Knowledge

The Next Step After Hiring

Recruiting talented people is fine. But don’t think the job is over: the next step is integrating them. Many firms neglect integration. Some senior lawyers are too busy to even think about it. Others rely on natural selection (the ‘swim or sink’ system). In today's competition for attracting and retaining talent, the swim or sink system is not a good idea. If you mismanage integration, you’ll lose talents, and your competitors will be pleased to welcome them. If they stay despiste a failed integration, they will become frustrated and cynical, and perform below their potential. So, do not waste your “perles rares”. Integrate them. Here are tips for successful integration:

1. Give someone the responsibility to orchestrate integration in the firm.
2. If you appoint a tutor for each new hire, explain clearly what they are expected to do. Have them prepare an action plan. Organise a brainstorming with all of them to find exciting ideas. Don't just appoint them.
3. Make sure everybody in the firm knows about the new hires from day one, and even before. Send an email a few days in advance, walk the new colleagues around… Do not let the new hire walk around like a stranger!
4. Tell people to show interest, and even enthusiasm, when they meet new hires: even if it takes a little bit of acting, it is worth doing it: shaking hands, smiling, introducing themselves, asking a few questions, and expressing support and encouragement.
5. Keep new associates busy during their first weeks. That is not going to happen naturally. Make sure their list of assignmentsis ready when they arrive.
6. Give them a written program for their first days, highlighting social events, training sessions, and other events as planned.
7. Involve them in teamwork as soon as possible. Do not let them hang around alone. Make sure they become part of a project team from day one.
8. Train them quickly in basic office skills (computers, information systems, and office procedures) and introduce them to the philosophy of the firm (mission statement, values, history of the firm).
9. Discuss with each of them once a week how they feel about the integration process. Ask questions and listen.
10. Ask them to write down all their comments, remarks and surprises in a report, and discuss this report with them after a month. Make sure that the best suggestions are retained and implemented.
11. Include ‘integration of new associates’ in the list of criteria for partners and senior lawyers’ annual assessment.
12. Make sure someone takes the newly hired to lunch on day one, unless a collective activity is foreseen.
13. Ask them after a few weeks or months to evaluate the firm’s performance in integrating them.
14. Organise happy hours.
15. Formally introduce new hires at office meetings, even if they have already met everybody.
16. Each year, assess your integration process and find out how you can improve it.

Antoine Henry de Frahan | 6 July 2006 |