Client

Capitol Kitchen

Role

UX & Visual Design, Instructional Design, Video Production

Tools

Excel, Flowmapp, Word, Illustrator, InDesign, PowerPoint

Overview

With low unemployment finding good employees becomes more difficult. There are a few prominent businesses completing for warehouse production workers in the valley. While Capitol offers competitive rates, it was still having a hard time recruiting enough workers.

A full overhaul of their recruitment strategy as well as improvements in onboarding and retention was overdue.

Final Deliverables

  • Recruitment materials including job fair booth design, flyers, hand-out cards, web presence, & social media post templates
  • Training & onboarding strategy, process, materials, & employee tracking
  • Employee culture program overhauls including recognition, events, communications, and environmental design

The First Problem

The production side of the business has a high turn-over rate.

Many of the employees are experiencing their first job or are experimenting with different types of entry-level positions.

RESEARCH

I started by analyzing the demographic data in regards to age and how long each employee has been with the company. I discovered that while 44% of our production employees start at 16-25, our largest group of retention is in the 26-34 range. While it is not as pronounced over the entire workforce, this trend does carry through other departments.

I interviewed current employees, both long-term ‘ideal’ employees and newer hires. Through these interviews I was able to establish where our potential employees are looking for jobs, what benefits and attributes of our company to focus on, and what their professional goals are. I learned how they found this job and how they would look for a new one if they decided to leave, as well as what might cause them to leave. I also found that employees didn’t feel like there was a clear training program (spoiler: there was almost none!), nor that there was a promotion track. This research led to the creation of employee personas that could be used as a tool when evaluating future decisions.

One of the most important findings, though, was that our retention was very poor. What would be the point of recruiting 100 employees if 5 will stay past a week?

The training and onboarding system needed a huge overhaul and it needed to happen first.

The Problem within the Problem

  • No assigned staff for training
  • No resources or videos for independent or guided learning
  • No system to track the progress of new hires
  • No training for advancement opportunities
  • Poorly defined and developed company culture
RESEARCH

I looked into what similar companies in our field were doing, consulting with employees that had worked at comparable companies in the past as well as personal contacts in other companies. I interviewed current employees about their experiences as new hires and what would make their job easier both at the start and at the current time. Managers and supervisors were also interviewed about what they thought and how far they’d be willing to go to solve their retention and recruitment issues. This was very eye-opening as the managers knew they needed more training and support for the employees but didn’t know where to start on their own.
Because my original task was to improve the company’s recruitment practices, it took a bit to convince the stakeholders of the new course. It was decided to do a quick & dirty approach to create some recruitment tools and then revisit it as a whole with the retention & training programs.

Onboarding Solution

USER FLOWS & INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

After identifying the most important subjects to cover with new hires and when it is most beneficial to introduce them, I created a list of the steps in the onboarding experience using excel. Using this allowed me to flesh out each area, estimating the time needed for each.

It came out that 2 full days of training should be completed for most production roles, followed by group events around 30, 60, and 90 days of employment.  Each stage has a prescribed itinerary and purpose, tracking system, and materials.

PROCEDURES

For brand new employees, the first thing they receive is the official HR handbook and a quick start guide. The quick start guide is a small booklet that has the most important parts of the handbook easily accessible, including information about breaks, clothing, employee purchases, and time off policies. The employee’s mentor has a checklist encompassing all of the skills they should learn and demonstrate. Over the course of their initial two day training the first page of the checklist should be complete. The second page is an ongoing tracking list for their supervisor to ensure they are progressing in skills such as efficiency and accuracy.

The 30 day onboarding event focuses on the company, it’s values, and the importance of it’s people. It includes information such as what value benefits add monetarily to employees pay, a quick look at some employees who have moved up through the company, and the company’s core values and mission. Employees also receive a welcome bag with a nice branded waterbottle, branded stickers, branded notepads and pens, snacks from our latest product lines, and a branded t-shirt.

At 60 days the event focuses on the content of their benefits. It is a deep dive into the insurance benefits, what a 401k is and how matching works, and other benefits. A rotating manager will come in and discuss the functions of their department in order to get the employee thinking about their future and if there could be something within the company they’d like to work toward. Employees also choose between three high quality branded products, their choice will be ready for their 90 day meeting.

The 90 day meeting is a nice lunch out with the onboarding instructor, mentors, and company president. Each of the three onboarding meetings includes a feedback request, but this is a great time to both learn about the company and get their voices heard.

Around 90 days they will also have a 1 on 1 meeting with their department manager to discuss their goals and the trajectory they see their career going. Some employees enjoy their work and don’t want to move around, some want to grow into other departments, and some want to develop skills to pursue a career elsewhere. The company wants to facilitate all of these goals, so it is important the manager keep them in mind.

Videos are currently in production for each position as well as a welcome video and specific areas like safety and banana procedures. The company just completed a move to a brand new building, so getting footage at the old facility would have been wasted effort. Specific skill videos will also allow supervisors to refer employees back to them for additional training or refreshers.

Recruitment Solution

Using the employee personas, I identified which features and benefits to focus on. Mainly flexible scheduling, casual environment, and opportunities for promotion from within.

AIMING THE MESSAGE

When interviewing production employees, almost none of them found their job through a traditional job board. The three most effective hiring referrers for long-term quality workers were word-of-mouth, Facebook, and local job fairs.

Word-of-mouth from existing employees was by far the most common referral method. This led to emphasis on reminding employees that they and their new hire get a bonus after a successful tenure and providing them with the tools to get the word out (business card hand-outs and shareable social media posts) was a big focus. A card station was placed in each mail room and the media room with explanations of the card purpose and program details.

Local Facebook job groups was identified as another strong referral source. Department managers were given access to the Facebook account and trained on how to use the group, messaging, and job features.

A team was assembled to attend local job fairs. An employee from marketing keeps track of events and ensures one manager from production, transportation, and administration attends each job fair. Simple booth decor such as a branded tablecloth, stand up banners, and materials holder make it stand out. A recruitment video is in production and will be used along side the tri-fold informational handouts.

FOCUSING THE MESSAGE

Specific benefits that employees cared about when applying were flexible schedules, the environment (casual dress, no dealing with customers), health insurance, tuition reimbursement, and the employee referral bonus that the new hire receives.

These features became the main focus of our marketing. The same ad was created with multiple messages and text in order to reach different targets. A supply of images and accompanying text was created and placed in an easily accessible folder.

Retention

COMPANY CULTURE

The internal company social media is still in its infancy, slowly being adopted among departments where company emails are not common. Company and employee updates, employee achievements, and fun information keep everyone in the loop. Employee engagement in events has been growing. Semi-annual potlucks and food truck lunches let employees mingle across departments. Large events were previously done with the much larger parent company, making the Capitol employees feel lost in the crowd, so this will be the first year they organize their own independently.

Digital displays around common areas inform employees of events (both internal and local), important company information, and provide spotlights on selected employees. Suggestion boxes with a monthly prompt question are placed in the break room. A new internal newsletter contributes as well. It is released quarterly, including recurring features such as the employees of the quarter, the safety focus of the quarter, the HR benefit feature of the quarter. They also feature fun games for prizes (such as a company-specific word search or crossword), an article that rotates between departments discussing what they’ve been working on, and responses to suggestion box prompt submissions.

Lunch & learn programs are being designed now. Featuring local speakers, these will be once-a-month events with free lunch and a specific subject relating to professional or personal subjects. Discussions are also in progress with a local community college to hold night classes for English as a second language in the facility, allowing access to any employees with an interest.

Decoration is also an aspect, with culture-centered posters and banners. The receiving dock features 12’x15′ hanging banners featuring the company’s core values. The main employee hallway features changeable picture frames where posters advertising the company’s mission, vision, values, benefits, and culture are displayed. Along-side this a large sign shows the three latest employees of the quarter with information about each.

Whenever possible, publications are being presented in both English and Spanish, as English proficiency is not a prerequisite for employment.

PROMOTION

Emphasizing the company’s dedication to promoting from within is important. Digital displays and internal social media are used to congratulate the employee when they are promoted. Periodically an employee is featured on the displays and interviewed about their past positions with the company. The ‘Move Up’ section from the 30 day onboarding book is also available as an independent flyer and available in mail rooms. The 90 day manager 1 on 1 and annual reviews are the biggest way to reinforce this, though. Managers must reiterate that the company wants to support the employee’s goals.

Another aspect of the recruitment overhaul was the creation of the mentor positions. Guidelines for choosing mentors and department leads as well as training them were created. This allows the managers to give concrete guidance on what they’re looking for when promoting. It also lets them get interested employees started in training even before a position is available, reducing the impact of transitions.

RECOGNITION

After ‘graduating’ from their 90 day onboarding program, employees are put on blast for their achievements via the internal social media network and digital screens in common areas. These places are also great for acknowledging anniversaries and birthdays.

A pin & patch system is under development. Patches will be created for each area an employee might work in. Each new area an employee works in or masters, they will get a patch to put on their safety vest. At 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and every following 5 years an employee will get a specific enamel pin for that time. A curated package has been selected for each anniversary year with unique items.

The existing employee of the quarter system selected two employees (administration and production/transportation) each quarter. They would receive a bonus, an award, a gas card, and a special parking space for the duration of the quarter. This seemed to be working well except that the administration department was so much smaller. The production & transportation departments were split, allowing three employees to be recognized each quarter.

Additional methods of recognizing every day actions are under development.