Maximizing Employee On-Boarding: A Study in a Pharmaceutical Company

Challenges Faced by SNR Group of Companies

The scope of this study extends to the Pharma Group in India. The organization was facing critical issues related to high attrition, low engagement and non standardization of HR processes including on-boarding. Some of the key challenges faced by the organization particularly with respect to new hires are summarized below:

• 1.

  High Attrition in The First Year of Joining: On analyzing the attrition data of executives from April 2007 to October 2009 it was observed that of all the employees who left in this duration, 35% left within 3-6 months of joining and 60% left within 6-12 months of joining. The same applied for executives across junior, middle and senior levels. The reasons though could be manifold; the primary ones were identified as poor on-boarding experience and lack of role clarity.

• 2.

  Lower Engagement Level for <1 Year Tenure Employees: The Gallup engagement score for executives with less than 1 year tenure also declined from 40th percentile in 2008 (N=1510) to 30th percentile in 2010 (N=1000). The scores also saw decline in role clarity, managerial effectiveness and alignment to the overall mission/purpose of the company.

• 3.

  New Hire Survey: In view of the above facts, a new hire survey was conducted in October 2009 with all new hires who had joined six months prior to the survey so as to further validate the issue. Out of 100 eligible employees, 40% completed the survey. New Hire Survey indicated that 35% of new hires were not satisfied with the current on-boarding process. 40% of new hires expressed that their induction was not scheduled in advance while 25% indicated that they did not get complete information on compensation, benefits and other important policies during induction (Refer Appendix 1 for questionnaire). Some of the other key issues voiced by the new hires were:

  • a.

    Inadequate information prior to joining

  • b.

    Poor Day 1 Experience – Resource Provisioning (ID creation, Access Cards, Workstation, Computer)

  • c.

    Inadequate/Delayed induction

  • d.

    Delay in getting appointment letters

  • e.

    Inadequate cross functional orientation

  • f.

    Lack of Interaction opportunities with leadership team including Head of Businesses/Function Heads/Site Head

• 4.

  Concerns Voiced by HR and Hiring Managers:Somewhat similar concerns were voiced by the HR–Talent Acquisition team and Hiring Managers across sites during discussion with them. 20 Hiring Managers and 10 HR Talent Acquisition Managers were interviewed on the existing process and the improvements required in on-boarding process. Major concerns voiced by HR- Talent Acquisition team were:

  • a.

    Resource Provisioning (ID creation, Access Cards, Workstation, Computer)

  • b.

    Delay in getting appointment letters from Head Office (HO)

  • c.

    Fixing up manager’s accountability for on-boarding a new hire in the department

• 5.

  Top Concerns Voiced by Hiring Managers

  • a.

    Need for structured and standard induction with information on the Group, businesses, company structure.

  • b.

    Safety, GMP, SOP training should be part of induction for manufacturing units and R&D.

  • c.

    Information about company policies to be more structured.