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HR · Human Resources · programme 01

Onboard new hires

Speed up the onboarding of new employees in a playful way.

Why this programme

Newcomers discover the company through play, mixed with long-standing staff in blended teams. The challenges feature your real departments, your real faces, your real vocabulary: by the end of the session, a new hire knows who does what, and the old hands have one more first name to remember.

Rootedness is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

Simone WeilphilosopherThe Need for Roots (L’Enracinement), part two “Uprootedness”, 1949

What your teams experience

  1. The company map: find the departments, sites and key contacts on a living map.
  2. Who’s who: match colleagues’ faces, roles and anecdotes, using the photos you entrust to us.
  3. The first week: put the steps of a successful onboarding journey back in order.
  4. The final word: each team writes a piece of advice for the next new hire, projected on screen.

Each activity opens and closes with a projected cinematic sequence, personalised for your teams. The facilitator sets the pace: nothing moves forward without them.

What the company gains

New hires who know the organisation within a morning, long-serving staff involved in welcoming them, and a shared memory that replaces the badge and the welcome booklet.

1 in 3

Only one in three workers strongly agree they received recognition or praise for good work in the past seven days; those who don't are twice as likely to say they'll quit within a year.

GallupEmployee Recognition: Low Cost, High Impact, 2016

How we tailor it to you

Your wording, departments, figures and photos are built into the challenges and cinematic sequences, to the letter. The look follows your brand guidelines. Teams are formed on the spot or based on your organisation chart. The session report is delivered to you after the event.

The sources of this programme

Every game, measure and reminder in this programme builds on published research. The facilitator cites it in the debriefs, and you can check every reference.

  1. Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review. JAP, 92(3), 707-721. 10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.707
  2. Klein, H. J., Polin, B., & Sutton, K. L. (2015). Specific onboarding practices for the socialization of new employees. IJSA, 23(3), 263-283. 10.1111/ijsa.12113
  3. Kammeyer-Mueller, J., Wanberg, C., Rubenstein, A., & Song, Z. (2013). Support, undermining, and newcomer socialization: Fitting in during the first 90 days. AMJ, 56(4), 1104-1124. 10.5465/amj.2010.0791
  4. Cable, D. M., Gino, F., & Staats, B. R. (2013). Breaking them in or eliciting their best? ASQ, 58(1), 1-36. 10.1177/0001839213477098
  5. Moreland, R. L., & Myaskovsky, L. (2000). Exploring the performance benefits of group training. OBHDP, 82(1), 117-133. 10.1006/obhd.2000.2891
  6. Lewis, K. (2003). Measuring transactive memory systems in the field. JAP, 88(4), 587-604. 10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.587
  7. Morrison, E. W. (2002). Newcomers' relationships: The role of social network ties during socialization. AMJ, 45(6), 1149-1160. 10.2307/3069430
  8. Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J., & Lirtzman, S. I. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. ASQ, 15(2), 150-163. 10.2307/2391486
  9. Chao, G. T., et al. (1994). Organizational socialization: Its content and consequences. JAP, 79(5), 730-743. 10.1037/0021-9010.79.5.730
  10. Wegner, D. M. (1987). Transactive memory: A contemporary analysis of the group mind. In B. Mullen & G. R. Goethals (dir.), Theories of Group Behavior, 185-208. Springer. 10.1007/978-1-4612-4634-3_9
  11. Austin, J. R. (2003). Transactive memory in organizational groups: The effects of content, consensus, specialization, and accuracy on group performance. JAP, 88(5), 866-878. 10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.866
  12. Bauer, T. N. (2010). Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success. SHRM Foundation, Effective Practice Guidelines (rapport).
  13. Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (2011). Organizational socialization: The effective onboarding of new employees. In S. Zedeck (dir.), APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, vol. 3, 51-64. 10.1037/12171-002
  14. Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice (4e éd.). Allyn & Bacon (ouvrage).
The foundations shared by all our programmes (20 references)

The mechanics of our sessions: team play, the debrief, the before-and-after measure, spaced reminders.

  1. Klein, C., DiazGranados, D., Salas, E., et al. (2009). Does team building work? Small Group Research, 40(2), 181-222. 10.1177/1046496408328821
  2. Salas, E., DiazGranados, D., Klein, C., et al. (2008). Does team training improve team performance? A meta-analysis. Human Factors, 50(6), 903-933. 10.1518/001872008X375009
  3. McEwan, D., Ruissen, G. R., Eys, M. A., Zumbo, B. D., & Beauchamp, M. R. (2017). The effectiveness of teamwork training on teamwork behaviors and team performance. PLoS ONE, 12(1), e0169604. 10.1371/journal.pone.0169604
  4. Tannenbaum, S. I., & Cerasoli, C. P. (2013). Do team and individual debriefs enhance performance? A meta-analysis. Human Factors, 55(1), 231-245. 10.1177/0018720812448394
  5. Blume, B. D., Ford, J. K., Baldwin, T. T., & Huang, J. L. (2010). Transfer of training: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 36(4), 1065-1105. 10.1177/0149206309352880
  6. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119. 10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
  7. Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
  8. Cepeda, N. J., et al. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354-380. 10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354
  9. Howard, G. S. (1980). Response-shift bias. Evaluation Review, 4(1), 93-106. 10.1177/0193841X8000400105
  10. Stasser, G., & Titus, W. (1985). Pooling of unshared information in group decision making. JPSP, 48(6), 1467-1478. 10.1037/0022-3514.48.6.1467
  11. Mesmer-Magnus, J. R., & DeChurch, L. A. (2009). Information sharing and team performance: A meta-analysis. JAP, 94(2), 535-546. 10.1037/a0013773
  12. Prentice, D. A., & Miller, D. T. (1993). Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus. JPSP, 64(2), 243-256. 10.1037/0022-3514.64.2.243
  13. Aronson, E., et al. (1978). The Jigsaw Classroom. Sage (ouvrage).
  14. Galton, F. (1907). Vox populi. Nature, 75, 450-451. 10.1038/075450a0
  15. Kahneman, D., Fredrickson, B. L., Schreiber, C. A., & Redelmeier, D. A. (1993). When more pain is preferred to less: Adding a better end. Psychological Science, 4(6), 401-405. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.1993.tb00589.x
  16. Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice Hall (ouvrage).
  17. Sitzmann, T. (2011). A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology, 64(2), 489-528. 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01190.x
  18. Lichtenstein, S., Fischhoff, B., & Phillips, L. D. (1982). Calibration of probabilities: The state of the art to 1980. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic & A. Tversky (dir.), Judgment under Uncertainty, 306-334. Cambridge University Press (ouvrage).
  19. Surowiecki, J. (2004). The Wisdom of Crowds. Doubleday (ouvrage).
  20. Butler, A. C., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). Feedback enhances the positive effects and reduces the negative effects of multiple-choice testing. Memory & Cognition, 36(3), 604-616. 10.3758/MC.36.3.604

Before you book

What is digital team building?

A team building session in which teams play challenges on participants' phones while a big screen shows the running order, the scores and the cinematic sequences. A facilitator runs the room from start to finish. Everything happens in person.

Do we need to install an app?

No. Participants scan a QR code and play in their phone's browser. No account, no password, no installation. It works on iPhone and Android.

Is there a limit on the number of participants?

No. The platform adapts to your headcount, from a small team to the whole company, in one or several rooms.

Demo

See “Onboard new hires” in action.

Thirty minutes on your premises. You play a challenge and see the report at the end.

Request a demo