Retaining Employees Through Onboarding Process
Insightful statistics to consider 👇
- 69% of employees tend to stay with their employer for 3 years when they’ve had a good onboarding experience.
- 22% of turnover occurs within 45 days of hiring.
- A 50% increase in the productivity rate of new hires when an employer structures the integration process.
- 88% of companies are deemed incompetent in the onboarding process by their employees.
Labor shortages are a reality in every industry. Finding and hiring talent isn’t always easy. Having worked so hard to recruit them, companies still underestimate the importance of welcoming new employees into their teams. It’s estimated that 40% of turnover in companies is caused by employees leaving within a year of being hired. So we thought we’d share 5 key ingredients to ensure an integration process that will have a wow effect on your new employees.
1- Onboarding begins before the first day
Between the signing of the offer letter and his first day at his new job, the employee doesn’t hear from his future employer, but he does receive (more advantageous!) offer letters from competitors, as well as a counter-offer from his current employer.
Why would they choose to work with you?
Changing jobs is exciting, stressful and uncomfortable all at once. There’s the resignation, in which the employee has to face their manager, then their colleagues with whom they often have a good relationship. There are counter-offers from their current employer, plus offers from other employers (residuals from other recruitment processes). Doubt and uncertainty are the order of the day, even more so when the employee has no ties with his new employer.
We suggest you take a moment to connect with your new employee, validate their state of mind following their resignation, and brief them on the specifics of their first day. This is such a stressful time for the new employee, it’s worth taking the time. Not only will it create a close, caring relationship with them, but it will also have a WOW! effect.
2- When the boarding role doesn’t belong to HR
HR: guardians of good onboarding practices. The manager: creator and executor of the process.
Typically, HR outlines the process and trains managers on good onboarding practices for new hires. It is then the manager’s responsibility to create and deliver this process to their new hires! Why? They are the best person to define the training needs of their employees! Their role is to determine the necessary training, select trainers within their team (and assign them training), and serve as a guide for the new person. A successful onboarding must focus on developing a sense of belonging. As leaders, managers are in a privileged position to build close relationships with newcomers, facilitate their integration into teams, and guide them through the organization’s maze.
3- Social onboarding: building strong connections with your new team member
The more isolated an employee feels, the more likely they are to leave their job.
The new employee is anxious to meet his immediate boss and colleagues: wanting to make a good impression and establish close relationships with the new team. It’s key that this person builds up their internal social network quickly, to break through that uncomfortable feeling of being the “newbie”. They should interact with colleagues on a daily basis, and have contacts with different departments (so they will know who to approach in each key department for problems and questions).
Why not involve various team members in the training of the new hire? This way, you can delegate part of the training to your team while promoting the development of your recruit’s social network. Also, do not underestimate the importance of the relationship between the new resource and their immediate leader; it will be the foundation of a trusting, transparent, and lasting relationship.
4- Pairing up to create a sense of belonging and boost productivity
The stronger the relationship between the buddy and the employee, the more access the new resource will have to information or knowledge that allows them to be more productive quickly.
While managers play an essential role in shaping the first weeks and months for new employees, a broader team effort can ensure that the experience is both positive and productive. Unlike colleagues who will participate in sharing knowledge with the new employee, the buddy will play a different role: helping the new employee build a network, socialize, understand how the company operates, and grasp its social life. The buddy helps the employee define a context. Without this, a new recruit will likely struggle to fully understand their role or how to contribute to their team’s success. This key individual provides informal context to our newcomer, helping them determine who the stakeholders are, how to navigate the organization, identify cultural norms and unwritten rules.
5- Accelerate onboarding: Creating Awareness of Company and Team Culture
New recruits need internal interpreters to help them decode tangible and intangible elements of organizational culture.
As the employee wants to quickly feel like a key figure in your company, they’ll want to understand their role (where they can add value) as well as your history, mission, values, and norms. All these elements are part of your culture. It might be interesting for several department heads to give their version of events, so the newcomers can see more than one side of the story. The quicker the new employee gets the hang of it, the more they will be able to project themselves as a character in your story, and the more integrated they’ll feel.
Did you know that your written and unwritten rules are fundamental elements of your corporate culture? You probably have more than you think. Perhaps perceptions for recognition, initiatives, meetings, or internal conflict management. Or even fundamental assumptions that your teams have about their roles, departments, and organization. You probably have language and acronyms unique to your organization. How do your new recruits learn them?
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In conclusion, considering the current context of the job market, there’s a lot of added value in implementing a structured integration process. You’ll benefit from helping new employees feel at ease in their new position, by increasing their commitment to the organization, helping them contribute to your mission and consolidating their decision to choose you as an employer.
Allow yourself to adapt the process to your organization’s colors, but above all, be creative! This is your chance to make a good impression on your new hires and ensure retention!