. “Method’s leaders decided that they needed to put as much energy into onboarding new employees as they did into hiring them…..which starts with a welcome package delivered to their home and continues with a sixty-day personalized plan.”

Your employees will make or break your credit union’s brand. Since your employees must live your brand every day, you want to ensure they have a positive first impression about the credit union. In other words, brand your culture and your credit union to your new hires.

Here are some suggestions about how you can onboard your new employees:

• Take them to lunch the first day—On my first day of work at one of my prior credit unions, someone stole my brown bag lunch from the employee break room. That wasn’t exactly a good first impression (“what had I gotten myself into?”). That first day on the job is stressful; lighten it up with a lunch with the new person.
• Have the CEO informally visit with them within the first week—No matter your credit union’s size, the CEO can be an intimidating position for new people. When the president of an organization takes time from their busy day to talk with a new hire, it sends a strong message: you value them as a person.
• Connect their job with a higher purpose—Some jobs in a credit union can be boring. Be sure to let them know that what they do every day impacts members’ lives. Most people don’t want to just punch a clock: they want to make a difference. Show them how working at your credit union does just that.
• Give them free logo wear or t-shirts—Everyone loves free stuff; especially free shirts or t-shirts. Even if costs you a few bucks, the good will you earn is priceless. Giving them logo wear lets them know they are part of your team.
• Send them a hand written note to their home—We often suggest the hand written note as a tactic to use with new members. It’s also a great tip to implement with new hires. After a month or so, the new employee may need a word of encouragement. Sending them a personal note that comes to their mailbox (not inbox) demonstrates that you care about them.

These are just a few suggestions. We all know employees impact members (positively or negatively). The better your new employees feel about your credit union, the more likely they are to live your brand.

Comments

[Ron Shevlin]

Great ideas, Mark. Can I add one more? Departmental rotation during the second week of employment (assuming first week will be with their own department).

If I were running a CU (and the world should be thankful that I'm not), I'd have every new employee spend at least 4 days on the front line -- 2 days listening in on member service phone calls in the contact center, and 2 days in the branch, shadowing the branch or asst. branch manager.