Onboarding

The end of 2023 is in sight. Organizations are approving hiring budgets for January and making their ambition to grow concrete. The actions organizations are taking prompt employees to reflect on their individual circumstances and take the first steps in defining their goals and planning for next year. The start of a new year means a load of employment decisions. Following these decisions is a critical time that determines how long fresh hires will stay. A positive new hire experience during the onboarding phase is essential to employee engagement, inclusion, and well-being.

New hires go through a phase in which they acquire the knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become a fully functional member of their team and the organization. That period is referred to as the onboarding phase. Onboarding is not a one-week program in which talent is rushed through all of the aforementioned items but a months-long process that includes finalizing paperwork, setting up the workplace, getting familiar with day-to-day operations and activities, and socializing with colleagues. This initial time period is critical. A study by Qualtrics (2023) showed that failed efforts to engage, include, and satisfy new hires result in an average six-month tenure with the organization. Another study by Qualtrics (2023) stresses that the intent to stay at an organization is with 37% the lowest among employees who are in their first six months. In comparison, that value is 75% for employees working more than five years with the organization. 70% of employees believe the onboarding experience can make or break a new hire's experience. To organizations and leaders, therefore, onboarding is an opportunity to deliver a great employee experience and with that secure long-term employment.

The current state of onboarding is not great. Paychex's 2022 workplace survey found that just over half of the employees (52%) are satisfied with their onboarding experience. 32% of employees found their onboarding confusing and 22% said it was disorganized. The survey looked at on-site and remote employees. Needless to say, employees working remotely were more often left confused than their peers working from the office. 36% of remote employees indicated their onboarding was confusing. The lack of good onboarding has an impact on the employee experience. Post process, 62% of new hires are engaged and only 25% say they intend to stay in the role for more than three years (Qualtrics, 2023). 65% of employees working with the organization for less than six months say they feel included and 66% mark their well-being as good (Qualtrics, 2023). Unlike the case now, leaders must expect that engagement is at record highs in the first months on the job and that new hires feel acknowledged, respected, and part of the organization and its culture. 

The priority of talent teams has not been with onboarding. 41% of HR leaders focused on onboarding this year (Qualtrics, 2023). In contrast, 50% of HR leaders aimed their attention at talent attraction and hiring. As a result, 52% of new hires feel undertrained after onboarding (Paychex, 2023). That number is much worse for remote employees (63%) and people employed by small businesses (66%) (Paychex, 2023). The consequences are severe. Out of frustration over feeling unprepared and having a bad employee experience, new hires quickly vacate their jobs. Paychex's study (2023) shows that 50% of new hires intend to leave. Those that stay are less engaged and therefore cost organizations revenue. Disengagement comes at a price tag of 18% of the employees' salaries (Gallup, 2020). Immense labor shortages, understandably, draw a lot of attention to talent acquisition. However, the shortage of talent is exacerbated by a lack of focus on onboarding. In other words, leaders prioritizing the onboarding experience will be left with fewer job openings to fill as they better retain their acquired talent. 

Improving the onboarding process does not have to be sophisticated. A good one-time investment in the essentials combined with consistently balancing the responsibilities of talent teams and other departments goes a long way. For leaders who find themselves in a position just after a failed onboarding phase, not all hope is lost. Re-onboarding is a thing and it's effective. Great onboarding starts with making information available. Information about the job, the metrics, and the training programs. The responsibility for making these resources available rests with respective departments but must be monitored by talent managers. The same applies to ensuring that new hires integrate into the organization. Organizing regular touchpoints, get-to-know-you sessions, and assigning mentors is vital to the employee experience. Furthermore, talent leaders must intervene when they pick up on issues. Sometimes, re-onboarding is necessary and beneficial. Repeating the process helps employees become more focused (47%), energized (42%), productive (34%), and efficient (33%) (Paychex, 2023). Ahead of the next hiring cycle, leaders must give their talent teams a strong mandate to engage and audit other departments in efforts to ensure sufficient resources are available to new joiners.

Onboarding is the initial process that talent goes through to get familiar with their new job, colleagues, and organization. It's the most crucial moment in time for leaders to engage employees and show their commitment to inclusion and employee well-being. Data indicates that organizations have to improve their onboarding practices to avoid early employee turnover or disengagement. Leaders have to help their talent teams prioritize onboarding to mediate growing talent shortages. This demands giving talent managers full authority to assign and monitor onboarding responsibilities and challenge other departments when needed. Before the big hiring season, leaders must ensure the right resources are in place to onboard talent and guarantee the best employee experience.