Northrop Grumman’s shipyard, Newport News, expands across 550 acres and 600 buildings. It is the equivalent of two small countries…and to be honest, it might as well be its own country. While the majority of U.S. employees are trying to make heads or tails of hiring freezes, employment furloughs and layoffs, Northrop Grumman will continue to hire 2,000-3,000 employees this year in addition to 15,000 new employees to work on the USS Ford and two nuclear submarines. No slowdown here. In fact, Northrop Grumman has a very different challenge…how to ensure that thousands of new employees feel engaged on day one.

In January 2005, Bill Ermatinger joined Northrop Grumman’s shipbuilding business as the VP of HR and was greeted with a very poor onboarding experience…one-day orientation and no computer. He decided on that day to revamp the entire program to improve the new hire experience (many of which had never lived in the area or stepped foot on a ship). Four years later, Northrop Grumman has been able to cut their turnover in half. This key performance indicator is a direct result of their onboarding efforts. Continuing to speak of the program’s success, 89% of new hires volunteer to participate. Clearly, they see the value.

Below are some of the highlights of this program you may want to considering applying  to your organization:

• Navigators. These volunteer employees are selected to train and “navigate” new hires through the system. They build strong relationships and help employees feel comfortable and supported during their initial employment experience.
 
• Connect 1NG. This grassroots program provides both online and in-person networking groups to assimilate new hires into the company culture.

• Integrated Talent Management Process. Northrop Grumman is strategic about integrated talent management and includes their onboarding program as a critical piece of this puzzle.
 
• Evaluation. The onboarding process is revised annually through surveys, focus groups and personal lunches with the VP of HR.

Although Northrop Grumman’s program addresses the need to onboard a very large workforce, companies can apply the same principles to onboarding any number of employees. The message is clear. Companies looking to gain competitive advantage need to prioritize employee engagement and socialization in the company culture. We will be publishing an in-depth case study on the challenges and strategic actions Northrop Grumman faced in implementing and evaluating this program in March 2009.