Book excerpt: MASTER THE “4 PILLARS” OF SUCCESSFUL ONBOARDING AND CAPTURE THE ONBOARDING MARGIN Fact: One-third of all external hires are no longer with the organization after two years. Most of them begin job-searching after six months.What can you do about it? In a word: onboarding, the fastest-growing human resources tool in the world today, although poorly understood, subject to narrow definitions, and with limited codified best practice understanding and management rigor. Global consultants Mark Stein and Lilith Christiansen have studied and worked with leading companies on the topic, and they've synthesized their work into one complete, ready-to-use system, incorporating case learnings from Fortune 500 companies and other forward-thinkers. With Successful Onboarding, you can: Realize the best from your talent from the get-go-without wasting time. Rewrite the employee-employer compact-to everyone's advantage. Acclimate new hires to your culture-without scaring them off. Assimilate new employees of all backgrounds-yet benefit from their unique skills. Reduce time-to-productivity-while increasing the level of productivity. Address the specific needs of individual hiring groups-cost-effectively. Make improvements at the systemic level-with gains realized with regularity. While many companies have become very good at recruiting, today's orientation programs fall woefully short and impact your bottom-line potential. Successful Onboarding provides you with not only the business case but also a systemic approach to the entire process, from beginning to end. You'll be amazed how significantly you can increase new hires' productivity and increase the strategic impact and appreciation of your HR function. You'll discover the most effective ways to share your vision, offer early career support, and strengthen your strategic position, intent, and direction. Along the way, you'll hear fascinating inside stories-the good and the bad-from Apple, Starbucks, Netflix, Microsoft, Baird, Bank of America, John Deere, and dozens of other industry leaders. In the end, it's all about people. When your employees are effectively on board and your system is supporting their success, your company is on track to even greater performance. visit author's website for more information http://onboardingmargin.com