Don’t Make New Hires Conform; Instead, Focus on Their Individual Strengths

Newly hired employees of an Indian call center were at least 60% less likely to leave within a period of a few months if they went through an onboarding process that, instead of emphasizing conformity, focused on their individual strengths, for example by highlighting what was “unique” about them, says a team led by Daniel M. Cable of London Business School. In a related lab experiment, new hires whose individual strengths were highlighted ended up performing more efficiently and making fewer errors. Thus the best way for an organization to develop early organizational commitment may be to encourage employees to make daily use of their unique strengths, the researchers say.