{"id":1262,"date":"2019-10-25T10:05:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T14:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2021-07-27T18:17:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T22:17:45","slug":"tiring-or-inspiring-boost-onboarding-with-the-peak-end-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/tiring-or-inspiring-boost-onboarding-with-the-peak-end-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiring or Inspiring? Boost Onboarding with the Peak-End Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Remember the last time you fished around the bottom of an ice-cold cooler for your beverage of choice? Imagine keeping your hand in that frigid water for more than a couple seconds. Not a pleasant hypothetical, huh? However, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve got two options. Option 1: you immerse your hand for 60 seconds and, after the minute has passed, you\u2019re done. Option 2: you submerge your hand for 90 seconds total, but the temperature will increase by 2\u00b0 F after the first 60 seconds. So, the difference between Option 1 and Option 2 is that the second offering includes a bonus period of 30 seconds of still-pretty-much-ice-cold water. Which unfavorable option are you leaning toward?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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In Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/a><\/em>, published by behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman in 2011, he suggests that we have two selves: the experiencing self and the remembering self. The experiencing self is the one that does the moment-to-moment living, and the remembering self holds onto the memories made along the way. Philosopher Yuval Noah Harari described similar selves in his 2015 book Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow<\/a><\/em>: the experiencing self and the narrating self. Kahneman and Harari agree that the experiencing self is the one living life, while the remembering (or narrating) self takes shortcuts based on memories alone. Harari explained that the memory-focused self \u201cdoesn\u2019t narrate everything, and usually weaves the story using only peak moments and end results.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Geetanjal Khanna<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the ice-cold water, Option 1 seems like a no-brainer; it\u2019s less time in an uncomfortable situation. However, data suggests the opposite. In a study published in Psychological Science<\/em> in 1993<\/a>, participants engaged in Options 1 (60 seconds total) and Option 2 (90 seconds\ntotal) in differing order. Then participants got to choose whether they\u2019d\nrepeat Option 1 or Option 2 for a third and final hand-in-ice-water submersion. More than two-thirds of participants wanted to repeat the longer option (Option 2) because they claimed to have experienced less discomfort. Their two selves were in combat, and the remembering self was victorious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we\u2019re witnessing is a phenomenon known as the peak-end rule<\/a>. Harari was right; people often evaluate experiences based on how they felt at the most intense point (its peak) and how they felt at its end. In other words, an experience is\njudged based on snippets \u2013 or snapshots \u2013 rather than its entire duration. Think about a time you had to call your internet provider and deal with a customer service agent (or seven). In the moment, your experiencing self likely compared the frustrating call to a series of between-fingers papercuts. However, if the call ended with an account credit, your remembering self was probably satisfied overall \u2013 and that\u2019s what matters to your internet provider: customer\nsatisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let\u2019s consider the peak-end rule and how it applies to the workplace. When Korn Ferry polled company executives<\/a> about new-hire retention, 90 percent said it was an issue for their organization. Further, the executives were asked about onboarding and how it related to retention. Only 2 percent did not consider onboarding a key factor, compared to 24 percent who answered \u201csomewhat\u201d and 74 percent who gave a definitive yes. Gallup further found<\/a> that \u201conly 12 percent of employees strongly agree their organization does a great job of onboarding new employees.\u201d Clearly, there\u2019s a stark contrast between what executives want and what employees are experiencing. What can organizations do to close the gap?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrganizations need to provide immersive experiences that let employees feel your values, not just be able to name them.\u201d
-Creating an Exceptional Onboarding Journey for New Employees<\/a><\/i><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nobody\u2019s saying a flash-mob needs to show up and do a benefits-themed dance. Instead of an onboarding overhaul, make small improvements to spice up your orientation so that it has some high points and ends favorably. If there\u2019s nothing remarkable about your process, you\u2019re missing the opportunity to make a positive first impression. It\u2019s important that employees truly<\/em> like your workplace<\/a>, so it\u2019s wise to start as soon as possible. For example, your onboarding process shouldn\u2019t\nsimply talk about your company\u2019s culture; it should show<\/em> your company\u2019s culture<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will inevitably be parts of onboarding that aren\u2019t exciting; after all, paperwork is paperwork. Remember this, though: it doesn\u2019t have to be glitz and glamour throughout. Drudging through all those forms and contracts isn\u2019t an issue if employees wrap it up by signing a branded, user-friendly, culture-first employee handbook<\/a>. Or maybe your entire orientation ends with the presentation of a good-humored certificate of survival. Perhaps employees are encouraged to find a gift awaiting them at their desk. If there\u2019s a positive peak and a pleasant ending, the remembering self will be left with a favorable impression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We can all agree that it\u2019s best if your new hires make it through onboarding without frozen fingertips. With a few simple tweaks inspired by the peak-end rule, you can quickly have employees in the palm of your [warm] hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the last time you fished around the bottom of an ice-cold cooler for your beverage of choice? Imagine keeping your hand in that frigid water for more than a couple seconds. Not a pleasant hypothetical, huh? However, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve got two options. Option 1: you immerse your hand for 60 seconds and, after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,32,4,25,5,47,57,22,51,68,16,77,70,24,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blissbook-updates","category-change-management","category-company-culture","category-employee-handbooks","category-engagement","category-handbook-content","category-hr-resources","category-inspiration-2","category-internal-communications","category-leadership","category-pay-benefits","category-pop-psych","category-psychology","category-recruiting","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1679,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions\/1679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}