Keep warm activity is essential to keeping graduates committed and reducing reneges, explains Amberjack and ScottishPower.
Amberjack and ScottishPower partnered to help new graduate hires adapt to their new organisational culture and succeed in role.
ScottishPower wanted to reinvent the entry experience of their Graduate Induction Programme, so it enlisted Amberjack to help foster a sense of belonging, align stakeholders and ensure professional readiness.
The ultimate goal of the induction programme was to create an ‘engagement journey’ and build the foundation for long-term careers.
Wrapping up recruitment in Spring, but not welcoming new joiners until September, resulted in a six-month gap where offered-candidates were being influenced by other companies, going through other recruitment processes, and receiving alternative job offers.
Read how employers are beating reneges
Building belonging
To help mitigate the risks of reneges, from the minute a graduate has been given a contract, ScottishPower focus on fostering a sense of belonging.
ScottishPower’s incoming talent receive a congratulatory letterbox gift such as a beanie or coffee pods, with a welcoming message from the team and cards signed by different stakeholders.
This continues with opportunities to connect further; new talent is invited to join closed LinkedIn groups, where they can access information and network with current employees.
By building the online community, graduates are given the opportunity to talk to others on their peer-level. The new joiners ask about where to go on day one, what to wear, what the lunch situation is, and how they get into the building – all things that experienced-hires might take for granted.
Read more and watch the Amberjack webinar with Scottish Power about keeping graduates warm before day one
Skills development
ScottishPower, with support from Amberjack, run pre-boarding and development sessions to help prepare new joiners for the everyday working world. This includes the development of communication and soft skills with recurring themes aligned to pre-boarding and the transition to work-life.
These activities are spread across in-person and virtual formats, and by driving up enthusiasm in new joiners, ScottishPower has seen renege rates drop by 20%.
Investing in your new hires before they join is paramount to the success of your early talent programmes.