Onboarding has been considered a best practice in assimilating new employees for the last several years.  By migrating benefits information and elections to online platforms, the more traditional orientation session can be replaced with information that is much more important to building a strong sense of organizational identity and belonging for new employees.

In support of this shift from orientation to onboarding is the glaring reality that employees continue to leave organizations at a staggering rate.  In 2022, 4 million employees quit their jobs each month.  Moreover, 94% who quit reported that it was very easy to find another job. Another trend in organizations is for employees to “quietly quit” by remaining in their jobs and choosing to do a minimum of work, just to get by.  

So, between resignation rates and quietly quitting, the opportunity to build employee engagement out of the gate is essential. Focusing onboarding around organizational culture and the business environment becomes critical. A recent analysis found that toxic corporate cultures are almost 11 times more powerful than compensation practices in predicting a company’s turnover (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2022).

So, what is an effective onboarding process?*

The key elements of successful Onboarding include 4 C’s:

1. Clarification– a study of employees in both the US and UK found that businesses lose an estimated $37 billion annually as a result of employees not understanding their jobs.
2. Compliance– basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations.
3. Culture– provides employees with a sense of cultural norms-both formal and informal.
4. Connection– according to one estimate, 60% of managers fail to onboard successfully. The inability to help new hires establish key connections in the organization is cited as the primary reason for this breakdown. 

So, what’s in it for your organization?

Among the benefits of a formal, structured onboarding process are:*

1. Increased job satisfaction (53%)- by jump starting work relationships
2. Increased job performance (60%)- by clarifying performance objectives and results expectations. Estimates are that employees who have been successfully onboarded become fully productive 2 months sooner that those who have not.
3. Increased retention (52%)- by providing support through feedback, coaching and follow-up.

*Talya N Bauer, PhD, SHRM Foundation

Need to refine your onboarding practices? KardasLarson can help you develop a strategy that could improve new hire retention. Contact us today!