This is lesson 4.1.3, your return on investment for doing this well. We all know that many managers are really overworked, and employee engagement and onboarding just seem like one more thing to add to your plate. And even if the human resources department is putting out some kind of new employee engagement program or new onboarding program, why can't you just have that? I mean, why do you really care about doing something within your own department? Truly, what is in it for you? Is there a bottom line impact on having good onboarding and strong engagement? So what is the return on investment for employee engagement and good onboarding? There are actually a number of researchers exploring just these questions, but let me point out two well established examples of an employee engagement return on investment. These both come from the Corporate Leadership Council, but the first is called the 10:6:2 rule. Every 10% improvement in commitment can increase an employee's effort by 6%, and every 6% improvement in effort can improve employee's performance by 2%. So, an engaged employee, Works harder. And works better. There's even a website that offers a free calculation of how much of a return on the investment you can have with a more engaged work force. Check out the link in the resources section of this lesson. The other rule is every 10% improvement in commitment can decrease an employee's probability of departure by 9%, so engaged employees, Lower turnover. So why does that matter? Employee turnover can be a huge cost to any organization. There are separation costs, meaning if you need to get this employee out of the organization for some reason, or even if they're leaving voluntarily, it can cost money to go through that process. Money and time, those things will add up. Then there are the vacancy costs. So as the employee is gone, there are costs associated with no one being in that position. Time, energy, expectations not being met because there's someone not doing that job. And of course we all know that there are replacement costs. The costs in time and money for advertising for the position, spending time interviewing, and then hiring, and going through the offer process, it could be a lot. And then you have the training costs for the new employee. How much is it going to take you in time and money and effort to bring the new employee up to the place where the old employee was? Some estimates range from 25 to 30% of his salary to 100 to 150% of salary, or even for executives three to five times the salary and benefits just to get a new person onboard. So you will want to try and keep the employees you have and get them and keep them engaged as quickly as possible. How many days do you think it is before a new employee starts thinking about finding a new job? The first 90 to 100 days of an employee's tenure, often called re-recruiting, Can be the difference between an employee who stays for a decade and one who's gone before the year is out. This comes from Michael Watkins and his book The First 90 Days, and it is a great example of really what you need to do in that first 90 days, those first three months of your new hire's tenure. You need to re-recruit them. The need to prove themselves to you, but you also need to prove to them this is a good place for them to work, it was a good choice for both of you. So onboarding has a direct impact on your bottom line. Like it or not, as a manager you play a vital role in employee engagement and onboarding your employees into your new team. You matter in the life of your employees. Creating a strong onboarding program for new hires you've just spent so much time and money and energy hiring, will be worth your time and effort. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to structure an onboarding program.