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ON THE MOVE TWINING ANNOUNCES SEMI- RETIREMENT OF EDWARD M. TWINING, JR. After a distinguished 42-year tenure with Twining, Inc., the company founded by his great-grandfather, Edward “Butch” Twining, Jr. is stepping into a semi- retirement role at the close of 2021. Butch’s career witnessed exponential growth of the Long Beach, California- based firm, including the creation of six full-service branches, spanning the state, the acquisition of multiple complementary firms, and the expansion of the firm to over 300 employees. In addition, Butch’s success as an exemplary salesman of Twining’s
services cannot go unnoticed. His past notable wins include The Getty, Wilshire Grand, and Intuit Dome. He will retain the title of chairman emeritus. While Butch will be spending more time with his wife Dana, his children, and grandchildren, Twining looks forward to his continued contributions to the company as Chairman Emeritus. “While he will spend plenty of time in his RV with his wife and constant companion, Dana, by his side, he will always be a leader within the Twining organization,” noted Robert Ryan, Twining CEO and president. ”We wish him a most
enjoyable semi-retirement and send him our endless gratitude for the success of the firm. His success has been our success. He has made an indelible mark on the Twining Group of Companies, and we will continue to raise the bar that he set so high.” Combiningworld-classQA/QC,materials testing, and inspection to highly technical capabilities in geotechnical engineering, applied engineering, and integrated disciplines, Twining has developed a strong reputation by providing sound engineering, testing, and inspection services on every project it undertakes.
The bottom line is that successful onboarding is everyone’s job. I could have just led with that, but it is important to hammer home the consequences of a negative or uninspiring process. Yes, human resources should take a lead role in developing a good onboarding program, but marketers, administrators, project managers, designers, and the C-suite should all have a part. The company’s collective strengths can and should be applied to make the new employees’ first day, first week, first month, and first year the best they have ever experienced regardless of how high they are on the org chart. It is time for the AEC industry to get more creative. It is time to pull together a diverse group from everywhere within your company and engage them to help develop a consistent, sustainable, effective, and unique program. There are potential onboarding champions around every corner and from all levels of your company. Our firm has been fortunate to find them, and it has resulted in our lowest turnover in the firm’s history these past two years – despite the external pressures that suggest otherwise. In our case, we made improving the onboarding experience a major strategic planning initiative. We even sent a couple of people to see how Disney does it. It must be more than the tone of your offer letter and the ease of doing paperwork. It means modernizing your systems and automating workflows. It means having fun during orientation. It means developing a buddy system that encourages current staff to want to participate, and it doesn’t stop after the first week. It means assigning mentors for the entirety of the person’s career – until they become mentors themselves. In the current hiring environment, your business simply cannot afford to wait to improve. You do not have to be Disney, Google, Microsoft, or Apple with their endless budgets to have a robust onboarding program. Just look at your culture and values and start from there. If you believe they are important to your firm and not just a strategic planning exercise, the rest will come naturally. Kraig Kern, CPSM is vice president and director of marketing at WK Dickson. Contact him at kckern@wkdickson.com.
KRAIG KERN , from page 9
If you answered yes, like I used to, you are already in for a world of trouble. Maybe you just haven’t experienced it yet. Most of us are aware of the statistics put out annually by Gallup asserting that less than 35 percent of the global workforce are currently engaged. That suggests the other 65 percent are either disengaged and could leave at any time, or are toxic and are dragging other people down with them. What is hidden in a lot of that data is that a negative onboarding experience doubles the employee’s chances of seeking another opportunity within 18 months. Conversely, a great onboarding experience ensures 69 percent of employees stick with a company for at least three years. “It is time to pull together a diverse group from everywhere within your company and engage them to help develop a consistent, sustainable, effective, and unique program. There are potential onboarding champions around every corner and from all levels of your company.” Consider these other eye-popping statistics: ■ ■ Fifty-eight percent of organizations say their onboarding program focuses on processes and paperwork. ■ ■ The average new hire is expected to complete 54 activities during their onboarding process. ■ ■ A poor onboarding program was reported by 40 percent of global executives. ■ ■ Only 37 percent of companies ensure their onboarding programs run for more than a month from the employee’s first day. If any of that looks familiar, it is time to make a change in your organization.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER MARCH 21, 2022, ISSUE 1433
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