Did you know staff orientation makes a significant difference in an employee’s length of service? Having been a nonprofit CEO, I am very aware of the financial impact and resulting constraints put on staff orientation. Unless there are outside resources to offset the cost AND a commitment to upfront time spent with new hires, each staff gets something like eight hours. Until practices change that lengthens both the amount of time spent and the period it takes, the vicious cycle illustrated below will continue. 
A mixture of research demonstrates the impact of turnover within the first year of employment. For example, a 2013 study done on Employee Turnover by Equifax found that 40% of staff left their job voluntarily within the first six months of employment and a further 16% within the first 12 months. That means a possible 56% are leaving within the first year of employment. The Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey was completed in 2015 by Nonprofit HR LLC. concludes that voluntary turnover continues to increase (16% in 2013 to 19% in 2014) and that direct service workers are the hardest to retain at 38%. So, unless we invest in staff from the beginning we are at risk of having to re-hire within the year and our largest staff base (direct service) are the most difficult to keep and at the same time, to find. Secondly, if we are going to impact retention through staff orientation, agencies must “get with the program” and adjust their focus to what the new staff needs. For example, a focus on staff individuality. In a 2013 article written by Forbes titled First Minutes Are Critical in New-Employee Orientation, a study was presented that measured the importance of encouraging individual identity during orientation (e.g. a welcoming speech on how the company allows for the expression of individuality, giving organizational sweatshirts with the person’s name embossed on it, a name badge, etc.) compared to focusing on why this company is the best place to work. Seven months later the researchers looked into whether the orientation changes affected how long the newcomers chose to stay with the agency. Turnover in the control group (current agency practices) was 47.2% higher than that of the individual identity group. Additionally, the individual identity group accumulated higher customer service ratings.
The human resource retention strategy that works!
