GUIDE PROGRAM

In addition to my development and quality assurance work at TMW, I became involved in the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, for I have had a lot of experience in volunteering for programs to boost women in the STEM field. But, one of the initiatives the team wanted to move forward with was a "Guide" or "Buddy" program made for new hires. One of the missions of the company is to be more inclusive, and to continuously be reducing turnover, so the goal was that this program would do both of those things, while engaging current employees within the TMW culture as well.

The TMW Guide Program is a 90-day onboarding initiative involving 1-2 meetings/week with the new hire and the designated guide. This includes one paid lunch per week with a stipend of $30 and another optional meeting, as well as $110 for miscellaneous expenses - like a gift at the end of the program or TMW "swag." The guides will be volunteers within TMW that have been with the company for a minimum of 2 years and will complete a training session with HR prior to starting the program.

So, to help this initiative become more than a well thought out idea, I worked with the HR intern on program details and built a linear regression model of a budget for the program as if it would have been in place. By organizing data on hired/termed employees, I found an average cost for the program based on the last 3.5 years and gathered supporting data on turnover to additionally justify the program. With the cost of a new hire being 50% - 250% of their yearly salary, the program at TMW would have been making money as well as stronger connections and community within the workplace. Below are some of the graphs I developed without explicitly releasing company data.

I hope to keep in touch with all the connections I have made at TMW: with my team, peers, and others. Moreover, I hope to find out whether or not the Guide Program ends up being a successful implementation, for I truly believe this would be a huge asset and positive change to the culture at TMW, or any company implementing a similar program.