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How companies like Gentle Giant use odd hiring practices to induct new recruits
Fourteen men and one woman are snaking up and down the steep tiers of Harvard Stadium. They started in a tight pack but have spread out, the natural athletes bounding ahead, the rest trotting resolutely behind. Their boss, Larry O'Toole, jogs along toward the rear, his back straight, his long legs scissoring.
At 59, O'Toole is almost three times the age of some of the runners. At the top of the final section, after racing up and down more than 1,000 steps, he rests, bent at the waist, his hands splayed across his knees. Around him, people are clapping. "All right, man!" someone cheers. "Nice, Larry. Nice."
The stadium run is an initiation rite at Gentle Giant, a $25 million moving company based in Somerville, Massachusetts. The practice began informally in the 1980s, when O'Toole hired members of college rowing teams, who liked to work out on the stadium stairs. In the early '90s, O'Toole institutionalized the run as a way to test the mettle of new hires and emphasize that he expects them to push themselves. Most movers complete the trial within their first few weeks on the job. Office workers are encouraged to try as well, and about a quarter of them do. Afterward, they recharge with scrambled eggs and sausage while O'Toole delivers an orientation speech.
"A lot of people who come here have heard about the stadium, and it tells them this is the kind of place they're looking for," says O'Toole. "Some come from other moving companies, and they're tired of working with layabouts. They want to work hard and challenge themselves. And they want to do it with people who feel the same way."
That a grueling run up multiple flights of stairs can be an effective recruitment tool speaks to the power of ritual. Institutions as diverse as religious orders, fraternities, and the military use ceremonies to welcome new members and communicate their beliefs. Businesses can do something similar. So long as they don't devolve into hazing, company initiation rites speed up assimilation by engaging recent hires in activities that convey the organization's character while creating an instant bond.
"Initiation rites are an opportunity to create meaning for employees and a connection between them and their new employer," says Daniel Denison, a professor of management at IMD in Switzerland and CEO of Denison Consulting, a leadership specialist.
Some rites are glorified icebreakers designed to transform strangers into friends as quickly as possible. For example, within 30 days of their hiring, all new employees at CXtec, a supplier of data networking and voice equipment, serve coffee and doughnuts from a cart to everyone at the company's Syracuse, New York, headquarters. Each freshman is paired with a veteran staff member.
At CityMax.com, a build-your-own-website service in Vancouver, British Columbia, new employees always start on Fridays, when work is less hectic and everyone has time to introduce him- or herself. The hire is greeted with balloons, streamers, and a welcome card signed by the entire staff. By the time lunch rolls around, "the comfort level is through the roof," says co-founder and president Dean Gagnon. That's when new hires are asked to relate an embarrassing story about themselves. "It gives everyone insight into the new person," says Gagnon.
Read More: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100301/bizarre-hiring-rituals.html?partner=newsletter_Success
Posted Monday, March 8th 2010 at 10:11AM
by: Elynor Moss
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