In the last article, we looked at how a well-planned onboarding program can help new hires start strong and make a real impact from day one. However, even the best onboarding programs need regular reviews and updates to stay effective. Checking in on your onboarding process helps you see what’s working, find areas for improvement, and keep the program aligned with your company’s changing goals.
In this article, we’ll go over the main steps and tools you can use to evaluate and improve your onboarding program over time.
Why Evaluate the Onboarding Process?
Evaluation isn’t just about checking if the onboarding program worked; it’s about seeing how well it helped new hires settle in, become productive, and succeed over time. By reviewing onboarding regularly, companies can make sure that their process:
- Accelerates New Hire Productivity: Evaluate if new hires are meeting their productivity goals within the expected time frame.
- Enhances Employee Retention: A strong onboarding experience contributes significantly to long-term retention by building early engagement and loyalty.
- Reduces Ramp-up Time: Reducing the time new hires need to reach full productivity means they can contribute faster to the team’s objectives.
- Aligns with Cultural and Organizational Goals: Evaluation helps confirm that new hires are well-aligned with the company’s values and mission.
Key Metrics for Measuring Onboarding Success
When evaluating your onboarding process, focus on the following metrics to gauge its effectiveness:
- Time to Productivity: Track how quickly new hires become as productive as their teammates. This could mean seeing how well they handle key tasks, join in on projects, or take on responsibilities on their own. For example, if your goal is for new employees to complete 60% of their main tasks on their own in the first month, you can watch this closely and adjust your onboarding if needed.
- Employee Engagement Scores: Engaged employees tend to be more productive and stay longer with the company. To check in on new hires’ engagement, use short surveys or meetings at 30, 60, and 90 days to see how they’re feeling and where they might need more support. Companies like Zappos and HubSpot do this by asking new hires about their experience fitting in with the team, connecting with company values, and how happy they are with the job so far.
- Knowledge Retention and Skill Development: Check how well new hires are learning the knowledge and skills they need for their roles. You can use quizzes, project reviews, or feedback from managers to see how much they’ve retained. Tech companies often use project-based reviews in the first 90 days to assess a new hire’s skills and find any areas where they may need extra training.
- Feedback and Satisfaction Scores: Getting feedback directly from new hires is an important part of evaluating onboarding. After they complete the program, ask them to fill out a survey. This helps you see what’s working well and where you could improve. For example, Amazon’s “Day 1” onboarding includes surveys and group discussions to get immediate feedback on how new hires are adjusting and contributing. This input helps them keep improving the onboarding experience.
- Retention Rates and Turnover Analysis: Keep an eye on how many employees stay after going through your onboarding program. If people leave early, it can mean there are issues with onboarding that need quick fixes. For example, if a company notices higher turnover in the first six months, it might mean the onboarding process needs better support ora better focus on cultural fit.
?Effective Methods for Evaluating Onboarding
- Structured Surveys and Pulse Check-Ins: Use surveys to gather feedback from both new hires and managers, focusing on things like satisfaction, readiness, and how well they’re fitting in. Short, targeted surveys at regular intervals (like 30, 60, and 90 days) give you ongoing feedback without overwhelming anyone.
- Manager and Mentor Feedback: Managers and mentors can offer important insights into how new hires are doing and any challenges they might face. Have regular check-ins with managers to review the new hires' progress and tackle any issues early on.
- Performance Reviews and Milestone Tracking: Use the 30-60-90-day plan to check how new hires are doing based on specific goals. This helps you spot any gaps and see where you can improve onboarding support, like providing more skill training or extra mentorship
- Exit Interviews for Early Departures: Hold exit interviews with employees who leave within the first six months to find out what went wrong with onboarding. Their feedback can give you a clear idea of what might have been missing during the onboarding process.
Tools You Can Use to Streamline Onboarding Evaluation
- Employee Feedback Platforms: Tools like SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or Culture Amp help create custom surveys to gather structured feedback from new hires and managers.
- Performance Tracking Software: Project management platforms like Asana or Trello can help track new hire productivity and milestone achievement.
- HR Analytics Tools: Analytics platforms like PeopleSoft, BambooHR, or ADP’s Workforce Now offer HR insights, allowing you to correlate onboarding effectiveness with retention rates, productivity, and engagement metrics.
Actionable Steps for Continuous Improvement
- Analyze Data and Identify Trends: Review the collected data from various feedback points and look for patterns, whether in engagement, skill development, or retention. Consistent patterns can reveal areas where the onboarding process excels or requires improvement.
- Make Iterative Improvements: Based on the feedback, make small, incremental changes to the onboarding program and test their effectiveness. For instance, if new hires express confusion about role expectations, introducing a more comprehensive job orientation module can address this gap.
- Introduce Regular Review Cycles: Just as new hires are reviewed in cycles, so should the onboarding process itself. Schedule quarterly reviews to assess the onboarding program’s effectiveness and make proactive adjustments based on evolving needs or feedback.
- Encourage Continuous Feedback Loop: Create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing feedback on the onboarding process even after they have completed it. This continuous feedback loop can provide fresh insights and help keep the program relevant.
A good onboarding process needs regular evaluations to make sure it works well. By keeping track of important metrics like how quickly new hires become productive, their engagement levels, and how long they stay, companies can improve the onboarding experience to meet the needs of both new hires and the organization.
By focusing on continuous improvement in your onboarding program, you can boost productivity and retention while creating a workplace culture that values development and engagement.
Investing in the right tools and feedback methods will help you build a lasting onboarding program that sets up new hires for success from day one.
