Onboarding Tip: Think long term

90% of employees will decide to stay, or go, within the first six months of joining your organisation. 

The saying “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” has never been truer for employers, than now. With many industries competing heavily for talent, 90% is not such a surprising statistic. Good people will not stick around if you fall short of expectations.

You need to hook ‘em, and win over their hearts and minds... and quick!

Start early - think long-term!

So, how does your organisation rate on making that first impression? 

Within STEM, where I have been working for 15yrs, organisations are competing heavily for talent and this is not going to change anytime soon. Yet over 50% of employers report that their company’s onboarding process takes a week or less, and only 10% claim to extend this to 3+ months.

If you consider the number of employees deciding to stay or leave an organisation within their first 6 months, it makes sense that onboarding covers at least that timeframe.

So, what is going on?

Organisations often fail to see the value, or return, on onboarding. Creating a people-centric onboarding "experience" takes time and money, and many leaders just aren't informed enough, to front up with the investment.*

However, the problem also comes from organisations confusing two terms:

1. Induction
2. Onboarding

Inductions are more likely to be time-limited, such as a week or two, whereas onboarding is a longer-term, more comprehensive process to integrate a new hire with an organisation’s values.

It is the process of helping new employees get up to speed with the social, cultural and performance aspects of their role and company.

“We want to focus on creating a memorable experience for the new hire in the first year rather than processing them in the first few weeks.” Cheryl Hughey, Southwest Airlines

What onboarding is not, is a tick box exercise, a pile of paperwork and a branded mug.

It should leave employees feeling a sense of pride, and confirm their decision to join you!

So a few questions you can ask of your onboarding experience:

• Are you supporting your new employees socialise and make connections?
• Are you immersing them in the organisational values, culture and vision?
• Are you giving them clarity on their role, and what is expected of them?
• Are you giving them the right support to accelerate their learning?
• Are you checking in at regular touch points over 3-6 months?
• Are you communicating ALL the reasons why you are long-term relationship material?

... and one of the most important questions you should be asking, is that to your most recent hires: How can we improve our onboarding experience?

I bet you are sitting on a goldmine of insights to help you take your onboarding to the next level - so, make the time to speak to your most recent hires.

Your employees will thank you for it!

Jenn

* If you want to deliver a great onboarding experience and are needing support to get the investment... why not put a monetary value on NOT doing it?

Use this employee turnover cost calculator:

https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/learning/en-us/pdfs/lil-workbook-calculating-cost-of-employee-attrition-and-disengagement.pdf

When I'm working with organisations I explain that the loss of one of their leaders during the first 12 months, would be the same cost as me coaching 20 x leaders through their onboarding. That really puts things in perspective!

PS - Check out my first onboarding article here:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/employee-onboarding-true-cost-jenn-fenwick/

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