Employee Retention Starts with Onboarding
A well-thought-out and structured onboarding program help bring new hires up to speed 50% faster, meaning new hires can accomplish goals and contribute to the organization's success at a much quicker pace. New employees who feel productive in their first 3 to 6 months in their new jobs are more engaged and less likely to leave. When companies implement a great onboarding process, it helps to “improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by more than 70% (Fellay, 2021).
An excellent pre and onboarding program requires a joint effort from HR and the business. After all, a lot of the onboarding content does come from the business.
Before you start, it is critical to get some feedback from recent new hires about their experience and improvement opportunities. You can click here to read our step-by-step guide on how to measure the employee experience.
Let’s take a look at what goes into creating a positive new hire experience.
Source: Harvard Business Review
Preparation and Organization
One of the many pieces of feedback we receive from new hires is not knowing what to expect on day one or the first week on the job. New hires are pumped and want to feel productive in their first week. They are excited to share their knowledge and show off their talent. As the saying goes, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” To ensure your new hires are set up for success before day one, here are some things you can do to help them transition to their new jobs:
Always preboard your new hires. Covid has led the digital transformation. Many mundane and administrative tasks can be automated before day one. Signing policies or completing online training can be completed as part of pre-boarding. Also, logistical information for day one and information about the day in and out (e.g., parking, lunch spots, etc.) will help new hires to prepare for this new transition and reduce stress. Click here to download our pre-boarding and policy checklists.
We also recommend staying connected to your new hires and making sure they feel welcomed before day one. Moving to a new job can be overwhelming, and the last thing you want them to do is second-guessing their decision or have candidate remorse.
Create a Structure For Your Onboarding Program
There are 3 parts to onboarding new hires:
Organizational and Cultural Learning
Technical Learning
Social Learning
Organizational and cultural learning includes sharing the company's values, vision and mission, and introducing new hires to the senior leadership team and department leaders. Employers should also provide political learning to help new hires understand how decisions are made in the company, which could sometimes conflict with the company’s values.
Technical learning is designed to help employees understand the company lifecycle, departments, and how they work together. New hires should also be introduced to its products, services, and customers irrespective of their departments. Finally, they will also get introduced to processes, documentation, and training on various tools and platforms required to succeed in their jobs.
Social learning goes beyond the introduction to direct team members or department lead. Often, managers neglect to introduce new hires to their internal customers, suppliers, vendors, and peers. Managers can help new hires increase their sense of belonging from day one by assisting them to foster the right connections. This activity helps new hires decrease time to productivity and increase retention in the first three months. Click here to download our new hire network mapping tool.
Conduct frequent check-ins with new hires. Not all new hires are comfortable leaning on their new managers for support, especially when some feel they have a lot to prove in the first three months into their new jobs. Managers should schedule routine check-ins with new hires from day one. In the first two weeks, these meetings should be focused on soliciting feedback to ensure all their questions are answered and their needs are met. After that, a formal 30-60-90 day check-in will allow you to solicit and give new hires feedback and let them know how they are doing. Click here to download our manager’s checklist for new hire check-ins.
Measure new hire experience. It’s always a good idea to regularly survey new hires to get honest feedback about their experience. Their feedback will help employers continuously improve the new hire experience by addressing gaps in the hiring process. When new hires feel engaged in their first three months, they are less likely to leave within the first year. Surveys are one of the most scalable ways to gather feedback and track new hire experience trends over time. Click here to download our new hire survey questionnaire.
Employee retention starts with onboarding. It takes time to build an effective onboarding program complicated by today’s remote and hybrid workforce. Employers should conduct routine audits on their existing onboarding program to ensure it serves its purpose of equipping new hires with the resources they need to thrive. A positive onboarding experience will reduce new hire turnover and remorse while saving millions of dollars invested in recruiting and onboarding new employees in today’s challenging job market.
Click here to download our Pre-boarding and Onboarding Playbook.
How we can help
We help employers customize and automate their employee lifecycle surveys.
Respect is the basis of any relationship! Your paths might cross again in the future as a job seeker can be your future customer, supplier, vendor, brand ambassador, or employee.
Retainify is an employee engagement and development software that offers a unified solution that allows you to track employee sentiment and measure engagement in real-time. Proactively identify issues that are preventing them from being their best at work. Improve business outcomes by improving the employee experience, and enhancing company culture one feedback at a time. Turn Feedback into Action.
Questions of Feedback?
Contact Us: hello@retainify.com
Citations:
Fellay, M. (2021, July 28). Why Your Employees Are Leaving En Masse And The Surprising Factor That Will Keep Them. Retrieved November 12, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/07/28/why-your-employees-are-leaving-en-masse-and-the-surprising-factor-that-will-keep-them/?sh=251c5d1240fb