Induction and Socialization - Digit IT Background Introduction It is Monday morning, everything seemed quiet at the workplace. The silence is interrupted by the hustle and bustle of the human resources team rushing through the main door to welcome the new recruits with flowers and a light breakfast. Digit IT, has transformed its new employee orientation programme that emphasizes the values of the company. The induction programme that they had been doing over the years was considered as being fun and practical and had got an overall positive feedback from more than 70 per cent of the new recruits. The values percolated and remain a part of the rich company history and has set the tone for the future direction. Initially, the programme did not get a great acceptance-in fact, only 42 per cent of the new recruits had responded positively to the induction. The HR team took lots of pains in the last one year to revamp the look, feel content and took a decision to brand the programme in a professional way. The redesigning process began with the team researching best practices and providing recommendations for redesigning the orientation programme. The team commenced by reviewing literature from published journals, benchmarked with the top 10 in the industry, formed a focus group for brainstorming and conducted a survey with the current employees. 'We are so glad to gain support from leaders and stakeholders in our system', voiced Prema, the HR Head of Digit IT. The redesign orientation was developed by keeping in mind the following objectives: Provide the new recruits with a fun, positive and memorable first day experience. Introduce the employees to the history, vision, mission, value wheel and culture of the company. . Create the awareness of expectation management by Digit IT and employee contribution to the value wheel. Orientation Programme In the new orientation programme, there is much more liveliness-upbeat music, the conference room decorated more like a 'party room', balloons hung up, flowers gifted to new employees along with a small little gift of the company's merchandise, branded dockets containing forms, refreshments when the recruits arrive and pre-printed name tags, to help with initial introductions. Day 1 begins with the HR team informally meeting the new recruits, a light round of refreshments and then a warm welcome by Prema, she runs them through the ice breaking session, history, mission, vision, culture and the company's value wheel. The latter part of the day moves to a role- playing exercise-the new joinees are divided into groups and are asked to display a set of behaviours, individuals with differing personality types are clubbed together. One group being the quieter and a relatively reserved bunch, does not initiate conversation, prefers one-on-one and are cautious before responding and the other being the energized lot, friendly with interactions and enthusiastic. After the exercise the entire group discusses the process, how they felt about it and how it applies to real-life situations, the goal, here is to generate discussion on 'diversity' and a 'respectful work environment.' Day 2 is 'information day' where the company tries to acquaint employees with a whole lot of available resources-day-care facilities, parking, transporting options, administration and human resource inputs-policies and performance-related queries. The day then proceeds with five of the functional heads giving a 30-minute input on their functions and ends with the session on HR policies and completion of forms and submission too. Day 3 starts with a treasure hunt, as they have a sprawling campus which lasts for an hour and then moves to a yoga session coupled with training and stretch breaks led by an external fitness expert, who would advise employees on reducing fatigue at work and promote good health. This also encourages movements to stimulate thinking and enhance learning. In spite of all the efforts put in by the HR team, the management wanted the HR team to achieve an overall positive feedback of around 80-85 per cent. Questions 1. Can you help Prema to increase the overall score of satisfaction with the new employee induction? 2. Critically evaluate the current induction process. Reference: Human Resource Management: Text and Cases, June 2012 Pearson, India