Scenario: New Hire Orientation program

Innovations Inc.is a company that features office interior decorating and renovation solutions. The organization has been in business for more than 20 years, with an annual sales exceeding $12M. The organization have over 300 employees in the three-state area of the United States of America.

Recently, Innovations Inc.is seeing an increase in employee attrition when compared with the past years. During the exit surveys, a primary complaint from employees has been the lack of an effective orientation program and lack of corporate support.

After analysis, the Innovations Inc.HR has found that approximately 4% of new employees quit within their first week of employment, and approximately 20% left within 45 days of hire. The statistics map to the trends seen across the industry. This supported recent industry reports that stated 4% of all employees leave the job on the first day, and 22% leave within 45 days. Sadly, Innovations Inc.spends at least $6000 to recruit a new employee.

In an attempt to reduce attrition rates, the HR team at Innovations Inc.is initiating a project to develop a New Hire Orientation program. Marcus Wilson, the Head of HR at Innovations Inc., will sponsor the project. He will devote two hours per week to the project. Gloria Fisher is the newly assigned project manager. She will devote 20 hours a week to the project. Marcus wants the costs to be reasonable. However, if needed, the senior management at Innovations Inc.is ready to invest what it takes to make the program a success. The team has about 14 weeks before the first orientation event to develop the New Hire Orientation program.

The New Hire Orientation program will be run quarterly. The first formal orientation is scheduled for 1-2 June. It is currently 15 February. Project initiation must begin immediately to complete the development on time and be ready for the 1 June kick-off. The June date is firm and cannot be adjusted. All follow-up activities must be completed by 20 June.

Marcus estimates that approximately 12 new employees will participate in the New Hire Orientation program each quarter. An additional 8 individuals from Innovations Inc.will participate fully. The project will be funded for program development and all direct costs associated with the 1 June inaugural event. After that, the New Hire Orientation program will be funded through HR operations.

This project includes planning and developing the program and implementing the initial orientation.

Project objectives

• Conduct a morning ice breaker. Create an environment where new hires can enjoy a continental breakfast and network. The cost of breakfast is estimated at $8 per person $160.00 for 20 people.
• Conduct a campus tour. Innovations Inc.has four primary buildings that house offices, cafeteria, meeting areas, and a communications hub.
• Provide a formal overview of Innovations Inc.benefits. Sponsor a catered box lunch with an option of vegan, vegetarian, and chicken sandwiches. The average cost of lunch will is estimated at $12 per person $240.00 for 20 people.
• Begin the afternoon session with a Unpack Your Perks (per-requisite) presentation.
• Sponsor an executive Question and Answer session.
• Conduct a presentation on continuing education opportunities.
• All new hires will return to the conference room on June 2 morning to receive the required technical support to include equipment, set-up, corporate badges, and supplies.

Preliminary HR analysis data

Here is some data from the HR analysis on the New Hire Orientation costs and facilities.

• Average cost to technically equip each employee is approximately $1200.
• Finance recommended that all personnel costs be calculated at $50.00 per hour.
• Innovation has a standard contract with Happy Catering. The established per person price lists are as follows:

• Breakfast: $8.00
• Lunch: $12.00
• Dinner: $15.00
• Corporate conference room can be used for the orientation. Reservations must be made 15 days prior to required use date. Cost per hour is $500 absorbed by the company. No charge to project. The total time requirement will be 10 hours. Day one will require approximately 8.5 hours and Day two will require about 1.5 hours to distribute equipment and close out the venue. Reservations are accomplished online.

Stakeholder list

The following stakeholders are essential to project success.

• Information Technology, to provide all conference room support including audio and visuals. Point of contact is Hiroshi Tanaka. He will need to have access to all project communications. IT estimates support costs of $200 to support the event. IT will require 20 hours total to support this project.
• Finance, to submit all required project funding one month prior to the event for disbursement. Point of contact is Ursula Miller. Keep her informed when it impacts finance. Ursula will be needed for two hours on the project. Ursula stated that all personnel costs will be considered as direct costs. She requested a total cost for all personnel allocated as follows:
  • 60% of all costs allocated at end of planning
  • 20% of all costs allocated at end of the orientation
  • 20 % of all costs allocated at end of project closure
• Marketing, to provide all required manuals, brochures, and gift packs for the event. The point of contact is Priya Sanders. Priya does not need to see all project communications. Total marketing costs for each new hire attending are estimated to be $50.00 per new hire. Total project time requirement for Priya will be 25 hours.
• Facilities, to plan and schedule all campus tours. The point of contact is Sam Manning. All catering is managed by Marvin Coleman. Share information with Sam as required. Sam will need to devote 10 hours to this project.
• Human Resources, to answer any HR related questions, such as benefits, training, and appraisals. The benefits and perquisite manager is Sunny Marsh. Continuing education point of contact is Ram Finland. Sunny and Ram do not need to see all project communications. Sunny and Ram will need to spend three hours to support the project.
• CEO, Margaret Harrison, is quite interested in this new program. It is important to keep her informed as the project progresses. Finance informed the team that her time need not be tracked to the project.

perform following tasks:

Project Charter

Develop Stakeholder Register

Work Breakdown Structure

Project Network Diagram

Resource Breakdown Structure

Develop Project Charter

Project name and goal are defined and clear

Project value is realistic and clearly defined

Problem or opportunity statement shares why project is needed

Project schedule has start and end dates

Project Manager and Sponsor are designated

Assumptions are documented

Constraints are documented

Proposed solution is defined by phases

Project scope, schedule, and budget are defined in priority order

Return on Investment is defined mathematically or verbalized

Risks are defined

Resource requirements are defined

Develop Stakeholder Register

The project name is included

Names/position and organization are included

Roles are defined and clear

RACI designators are annotated

Comments are added to clarify roles

Version number and date are included

Develop Work Breakdown Structure

Project is identified (Level 1)

Project Phases are Identified (Level 2)

All work packages/activities are numbered

Activities are sequential and placed in the correct phase (Level 3)

All activities are defined using action-result format

All activities have a measurable outcome

Develop Project Network Diagram

All WBS work packages/activities are included in the network diagram

All activities are sequenced to show dependencies

All activities are numbered

There is a defined start and end

Durations are shown

Critical Path is calculated for each phase and for the total project

Critical path and non-critical path activities are designated

Separate tabs are used to show each phase

Develop Resource Breakdown Structure

Project and date are identified

All WBS work package/activities are documented by WBS Identifier

Work Package name is documented

All costs are categorized and accounted for in each work package

Comments reflect cost details

Total costs are calculated by cost category

Total costs for the entire project are calculated and shown

Contingency requirements are calculated and shown