Values-Aligned Handbook Changes That Support Growth: Lessons from a Grant-Funded STEM Research Team
Your employee handbook is the initial and foundational expression of your company's culture. It offers every team member a direct glimpse into the values, expectations, operational frameworks, and the level of care they can anticipate from the organization. From outlining emergency procedures that demonstrate proactive concern for individual well-being to benefits to establishing transparent protocols for conflict resolution and clear, actionable steps for addressing harassment, a well-crafted handbook builds trust.
By providing accessible frameworks and clearly defined processes, you empower your employees and cultivate a more transparent work environment, which is essential for fostering a workplace where everyone can truly flourish. This helps your organization align with its values and stay committed to its mission.
Recently, an organization I was working with was experiencing high turnover. As you know, hiring takes a lot of time and energy, as does onboarding and offboarding. In this case, the high turnover wasn’t necessarily due to the specific environment being one that people were eager to leave. Instead, this organization faced steady turnover due to the nature of positions being contract-based or grant-funding specific.
My goal: Since this organization would continue to have a high turnover rate due to the flow of funding and structure of its positions, my goal was to focus on how to make onboarding new hires more efficient.
Recommendation for their handbook
I recommended they build a more intentional system for onboarding and offboarding that was clearly outlined for each department/division.
Why this recommendation is more aligned with values and will support the growth of the organization.
A strategically designed onboarding and offboarding system, clearly articulated within the handbook, is paramount for efficiency and value alignment. For new hires, a structured onboarding process ensures a smoother integration into the team's workflows and provides a clear understanding of the specific values and operational norms from Day 1. Similarly, a well-defined offboarding process, documented for both departing staff and remaining team members, reinforces the organization's commitment to respect and professionalism, ensuring a positive final impression and minimizing disruption.
In the case of this specific client, one person was in charge of all the onboarding. In this case, we want to make the onboarding process both more transparent and help the new employee become acquainted with resources as quickly as possible to help them widen their net of support.
Do you need to do something similar? Here are a few quick ideas to support onboarding:
Welcome and accessibility check: a warm, inclusive welcome message. Ask about any accessibility needs for the first day/week (e.g., captioning, specific software).
Communications: Sharing what the new staff member can expect as far as communication, ensuring that once their new email is ready, their email is added to all of the appropriate communication channels. Check in two weeks later to ensure the new hire is receiving updated communications.
Commitment and values of the organization: Provide basic materials to help them understand the specifics of their role within the organization. This could include the roles of different people within the organization to better understand where their position falls.
Access to professional development: Include options for Safe Zone training or sharing pronouns, plus ongoing professional development opportunities offered by the organization.
Point(s) of contact: Clearly identify go-to people for questions, including their name, position, a short bio, and why they would contact them. It’s really important to include both people internal to the specific team or group and external to their team, in case the new employee is in need of support from sources beyond.
Share about potential affinity or resource groups: Introduced relevant employee resource groups and explained their purpose and how to join.
Social Integration Opportunities: Create opportunities for informal connection with team members (virtual coffee chats, etc.), considering different communication styles and comfort levels.
Feedback Mechanism: Clearly outlined how the new hire can provide feedback on their onboarding experience, emphasizing that all feedback is valued. A survey that all new staff receive can be a great way to streamline this effort.
While I list eight ideas here, there are many more, AND you don’t have to implement all of them right now. Make a goal that in each hiring cycle, you’ll update or add one or two pieces to the process. That way, you’re not overwhelmed with an overhaul, but over time, you’ll improve the cycles of hiring. It will also allow new hires to continue to give feedback on different parts of the process and integrate that feedback into steps at a time.
Again, by creating some processes and including them in something as accessible as an employee handbook, the organization demonstrates intentionality, streamlines transitions, and consistently reinforces its core values throughout the employee lifecycle. Reach out if I can be of support.
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