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Welcome Home: The First 90 Days

My first shot at writing a book was about 11 years ago.  The book was to be titled, "Welcome Home," and its basic premise was that onboarding new staff during the first 90 days should be similar to welcoming guests into your home or community. The first 90 days is crucial to new hires, and to employers as well.  Up to 25% of new hires leave during the first 90 days.  Those hires could have cost healthcare organizations millions of dollars a year.  I contend that like any organization where someone is "new..." a workplace, a church, a community, a school... that it is the organization's responsibility to make the newcomer feel welcome.

Let's examine the case of Pauline.  Pauline was hired by a health system to be a clinical researcher.  She had several years experience as a floor nurse, and she wanted to move away from floor nursing.  Her former employer was not able to provide her with opportunities to leave floor nursing, so she accepted the new position.  

Like a visitor to your home, employees arrive at your doors with their baggage. Some pack light, and some carry a heavy load from all of their past employers.  All of the things that happened at past employers, whether they were treated fairly or unfairly, what they were paid, even how many friends they had, become your problem when they arrive at your organization.  It's your responsibility to make sure that their experience at your organization welcomes them into their new work home. The first thing you do when you greet a new guest at your home, is you meet the person at the door.  You survey your guest's baggage and determine how you are going to help bring that baggage into your home.

It's Pauline's first day on the job.  She has completed the new hire physical, the background checks, the required blood work, TB screenings, and vaccinations, and she has arrived at her first day of orientation.  When she arrives, there are trays of assorted fruit, pastries, and health bars.  Pots of decaffeinated coffee and caffeinated coffee, two pitchers of juice, and several pitchers of water adorn a table along the side of the training room. A human resources staff member sits at another smaller table, smiling, handing out nametags.  Another takes new hires down the hall and takes their pictures for their employee identification cards.  New employees mingle with each other for a good half hour before the official orientation begins.  They are smiling, excited, nervous, apprehensive, grateful, hopeful.  At a little after 8:00 am, they sit down and begin orientation.  Several speakers arrive and offer different tidbits of information.  Pauline and the rest of the staff feel a little overwhelmed, but they enjoy their time together.  They all go to lunch together, and then go their separate ways.  They will see each other tomorrow morning, though, and they are looking forward to seeing their new friends.

When a guest arrives at your home, the first thing you do is invite her inside.  You make her feel at home by offering her a drink, something to eat, and maybe ask her to sit down.  You take her baggage into another room, while your guest relaxes.  You come back and chat with her for a while, asking how her drive was, maybe discussing her life and yours.  You tell her where the bathrooms are and maybe give some of the house rules, like when you have breakfast, and please don't mind the doorbell at 6:00 am, that is just the paper being delivered.  You have planned to take your guest to lunch.  After lunch, you and your guest come back to your home -- feeling full and happy.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

Following orientation, Pauline goes to her department to get settled in.  When she arrives, the administrative assistant asks her name.  Pauline tells her.  The administrative assistant says she didn't get an email that said the new clinical researcher was coming today.  The administrative assistant looks exasperated and stomps off angrily looking for the research director.   Meanwhile, Pauline has been sitting in the Research office waiting for them both to come back.  She looks around the room and wants to pass the time by looking at her phone.  Pauline chooses not to because she doesn't want to seem like she will be looking at her phone all the time at work. She patiently waits.  The administrative assistant and the Research Director arrive together 30 minutes later.  The Research Director, says, "Hi Pauline. So glad you could finally come work for us. Follow me, I will show you to your desk." 

Imagine now that you and your house guest have come home from your nice lunch out.  Your guest indicates that she is tired, and she really needs to rest.  You ask her to wait for a few minutes while you get the guest room ready.  She sits in the living room for nearly a half hour.  Your guest doesn't want to turn the TV on because that may seem rude or inappropriate.  Your guest glances at the books you have in the room. Again, your guest doesn't want to pick any up because maybe you are reading one.  The guest tries to relax but anxiously awaits your return.  You and a family member return from getting the guest room ready.  You say, "Okay, follow me.  I will show you where you are staying."

The Research Director takes Pauline to her new office.  Pauline is excited because she did not have an office in her last job.  She worked in a cubicle.  When she opened the office door, she saw a large empty desk, a computer facing the wall, and a large bookshelf with several binders on it.  The office looked really nice.  The Research Director apologized and said they weren't able to get her office ready for her. She should check with the administrative assistant for any supplies that she needed. He also stated he was sorry, but her direct supervisor, the Clinical Research Manager, had forgotten to get her access to the research area as well as computer access to their departmental files. For now, Pauline could review the binders in the office and peruse the files for the organization. The Research Director further suggested maybe she could spend the afternoon completing some online training required by the organization.  
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com


You take your guest back to what you refer to as the "guest suite".  You open the door, and the room looks very nice and clean and welcoming.  There are a few books on the shelf on the nightstand that you tell your guest she is free to read.  The dresser drawers are empty, so she can put her clothes in there.  You tell your guest that she also may hang her clothes in the closet, but you forgot to buy some hangers.  You also mention to your guest that you forgot to put sheets on the bed. You tell your guest to look through the drawers in the room.  You are sure there are some sheets and pillows for the bed somewhere.  You also show your guest the adjoining bathroom.  You are sorry, but you forgot to put toilet paper and towels out.  You hope she doesn't mind using the bathroom down the hall for now. She is free to use her own shampoo and soap, if she brought some. You leave the room, and you tell your guest to have a nice rest.

Pauline sits down at her desk and reads her welcome emails from the organization.  She has a few, but not too many.  It takes her about an hour to go through them. She then decides to complete some of the online training. She looks in her desk, there are no pens or pencils. She goes down the hall, and the administrative assistant hands her one pen and one pencil. The administrative assistant then shows Pauline the supply closet.  Pauline is told she has to use all of the previously used binders and materials.  The administrative assistant indicates the Research Director does not like people wasting money on supplies and does not want anyone to have anything new.  Pauline goes back to her office with her few supplies.  She decides she will simply go to the store this evening and buy her own.  As the day progresses, a few people stop by and briefly introduce themselves.  Pauline isn't sure what to do because they only stand at her door.  A clinical researcher who has the office next door stops by. He tells her that the man who just left her position was really well liked.  Everyone loved him, the other clinical researcher said.  He told her that the previous clinical researcher went on to a different organization to make more money.  He told Pauline the salary of the person she was replacing.  "That's 20% more than what I'm making," she thought.  As she was getting ready to leave for the evening, a couple of other Research Department staff members stopped her in the hallway and asked how her first day went. She was sure they looked familiar and that she had attended nursing school with them.  The staff members did not let on if she did or not.  However, as Pauline walked away out of the department, she heard the staff members say, "I went to nursing school with Pauline.  I hope she has changed since then, because I couldn't stand her in college."  The women then  proceeded to tell stories about Pauline.  Pauline just kept walking and went to her car.  When she got to her car, she let out a big sigh, and she wondered, "Why do I feel like crying?"

Your guest goes through the drawers in the guest bedroom.  The guest finds some old, discolored tattered sheets.  There is a hole in the fitted sheet.  "Surely, these can't be the sheets my host was referring to," your guest thinks.  Yet, those are the very sheets.  The pillow is worn and the pillowcase smells like mothballs.  Your guest figures it will be all right for a short while.  After all, your guest is tired from the trip.  Before she goes to sleep, the guest goes into the bathroom. Toiletries are placed on the bathroom counter.  Your guest begins to put things away in drawers. Your guest walks down the hall and asks you if you have a trash can. You say, "Oh, you can take our spare trash can in the bathroom."  You hand your guest the trash can that is half full with trash.  You also give your guest an old set of towels that have holes in the middle from hanging on bathroom hooks. You say, "Here, you can use these for now. There is nothing wrong with them. These towels just have a few holes in them and are a bit worn. They are old towels we don't use any more." Your guest decides later today, a trip to the store will include purchasing new towels.  Just as she  finally gets situated and lays down, a mutual friend drops by for an impromptu visit.  He uses your guest bathroom right next to where your guest is sleeping.  "Hey, I recognize that car out there," he  bellows down the hall. "Is that who I think it is?" You answer, "Yes, it is." He yells right outside the guest bedroom door, "Wow, I hope she has changed since college. I really couldn't stand her back then.  Remember that time..." You answer back and you and your mutual friend share "war stories" about your guest. The whole time, the guest is in the room half-listening to the conversation and half-sleeping. Once your mutual friend walks down the hall, your guest sobs quietly in the bed.  She feels like a huge mistake has been made coming to visit you.  Your guest makes plan to start looking for hotel rooms that evening, or perhaps leaving in the morning.

The above scenarios outline only an employee's and a guest's first day.  If you think the guest scenarios seem preposterous and you would never treat someone like that in your home, then why would you treat someone like that who is a new employee in your organization? Unfortunately, Pauline's case isn't an anomaly; it is the norm in some organizations.  Onboarding employees is like having a guest in your home.  You want her to feel welcome in her new home -- her workplace-- where she will spend at least half of her waking hours every day.




Sources
Hirsch, A.S.. (2016) Reducing New Employee Turnover Among Emerging Adults. Society for Human Resource Management. Found online at: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/reducing-new-employee-turnover-among-emerging-adults.aspx
Duffield C. M.Roche M. A.Homer C. A.Buchan J. & Dimitrelis S. (2014A comparative review of nurse turnover rates and costs across countriesJournal of Advanced Nursing 70(12), 27032712. doi: 10.1111/jan.12483

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