Michigan State University

The Challenge

Founded in 1855, Michigan State University (MSU) is a land grant institution for the state of Michigan and one of the top 100 research universities in the world.

The University has more than 50,000 students and 13,000 full-time and support employees in all 83 Michigan counties.

Being a large, decentraliseddecentralized institution presented one urgent challenge: consistent onboarding.

After years of feedback on its lack of consistent onboarding, MSU needed a more equitable and centralisedcentralized onboarding process to help bolster retention and improve the employee experience.

Research by Brandon Hall Group reveals organisationsorganizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.

According to Gallup, only 12% of employees strongly agree their organisationorganization does a great job of onboarding.

The University also needed to facilitate greater DEI through onboarding, in line with its core value of being an inclusive community.

The Focus

In early 2019, MSU launched an extensive information-gathering exercise, pulling together a team of 70 volunteers across campus to collect data for the project.

The project team used digital crowdsourcing and communication platforms to collaborate on documents. They conducted surveys and held Town Hall sessions for faculty, academic, support, and temporary staff to share their onboarding experiences.

Through this research, they identified gaps in their current onboarding experience and defined the project scope. This would include:

creating a centralisedcentralized onboarding platform with accessible resources and easy-to-follow task lists
formalisingformalizing offer letter templates for support staff
facilitating orientations for all employees (as opposed to separate sessions for support staff and faculty/academic staff).

The project was dealt an unexpected twist as the COVID-19 pandemic completely altered the way we work and interact with each other, just as the project was nearing the final stretch. The team was able to quickly accommodate new and additional ways of connecting and learned a great deal from employee experiences during such a challenging time, including from “The Great Resignation.”

“The Great Resignation really demonstrated how people are seeking more purpose in their work,” says Jacob Lathrop, MSU HR Consultant. “Our goal was to tie this into our University’s strategic mission, vision, and values as part of a better onboarding process.”

The Solution

Using PageUp Onboarding, MSU formalisedformalized consistent, equitable job offers for support staff.

They also launched an onboarding portal which features:

Landing pages to guide new hires through the process
Resource pages with all the information new hires need to achieve success
CustomisableCustomizable task lists

HR team members use the portal to invite new employees to select virtual welcome sessions, which are now conducted every second week. These regular online sessions make it easier for staff to attend, regardless of their location.

New hires are educated about the University’s history, mission, values, and experiences around campus. To facilitate a more diverse and inclusive experience, executive managers, academic staff, support staff, and temporary staff are all included in these sessions.

Being able to track participation rates and other data allows MSU’s HR team to continue optimisingoptimizing their onboarding approach.

“What we plan to look at next is offering virtual and in-person onboarding experiences, as well as campus tours to improve the employee experience. We’re looking forward to continuously evaluating, collecting data, and making ongoing improvements using PageUp as part of this inclusive process,” says Lathrop.