Up to 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days of employment – which speaks volumes about the onboarding process. According to a study of 1,500 corporate professionals, a poor onboarding process is twice as likely to cause new hires to seek other opportunities. So, what can be done to ensure new employees are onboarded successfully to avoid losing top talent?
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, leadership and organisational consultant Ron Carucci recommends organisations have a process in place to onboard a new hire for the full duration of the employee’s first year.
Organisations that take an integrated approach are most successful, focusing on three key areas: organisational onboarding, technical onboarding and social onboarding.
Organisational Onboarding
This covers the basics – things like how to access the office, enrolment in benefit schemes, and learning about standard policies and procedures. This is where new hires discover how things work, and what they need to do their job day-to-day.
It’s also crucial for hiring managers to help new employees adapt to the workplace culture and norms. This includes communicating the general structures around performance management, rewards and development opportunities.
Technical Onboarding
This is where the expectations and outcomes specific to the role are defined. According to a survey from TalentLMS, one of new hires’ top concerns is understanding what their manager expects of them. Although your new hire may be experienced, there may be some insecurity around how to deploy their skills in a new organisation – especially if the environment is drastically different to their last employer.
Job descriptions should communicate responsibilities clearly, and new employees should be made aware of the resources available to them. It’s also important to define the reporting structure and communicate any boundaries around decision making.
Setting clear and realistic short term goals will help new hires to get those early wins – boosting their confidence and building trust.
Social Onboarding
This is all about creating that sense of community. Building relationships with new colleagues early on encourages a sense of belonging, helping new employees to feel less like an outsider.
Social events outside of the office are a great way to get to know the wider team, but it’s worthwhile to schedule coffee or lunch with the stakeholders they will be interacting with regularly.
Our candidate assessments give you the insight you need to optimise your onboarding process to ensure new hires are onboarded smoothly, maximising their potential early. We can provide detailed onboarding reports, which outline how to manage, motivate, communicate and support new hires based on their unique assessment results.
If they experience great onboarding, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years.
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