What are the most effective ways to reduce the attrition rate of new hires?

1 Define clear expectations

One of the main reasons why new hires leave within the first year is because they feel misled, confused, or overwhelmed by their role and responsibilities. To avoid this, you need to define clear expectations for your candidates during the recruitment process. This includes providing accurate and realistic information about the job description, the company culture, the compensation and benefits, the performance goals, and the career development opportunities. You also need to communicate these expectations to the hiring managers and the onboarding team, so that they can align their actions and feedback with the new hires' expectations.

2 Provide effective onboarding

Onboarding is the process of integrating new hires into the organization, providing them with the necessary training, resources, support, and feedback to succeed in their role. An effective onboarding program can increase new hires' confidence, competence, engagement, and retention. To achieve this, you should plan and execute a structured and comprehensive program that covers pre-boarding, orientation, training, and integration. Pre-boarding involves sending welcome messages, preparing paperwork, setting up equipment, and introducing the new hires to their team and manager. Orientation involves providing a formal introduction to the company's vision, mission, values, policies, and procedures. Training involves providing the new hires with the necessary skills and tools to perform their tasks. Integration involves helping the new hires build relationships with peers and managers by providing opportunities to contribute to projects, participate in meetings, and join social events.

3 Monitor and measure satisfaction

Another way to reduce the attrition rate of new hires is to monitor and measure their satisfaction with their role, their team, their manager, and their organization. You can use various tools and methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, exit interviews, and performance reviews, to collect feedback and data from your new hires. You can also use hiring metrics, such as time to productivity, quality of hire, turnover rate, and retention rate, to evaluate the effectiveness of your recruitment and retention strategies. By monitoring and measuring satisfaction, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your hiring process, the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for your new hires, and the areas for improvement and action.

4 Recognize and reward performance

One of the best ways to motivate and retain your new hires is to recognize and reward their performance. Recognition and rewards can be both extrinsic and intrinsic, such as salary, bonuses, benefits, promotions, praise, feedback, autonomy, responsibility, and growth. To recognize and reward performance, you need to set clear and SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely) goals for your new hires, track and evaluate their progress and achievements, and provide timely and constructive feedback and appreciation. You also need to create a culture of recognition and rewards , where you encourage and empower your new hires to celebrate their own and others' successes.

5 Support career development

Finally, you can reduce the attrition rate of new hires by supporting their career development. Career development is the process of enhancing one's skills, knowledge, and competencies to advance in one's career path. Supporting career development can increase new hires' satisfaction, loyalty, and performance. To support career development, you need to understand your new hires' career aspirations, strengths, and areas for improvement. You also need to provide them with opportunities and resources to learn new skills, take on new challenges, and explore new roles. You also need to provide them with guidance, mentoring, coaching, and feedback to help them achieve their career goals.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?