2 urgent pages, 2 hours please
Week 10
Main Topic: Key Areas of Talent Development
Subtopics:
Onboarding
Diversity
Harassment
Relevant Course Objective(s): This week's material addresses Course Objectives #1, #3, #4, and #6.
Week 10 Learning Objectives:
At the end of this week, you should be able to:
Explain why onboarding is an important part of TD in organizations
Discuss the importance of diversity training in organizations
Analyze why harassment training impacts organizations
Readings: Read the Introduction to Week 10 file and all of the readings on the Week 10 Readings list.
Tasks:
Participate in the Week 10 discussion (graded)
Introduction
Key Areas of Talent Development
This week we will focus on three key areas of employee training -- onboarding, diversity, and harassment training. We will discuss their importance and implications for organizations.
Onboarding
Onboarding is a process that welcomes a new hire to an organization or newly promoted employee to a new job. To begin discussing onboarding, we need to make a distinction between orientation and onboarding. Orientation is usually a short event that focuses on new hires completing HR paperwork, learning organizational policies, and learning job expectations. Onboarding, however, is a process that focuses on an individual employee and can last from several days to several months. Its purpose is to socialize an employee into the culture of the organization. TD does not usually have a role in new hire orientation. But TD usually has a significant role in onboarding of employees. Orientation can be part of the onboarding experience. The following article lists the best practices from a TD perspective to make an onboarding program a success. https://www.trainingindustry.com/wiki/entries/onboarding-(1).aspx
Many groups have done research on the onboarding process. Much of the research centers around the relationship of a strong onboarding program to employee retention, engagement, and productivity. According to the Aberdeen Group’s research on onboarding (Laurano, 2013), employee onboarding has become a key business initiative and an accelerator of company growth and performance. Their 2013 research study suggests that there are four key drivers for onboarding programs: 1) productivity, 2) employee engagement, 3) retention, and 4) better assimilation of new hires. In the area of retention, the study concluded that Best-in-Class organizations retained 91% of their first-year employees vs. 70% for industry average organizations. Nearly 62% of employees in Best-in-Class organizations met their first year performance milestones vs. 29% for industry average organizations. (Laurano, 2013, pp. 5 – 8). These numbers seem to suggest a strong case for investing in an onboarding program where TD can have a big impact on employee retention, engagement, and productivity.
Diversity
In a news release on December 12, 2012, titled, “U.S. Census Bureau Projections Show a Slower Growing, Older, More Diverse Nation a Half Century from Now,” the U.S. Census Bureau projected the following population trends for the 2012 – 2060 period.
The population age 65 and older is expected to more than double between 2012 and 2060, from 43.1 million to 92.0 million
The non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, at 199.6 million. It will fall by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060.
The Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3 million in 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060.
The African American population is expected to increase from 41.2 million to 61.8 million over the same period.
The Asian population is projected to more than double, from 15.9 million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060.
American Indians and Alaska Natives would increase by more than half from now to 2060, from 3.9 million to 6.3 million.
The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population is expected to nearly double, from 706,000 to 1.4 million.
Minorities, now 37 percent of the U.S. population, are projected to comprise 57 percent of the population in 2060.
The population age 18 to 64, the ratio of males per 100 females is projected to be 98.9 in 2012 and increase to 104.1 in 2060.
Of those age 65 and older in 2060, 56.0 percent are expected to be non-Hispanic white, 21.2 percent Hispanic and 12.5 percent non-Hispanic black.
What these numbers mean to TD professionals is that the workplace will become much more diverse than it is now over the next 40 years - - especially in the under 65 age groups. The white population will decline by 20 million while the minority population will almost double during the next 40 years based on projections from the 2010 census.
In addition to race, sex, gender, age, and national origin, there are other groups that have created more diversification in the workplace. These groups include people with disabilities and members of the various religions of the world. TD, along with organizational understanding, sensitivity, and celebration will increasingly become part of the leadership culture in successful firms. Also, TD practitioners will need to develop and refine their skills in the ATD ‘Foundational Competencies’ of global mindset, interpersonal skills, and personal skills in order to function effectively in organizations of the future.
Harassment Training
Harassment is a type of behavior that diversity training seeks to eliminate. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines harassment as:
. . . unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws. https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/harassment.cfm
Since the employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor, non-supervisory employee, or non-employee over whom it has control (e.g., independent contractors), training becomes an important way that the organization protects itself. To mitigate the liability, the organization must take several steps. These steps include: 1) communicating to all employees that unwelcome harassment conduct will not be tolerated, 2) establishing a complaint or grievance procedure for employees to use to report harassment, 3) providing anti-harassment training for managers and employees, and 4) taking immediate and appropriate action on the complaints.
The potential for harassment can occur at any time during the employee lifecycle from recruiting to retirement. Also, with the advent of social media and more casual work relationships, the line between professional and unprofessional behavior at work has been blurred in recent years. Finally, as the number of women in the workplace has increased, the need for sexual harassment training has increased. Nearly half the states require or ‘strongly recommend’ sexual harassment training for public and/or private sector employees. http://www.ekoatwork.com/articles/state-by-state-sexual-harassment-training-requirements/
To make the work environment more professional and to reduce the number of complaints, organizations have turned to TD departments or external training organizations to design harassment training programs. These programs use many of the learning theories, traditional training methods, and technology that we have studied this semester. Because harassment can originate with either the manager or co-workers, organizations focus the training on both groups of employees. Many harassment programs include not only a discussion of the laws and the internal complaint or grievance procedures, but also use behavior modeling scenarios where employees can practice proper behaviors in the workplace. Many of these harassment programs are delivered virtually so that the program can be updated easily if an organization is encountering a particular type of harassment. Also, virtual delivery of this type of training makes it easier to track attendance should an organization experience a legal issue.
In summary, as the society becomes more diverse, organizations and their customers will also become more diverse. Retention, engagement, and productivity are key issues for organizations. Many organizations have turned to TD to develop onboarding, managing diversity, and harassment training programs to help them not only increase the loyalty and engagement of employees but also skill them in the competencies needed to lead and function effectively in a diverse workforce.
References
Laurano, M. (2013, April). Onboarding 2013: A new look at new hires. Aberdeen Group. Retrieved from
http://deliberatepractice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Onboarding-2013.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012, December 12). U.S. Census Bureau projections show a slower growing, older, more diverse nation a half century from now. [Press Release]. Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-243.html
Week 10 Readings
Required Readings
This TEDx talk focuses on the negative consequences of the ways women are portrayed in ads.
TEDx Talks. (2014, May 8). The dangerous ways ads see women | Jean Kilbourne. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy8yLaoWybk
This video focuses on the onboarding process and the elements necessary for successful onboarding.
Gregg Learning. (2016, January 25). How to onboard a new employee. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTisexbau8
How Google uses ‘Google Apps’ to onboard new Google employees.
G Suite. (2015, November 10). On-boarding new hires | Google Apps | The Apps Show. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwnFYIkQUPQ
This report focuses on onboarding program research.
Laurano, M. (2013, April). Onboarding 2013: A new look at new hires. Aberdeen Group. Retrieved from
http://deliberatepractice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Onboarding-2013.pdf
This article focuses on what the law requires in harassment and discrimination training.
Johnson, M. (2004, Summer). Harassment and discrimination prevention training: What the law requires. Labor Law Journal, 55(2), 119-129. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=heh&AN=13749626&site=eds-live&scope=site
Recommended Videos
These are actual new employee orientation videos used in different types of companies.
This video describes new employee orientation at Orangetree Imports, a gift shop.
GHMconnect. (2011, February 5). Employee training and motivation: The first few days [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBFgObA07ZU&feature=relmfu
This is the new employee orientation video for Stratton, a ski resort.
Stratton Orientation. (2009, November 27). New hire orientation video. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ2CVO3y06I&feature=related
This is the new employee orientation video for the University of Rochester.
POV-Rose Media. (2011, January 16). Welcome to the U of R - New hire orientation [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWx51l2mtyg
This is the new employee orientation video for Allergan, a global pharmaceutical company.
Video Resources. (2010, April). New hire video [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=rP89x_tFZIE&feature=endscreen
