The numbers don’t lie: organisations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 per cent—but 88 per cent of organisations aren’t confident in the way they onboard new employees.
What this tells us is that while onboarding is a crucial part of talent acquisition, it’s not often done well. That’s why Recruitment Marketing Magazine did a survey of staff in HR and recruitment teams to find out what their worst onboarding experiences were, so we can share advice on how to avoid making the same mistakes.
Connor* shared that at his last job, there was no clear onboarding system in place.
“On my first day, they sat me at a desk with only a paper handout that had login details for my computer. I had no idea what I was doing.”
Lesson 1: Build a connection:
Building a connection should come before anything else in the onboarding process. Steven Demedio, Head of Learning and Development at Scout Talent, stresses the importance of an induction process that reinforces your new hires’ connection to the organisation, and vice versa.
If you don’t take the opportunity to reinforce your culture, purpose and values to new talent in the onboarding process, they–like Craig–will have no idea what they are doing there. By creating a psychological contract between your new hire and your organisation, they will feel empowered in their role and purpose before they are even given projects to work on.
Spencer compared one of his job experiences to the lead-up to a wedding, saying there was a great proposal, a fabulous wedding, but only one person turned up for the honeymoon—him.
“The build-up was exceptional,” Steve explained. “They contacted me five or six times to be recruited and on the day I started, they even had a courier drop off my laptop at 9 am. But after that, I was completely on my own.”
Lesson 2: Support your new hires
Don’t lose momentum—talent acquisition doesn’t stop when your new hire signs the contract. If you want your people to flourish in your organisation, you have to implement an induction process that shows your genuine care and support for them. If their onboarding experience is negative and they can’t see that you are interested in their growth, they will not feel connected to the organisation and are much less likely to stay.
Your new hires should also be meeting their colleagues and should be able to see how these people embody the organisation’s values.
Annalise said that at the first advertising agency she worked at, not only was there was no onboarding, but they changed her responsibilities when she showed up.
“It was really confusing, and when I brought it up with my supervisor, they couldn’t tell me what was going on and why that decision was made. The director that hired me never said hello to me or checked in on me during my first few days.”
Lesson 3: Be consistent in your employer branding and information sharing
While your new hire will have seen the job description and organisation requirements in your employer branding during the application and interview stages, you should take the time to reinforce their role, as well as expectations from both parties.
By making communication lines clear, you can focus on onboarding your new employee and getting them adjusted to life in your organisation.
Calvin recounted that his bad onboarding experience included limited training that had him relying on a resentful colleague.
“It was a very small office with only one colleague seated nearby. They provided little training, so I was initially reliant on that one colleague to learn the ropes. Sadly, that colleague had also applied for my role but had been unsuccessful, so they bore resentment that they were overlooked and they were determined to make me fail.”
Lesson 4: Make learning and development a priority
Beyond making sure your employee feels connected to the organisation, you should be investing in learning and development plans for your new hires (and all people within your business), rather than relying on existing staff to impart job-specific knowledge.
How is your new hire progressing? What are they struggling with, and what have they identified as areas for improvement and things they need to learn? These are all things you should know and use to create a robust learning plan that sees them growing beyond the onboarding process.
With the number of job postings soaring to a record high and a shortage of applications, having an effective induction process in this current climate is a powerful currency in the talent acquisition game. Onboarding your new talent well not only encourages stable growth and culture but also keeps your A-players in your court.
*names changed for privacy
Rochelle Auman is the Assistant Editor of Recruitment Marketing Magazine. She has a keen interest in a wide range of fields, having worked across the hospitality, retail, fashion and media industries—to name a few.
Thanks to her experience running a business and managing teams of staff, Rochelle understands the importance of attracting the best talent and retaining them by creating an environment where they feel empowered.
When she is not writing about the recruitment marketing landscape, she likes to disappear for hours at a time to play Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or read the latest Sarah J. Maas novel.
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