Onboarding and Retention: How Can You Do It Best?

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Onboarding new employees is a crucial part of an employee’s life cycle. Onboarding can create a ‘make or break’ experience that translates to the talents retention as well as return on investment (ROI). First impression matters. When welcoming new employees into the company, you have an opportunity to put your best foot forward and make an awesome lasting impression.

According to research by Glassdoor, organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and boost productivity by over 70%. The way employers handle a new employee’s first few days and weeks will determine if that employee will likely stay or leave the company before you spell “Jack”.

According to Society for Human Resources Development (SHRM), employee onboarding (also known as organizational socialization) is the “process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly, and learn the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to function effectively within an organization.” A standard onboarding program should extend between three months to one year to ensure they are supported as they rise to full productivity.

Tactics to improve employee retention

A. Before resumption date:

Between the offer and start date is very important because the new joiner may still be interviewing with their companies and may change their minds.

1.  Send a personalized card with company logo or an email on how you are excited and cat wait for them to resume.

2.  Send the welcome pack which includes the company's mission, vision, culture, core values, background information about the company, handbook documentation, forms, where to arrive or park and any other necessary information.

3.  Prepare a structured plan for HR and Hiring Manager to partake in the orientation and onboarding program

4.  Set up the new joiners workstation i.e. computer, email account, phone, ID cards, business cards etc. and test that the tools are working.

B. After resumption date:

1.  Introduce them to colleagues, teach them how things work, how to function effectively, how to navigate the office, how to enroll for the benefits, company policies and most importantly the office “language”

2.  Clarify their roles, provide the job descriptions, core activities and how it fits into the bigger picture, reporting lines, organizational charts and who to direct their questions to.

3.  Assign a “buddy” that can help the new joiner feel comfortable in the new environment, answer questions and show them around the office and ease them into the new culture. A tenured and successful employee in their department is perfect.

4.  Make connections by focusing on creating more opportunities for the new joiner to connect and bond with coworkers

5.  Conduct regular check-ins and follow up to ensure the new joiner has all things and information needed to deliver effectively.

6.  Create that foster trust

7.  Create proper communication channels

8.  Set up early wins, provide new joiner with clear goals with realistic expectations, such that can be achieved within 3 – 6 months of joining

9.  Offer continuous feedback to new joiners regarding their efforts in order to retain them. Recognize effort when they have performed superbly and offer positive criticism to achieve success.

In conclusion, a very good onboarding offers a number of rewards for companies, which includes retention. Many employees tend to exit the company within the first three to six months of resumption if not properly onboarded. Often times, it is the small things that can make a huge difference in an employee’s perception. It only makes business sense to invest in onboarding.