Welcoming New Hires

Welcome new hires; don’t shun them as horses do

What do you notice from this picture? One horse is standing by himself off to the right and not being allowed to eat! Sadly, this seems to be the pattern with my herd. Whenever a new horse is introduced, they are treated quite cruelly by the other horses, especially by the horse who had previously been at the bottom of the pecking order.
Surely, we treat new team members better in the workplace, right? Unfortunately, Gallup found that 88% of employees don’t believe their organizations do a good job onboarding. Numerous studies have concluded that if an organization only had one dollar to invest in its hiring and onboarding processes, by far, the biggest impact would come by investing in improving how they treat new employees.

Thankfully, there is hope for the new horse in my herd. For some reason, my son’s pony, Mighty, seems to take the new horses “under his wing” and protects them from the others - even making sure they get food. There is a lesson for us here. According to HCI, 87 percent of organizations that assign a buddy during the onboarding process say that it's an effective way to speed up new hire proficiency. Find a “Mighty” or become one for the benefit of your new employees.