CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A sink-or-swim mentality for socializing new employees will ultimately only drain organizations of their best talent over time, according to new research by a University of Illinois expert in workplace dynamics.
Russell F. Korte, a professor of human resource education in the College of Education at Illinois, says that rather than placing the onus of assimilating to a new work environment on the new hire, it's their co-workers who shoulder much of the responsibility of bringing the newcomer on board and easing their transition to the team.
"There's a huge burden on the work group for the socialization and ultimate success of the new hire," Korte said. "But organizations keep saying, 'We're throwing our new hires to the wolves and they need to figure it out.' Everybody thinks it's the responsibility of the new person to fit in when it's actually a mutually constituted relationship between the work group and the new hire."
Korte's study, published in recent issues of the journals Human Resource Development International and Human Resource Development Quarterly, comprised in-depth interviews with members of the engineering workforce, including managers, of a large multinational manufacturing company.
Korte discovered that co-workers exert far more influence on a new hire's socialization in an organization than previously thought: About 65 percent of what employees learn comes from their co-workers, while only 15 percent came from interactions with managers.
"Co-workers are major players in socializing a new employee," he said. "I think it's important that managers realize the power that the work group has to make or break the new hire coming in, because if people have bad experiences, they'll likely leave."
While the vast majority of prior research on workplace socialization focused on the newcomer's responsibility to learn how to work and play well with others, Korte says there is scant research on the effect of co-workers as gatekeepers of learning and membership in a tight-knit work group.
"All the literature is focused on the individual and what he or she has to do to fit in," he said. "What I've found is that it's not just up to the individual. There's a huge responsibility for the work group to bring the individual on board."
Socialization, Korte says, is an important strategy for organizations looking to increase the capacity of their workforce, improve their competitive advantage and develop new talent in the organization.
At the time of the study, participating organizations were losing between 20 and 50 percent of their newly hired engineers at the two-year mark.
"Even with improvements to the recruitment and hiring process, firms are still having these problems," he said. "That's an expensive way to run a business, not to mention it's a waste of a lot of talent."
According to Korte's research, whether newcomers could develop high-quality work relationships with their co-workers depended not only on the efforts and social skills of the newcomer, but also on the willingness of others in the work group to embrace and form relationships with the newcomer.
"If the new hire doesn't fit in, it's not necessarily their fault," Korte said. "Without efforts by co-workers to include the newcomer and provide mentoring, the new hire often floundered."
Korte says that even the most socially savvy and talented people couldn't succeed if their work group was dysfunctional.
"If the group keeps the new hire at bay, then the new hire doesn't have the recourse to force their way into a group successfully," he said. "The group has to open up and let the individual in, and take an interest in the individual, both personally and professionally. It's the work group's responsibility to get the new hire on board and productive."
Korte says that managers and work group leaders can do a lot to bring a new person on board and up to speed during their initial weeks and months on the job.
"The person coming in new needs someone locally, what I term a 'local mentor,' to help them learn the job, including its politics and procedures, and how to get things done on the ground," he said.
It's also helpful if managers can have frequent interaction with the new hire.
"If that didn't happen, it was a less successful experience for new hires," Korte said. "The new hire also had to have a meaningful assignment early on. It's very frustrating if you're still doing grunt work 18 months after you've been hired."
Outside of the office, Korte says it's important for co-workers to give the new hire membership in the group by asking them out to dinner, parties or other social events.
"When I talk to seniors who are graduating, I tell them to get to know people socially outside of work, to go beyond the job description, and get into a meaningful assignment early on. Learning basic job tasks wasn't that much of a problem for newcomers, but it was the social and political systems inside the organization that often tripped them up."
If possible, Korte advises prospective employees to meet their prospective co-workers and be a fly-on-the-wall for a day or two before committing to a company, and see how supportive the work group might be.
"It's heartbreaking to see bright young people who are graduating at the top of their class - people starting to build their lives and their careers - get into an organization where they have negative experiences at the start. The real world can be not so nice sometimes."
Korte's research was supported by the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education and the Stanford University Collaborative Research Laboratory, as well as the National Science Foundation.