How Human Resources Improved the Recruitment Process for New Employees

In 2018, the LG Health Human Resources team hired more than 2,500 employees. However, before new employees clip on their badges for the first time, the HR Recruitment team invests a significant amount of time identifying quality candidates, coordinating interviews, and managing the onboarding process after the candidate accepts the offer.

To support the growth and hiring needs of the organization, the HR team identified, through an idea card process, the need to more efficiently recruit and onboard new candidates. The idea card ultimately led to an A3.

An A3 is a Continuous Improvement tool that allows teams to identify and eliminate the root cause of a problem or reduce waste through the structured Plan, Do, Check, Act testing cycle.

“We began the A3 process in October 2018. With the help of our Performance Improvement coach, we quickly identified that the amount of time it takes to onboard a new employee could not be easily adjusted because of necessary training and the four-week leave notice that has become an industry standard,” explained Kurt Stillwagon, director, recruitment & talent acquisition.

However, the team did not stop there. Each week, the team held meetings to discuss and evaluate other components of the overall recruitment process in an effort to drive change, Stillwagon shared. Through the A3, the team was able to clearly identify three recurring challenges that recruiters faced and then eliminate unneeded administrative tasks.

“When it comes to employment, the recruiter, hiring manager and new employee all have a responsibility to complete a list of tasks. If the items are not uploaded on time or completed correctly, it can cause a domino effect, delaying when the employee can begin New Employee Orientation,” shared Scarlett McGary, manager of talent acquisition.

McGary explained that following up with new candidates was causing recruiters duplicate steps, adding more time spent on administrative tasks. By leveraging new modes of communication and implementing new standards of work for paperwork deadlines and background verifications, the recruiters began to fill positions more quickly and efficiently.

Implementing New Standards of Work and Communication Modes

• Candidates now schedule their own pre-employment physical instead of attending at a time scheduled by their recruiter. By changing the process, recruiters were able to minimize the number of new hires who rescheduled, potentially delaying their start date.
• Recruiters now communicate with candidates via text, in addition to email, to ensure Workday tasks are completed quickly. Since using text message notifications, recruiters are able to more easily communicate with candidates and the team has seen candidates complete Workday tasks faster.
• Recruiters now use a standard of work when communicating with the hiring manager. This allows them to inform managers earlier if any delays are expected in the hiring process, which would also impact current staffing schedules.

“We understand that starting a new position can be overwhelming, so by communicating scheduling deadlines to new employees, in addition to sending text message reminders and involving the hiring manager earlier in our process we began to see better results and we were able to offer new employees a better onboarding experience,” said McGary.

Through this process, the Talent Acquisition Team has saved over four hours of administrative time per week, which enables them to concentrate on recruiting new candidates. Since starting the A3 process, recruiters are filling positions 10 percent faster (not including providers). For new employees, identifying onboarding issues earlier in the process makes it more likely they can start on time.

“This process has been extremely valuable for our team. I believe that Continuous Improvement is possible when leaders listen to and empower their team, begin to ask the right questions and create a space where everyone feels safe trying new ideas, knowing that they can always go back to the drawing board,” said Stillwagon.