The 9 things to avoid while onboarding

Where Does the Problem Start?

Most can agree that the first couple weeks at a new job can feel overwhelming and stressful.?

You have to:

• Meet new colleagues
• Start understanding the position you were hired for
• and try to guess how long it will take until you want to leave

These all add to the headache of starting anew.

An employee who has a poor introduction to the company is far more likely to leave, with research showing that over 50% of churn (employee turnover) can be attributed to a poor onboarding experience. Churn is stressful for managers and can hurt company culture, severely diminishing the capabilities of an effective team.??

How Much is This Problem Costing Companies?

According to a 2022 Job Seeker Nation Report, 30% of new hires leave within the first 90 days . That churn has expensive ripple effects across the organization, and the cost of turnover for one employee can be 1.5-2x their annual salary. It’s expensive to find talent, but exponentially more costly to see new hires leave.

For a company with 10,000 employees and a 10% annual turnover with an average salary of $80,000, that's a potential loss of $100 million.?

What’s Being Overlooked?

To identify the best way to onboard employees, it is important to understand what's needed for a new hire to reach productivity. The first few days are often spent:

• Filling out paperwork?
• Receiving introductions to new colleagues?
• Feeling comfortable at the desk/computer?
• Setting up accounts

At Team Settle we’ve found that the most important aspect of an introduction to a company comes after this is done - what we call the “technical onboarding” stage.??

Technical onboarding? refers to the often lengthy process of gaining the specific skills and knowledge necessary to be productive in the new role.

Unfortunately, most companies fail to prioritize technical onboarding. This results in dissatisfied, disengaged employees who feel they are unproductive and confused. It’s those same employees who choose to leave.

Here are the top onboarding mistakes (avoid these if you want your employees to stay):

1. No structured onboarding program - leaving new hires to figure things out with little guidance.?
2. Disorganized or outdated training materials - new employees can get lost amongst a sea of documents, and lack the guidance to best understand the content.
3. Lack of onboarding timeline and milestones - no clear objectives for what new hires should achieve after 30/60/90 days.
4. Company-specific lingo overload - unexplained internal jargon or acronyms that leave new hires feeling confused.
5. Neglecting the cultural aspect - every workplace has its cultural quirks, politics, and unwritten rules. Something as basic as not clarifying the dress code or lunch routines can ostracize new hires.?
6. Lackluster mentorship - inconsistent or unavailable managers/buddies for questions when new hires need ongoing, proactive check-ins and mentorship as they acclimate.?
7. Unclear role expectations - new employees want to prove themselves but need to understand the desired outcomes for their role. Managers often mistakenly assume new team members intuitively know what success looks like.?
8. Forgetting follow-ups and check-ins - little ongoing support or assessments after day one.
9. Unanswered questions - no easy way for new hires to resolve onboarding challenges.

Any of these missteps can burden the onboarding experience and employee satisfaction. A few warrant more special attention for their potential to directly affect early turnover.

What happens when onboarding is done right?

The importance of technical onboarding cannot be overstated. When done right, it has tremendous upside for employees and employers.

• Companies with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% .
• Structured onboarding programs lead to 70% greater productivity from new hires.

The data is clear: organizations that invest in positive and thorough onboarding reduce churn, energize their culture, and maximize new hire impact.?

Onboarding done right plays a monumental role in employee satisfaction, retention, and advancement. It kickstarts virtuous cycles of contribution and belonging. The effort to thoughtfully welcome new colleagues signals a workplace invested in people first. By taking the helm of onboarding, companies steer new hires toward shared success.