First impressions count and your onboarding process is one of the first things, if not the first thing a new employee will interact with.
Gallup found that 88% of organisations have poor onboarding. This means many employees being introduced into a business aren’t having a positive or beneficial first experience.
There seems to be this expectation that once an employee has joined, there is little chance you will lose them in the early stages. This leads to a lack of care at times surrounding their onboarding process.
However, it may shock you to know how prioritising your onboarding can boost your employees and business in so many different ways. So, we are sharing five of the main reasons why you need to focus on this…
New starters are more committed to their employer if they receive good onboarding
Bamboo HR found that new starters who experience good onboarding are 18 times more committed to their employer.
Commitment is key for businesses out there. It provides reassurance of employee retention as well as creating an increased likelihood of higher productivity from those employees who receive it.
It is all down to engagement which is often forgotten during the onboarding process. If a new starter is poorly engaged, they are less likely to stay with their employer and therefore less committed. This means you need strong onboarding to encourage long-term commitment and engagement.
It can be costly
Poor onboarding can leave to low employee retention. In turn this can lead to a large loss in costs to the business.
Our Digital Managing Consultant, Kris Randall shared this, “Onboarding holds a lot of power in retention. A business spends a lot of money and time bringing in new starters, however, if it’s a poor experience then those people may choose to leave.
All that time recruiting, interviewing and filtering down to a chosen candidate equates to money lost. All this can be down to the process not being right.”
By focusing on your onboarding, your business could significantly benefit financially.
New starters are more likely to recommend your business
Digitate found that 1 in 5 new starters are unlikely to recommend their employer if the onboarding process was poor there.
As a business reputation is important. It promotes a positive outlook on the business. This will likely create more income, higher demand with applications and ensures opinions and outside standards are maintained well.
Therefore, creating a good process will improve your chances of being recommended. And remember, from this, it brings in those necessary business benefits.
Higher employee retention
The Brandon Hall Group found that great employee onboarding can improve employee retention by 82%.
This shows that ensuring a positive introduction for a new starter will provide long-term business benefits.
Kris Randall added, “There’s a stigma that onboarding is dull and just something you’ve got to do, but things have changed, people no longer accept this. Therefore, businesses need to put the time into improving this as without it they’ll lose employees based on something that is easily resolvable.
With employee retention being so important in the last year or so, reviewing and refreshing this process is a first step that can be easily taken to help that.”
Good onboarding leads to improved performance levels
In addition to higher employee retention, the Brandon Hall Group also found good onboarding will likely boost employee performance.
It found that 77% of employees who went through a formal onboarding process hit their first performance goals and that an effective process can increase productivity by 70%.
Although, this process may seem like a tick box exercise for some businesses, providing good onboarding could ensure you get the best out of your employees with their productivity and performance.
With it being the time for new starters as graduates, apprentices and others starting their roles this September, now is the time to get feedback and review your onboarding process.
At Olano we have understood the importance of onboarding and look to offer a variety of ways in presenting it. From completely digitalised approach to a blended method, get in Contact with us to discuss these options further.
