Employee onboarding is the first step in each employee’s journey with your organization. It’s a time when employers can set employees up for success, ensuring they’re engaged and supported from Day One. But we’ve found that this critical time is not always used effectively, creating unnecessary retention challenges. Research shows that 88% of organizations don’t onboard well, and only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job of onboarding.
Poor onboarding can cause new employees to feel lost, confused, and frustrated. Those feelings often make it difficult for them to get up to speed and start contributing to the company quickly and could even lead to them leaving the company early. But let’s not point our fingers only at HR professionals regarding onboarding challenges. For optimum results, this responsibility is best shared between the entire organization.
This guide was developed to help every part of an organization improve its onboarding and retention numbers by engaging employees right from the start. But first, let’s step back and revisit why onboarding is so critically important:
Orientation and onboarding can make or break the new hire experience — and drive long-term loyalty (or send employees running). But, while the two terms are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. They are, though, both integral parts of
a company’s employee engagement and retention strategy. An employee’s experience with your company starts from the moment of their first touchpoint with your company, be it your website, the interview process or a social post. But, once they’ve accepted the job, they’ve committed. You want to reward that commitment by making sure they feel welcomed and that every experience from that point on reinforces that their decision to join your company was the right one.
As the terms themselves convey, orientation is about orienting the employee to the job, while onboarding is about getting the employee on board and ready to be productive and engaged.
Orientation generally involves the administrative aspects of getting the new employee started — filling out required paperwork for payroll and benefits administration, sharing company policies and procedures, and explaining how their position fits into the company’s short- and long-term goals. Some organizations stop right here and feel they have successfully oriented and onboarded the new employee. They haven’t.
Onboarding goes beyond the administrative elements of orientation and encompasses a process that involves training and additional, hands-on acclimation to their work and the people they will be working with. It’s a process that can take weeks, even months in some organizations and roles.
As the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) tells us: “While orientation is necessary for completing paperwork and other routine tasks, onboarding is a comprehensive process involving management and other employees and can last up to 12 months.”
The time spent here is well worth the investment — for both new employees and the company. Employees who feel valued and connected to the company’s “why” are more engaged, more productive and more loyal. The proof? ServiceNow reports when the onboarding experience is not positive, new hires are twice as likely to quit their job compared to those who have a good onboarding experience.
To summarize: orientation introduces employees to the company and its policies and practices, while onboarding is a broader and more in-depth process designed to help the new hire become acclimated to the company, their new role and their colleagues. Both are important but, as we’ve seen, they serve different purposes.
Orientation and onboarding should be an integral part of your holistic employee engagement strategy. While serving different purposes, together they establish the foundation for building a more productive and more loyal workforce.
The most effective employee engagement strategies start before a new hire’s first day on the job. When an organization’s onboarding program is carefully planned and thoughtfully executed, the impact can last for years. In fact, employees are 69% more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience a great onboarding process. Organizations with strong onboarding processes can increase new hire retention by 82% and improve productivity by 70%. Getting onboarding right is critical to talent management and can positively impact other aspects of the business at the same time.
Here are some proven strategies to get new employees engaged — and keep them engaged — starting with the onboarding process.
Lead with a positive, inclusive team culture. A warm welcome can set the tone for the entire onboarding experience — and the employee experience that follows. Introduce new employees to their colleagues and managers and provide a tour of the workplace — either physically or via video — to make each employee feel included and part of the team right from the start. You can even use an employee engagement platform like Connects to shower the new hire with inspirational and motivational messages!
Announce new hires internally before they start so the entire workforce knows who is starting, when, and what role they play. Coordinate structured onboarding meetings with the appropriate team members and subject matter experts (SMEs) on tools and processes they will need to use on Day One, so that they get the right information from the right people at the right time. Help each new hire document their onboarding meetings using your company’s technology (i.e., OneNote, Teams, Mural, etc.). This will familiarize them with the tools they will be using regularly in their job and in collaboration with others, as well as provide reference of the information learned during their onboarding journey.
Tailor the onboarding process to the needs and interests of each new employee. Consider their background, experiences, and preferences to create a uniquely personalized experience. For instance, if a new hire makes it known they have a new baby, include parenting items in their welcome “swag bag.” If the new employee is a “foodie,” encourage them to start or join an employee resource group luncheon (or virtual recipe exchange, for remote and hybrid teams). Attention to detail shows employees you’ve listened to them and that you value them as individuals. This can result in higher engagement levels, for longer.
During the onboarding process, set clear expectations for employees about their roles, responsibilities and what they should expect from the company. Clear and consistent communication is critical! According to Korn Ferry’s research on the future of work, 44% of employees are ready to change jobs within months as opposed to years. Helping new employees understand the organization’s long-term vision will enable them to see their purpose and contribution. All of this helps employees feel more confident and comfortable as they navigate their new roles.
Adopt an employee engagement recognition platform. The warm welcome can extend from in-person right into your employee recognition platform. Introducing employees to the platform, how to use it and why to use it, increases future participation. Social recognition on an employee engagement technology platform like Connects:
Part of setting expectations is sharing the company’s mission, vision and values. Explain the values, why they are important (to maintain a healthy, positive culture), and show how living those values benefits both the employee and employer. When companies align their workforce with their values, employees can better see the connection between their work and the business strategy, which helps drive better business outcomes and results.
In the new normal, a holistic employee journey includes looking at their employee wellness from all angles: physical, mental, emotional and financial health, and conveying that starts even before Day One (it should be conveyed at Day Zero during the hiring process!) Deloitte research recently revealed the crucial link between employee wellness and business health: “When worker well-being (defined holistically to include physical, mental, financial, and social aspects) suffers, productivity often declines and health care costs frequently rise.” Since wellness is so closely related to business outcomes and individual health, incorporating all these dimensions into onboarding and orientation is critical.
Onboarding tends to focus on getting new hires up to speed on company initiatives and processes so they can perform the job they were hired to do. But it’s never too early to show new employees what the future may hold. Highlighting training and development opportunities during onboarding can motivate employees to grow within the organization. LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report revealed that companies that excel at internal mobility are able to retain employees for an average of 5.4 years — that’s nearly 2x as long as companies that struggle with it, where the average retention span is 2.9 years. Providing growth opportunities helps each employee feel more confident in their abilities, fosters their sense of purpose and motivates them to grow — all of which increases their engagement within the company.
Assigning a mentor to new employees helps reduce the churn and burn that can happen with improper onboarding. Mentorship helps engage employees from Day One, because mentors:
As an added bonus, creating mentorship experiences that balance strengths and weaknesses tends to help form stronger bonds and build community within your organization.
Every organization’s onboarding program should be considered a work in progress that evolves over time. During onboarding, ask employees for feedback on the experience, what worked well, and what could be improved. This can help HR leaders identify areas of improvement and make adjustments to ensure a more effective onboarding experience for new hires in the future. Plus, asking new hires for feedback from the start of the employee journey establishes that continuous feedback is important and valued within the organization. New hires who feel comfortable giving feedback, without fear of retaliation, will likely champion future feedback surveys and participate in Employee Voice feedback surveys.
Approximately 35% of companies spend zero dollars on onboarding, and the majority of these organizations spend approximately $11,000 on recruitment and turnover costs! SHRM reports that the average cost of recruiting an employee is $4,700 and many employers estimate the total cost to hire a new employee can be three to four times the position’s salary. And these numbers have climbed since the pandemic, amid talent shortages and increased competition for quality candidates. With these mounting costs, it’s more important than ever to improve employee retention — by focusing on employee engagement at every stage — to control costs, boost productivity and create a thriving business. Proper onboarding sets the tone and reduces the pain (and expense) that comes from failing to prioritize the employee experience from Day One.
