Monday, May 16, 2011

Transition time- too little or too much?

A young man I met recently constantly referred to his company as “They….” I asked him somewhere along the conversation when he had joined this place and he said he had come there seven months back. He also made references to his older employer and used the term “we”.
It so happened that in the same week I met an HR manager who confidently shared with me her training calendar and the activities she planned to do with me. When I referred to a past communication with the company I learnt that she had been around for just about a month. The contrast between the two experiences couldn’t have been greater.

Since then I have tried to list out in my mind: Who are the people who immediately get into the skin of their roles? And who are ones that take longer? I cannot seem to- as of yet- establish any certain pattern or apply any particular attributes to these lists.

I am thinking along the following lines: How long does it take for a person to identify with an employer? Are there any HR processes to assess this transition? Is there any ideal duration or average time span allotted to this? Is it important to shorten this adaptation time? And whose responsibility is it? And finally I would like to study the connection between this adaptation time and attrition rate. Does a shorter adaptation time allude to a lower attrition rate?

My study of this aspect of employment is in its nascent stages and your contributions, thoughts, ideas would help to build upon this still-fragile foundation.