Retention matters, and your managers are the solution

The link between employee experience and retention is absolutely critical, there is so much research now that points how and why employees decide to stay or leave an employer.

Prof Dan Cable from the London Business School, along with Prof Francesca Gino from Harvard Business School and Prof Bradley Staats from University of North Carolina, studied the impact and found that first year attrition could be reduced by 50% through effective onboarding.

If you engage with new hires on a personal level, they are not just less likely to leave but will also perform better in their roles. Our customers’ experience reflects this too.

It’s hurting your bottom line

In hard dollars, there is a real cost of staff turnover and it goes beyond just cost of re-hiring for the same roles. The impact can be huge, particularly for sales roles, because you have to count the sales ramp in your cost of turnover calculations. High turnover also has an impact on:

• Productivity as you constantly recruit and train new people
• Team morale due to the disruption caused by constant change

The total cost of losing an employee is estimated to range from 90 to 200 percent of the employee's annual salary.

Industry challenges: same same, but different

Different industries have different challenges when it comes to retention. High turnover industries, such as retail, face the challenges that come with employing high numbers of casual entry-level workers who come in with a short-term mindset. On the other hand, the tech industry is struggling with a highly competitive talent economy and a generation of workers who have very high expectations and their pick of roles.

However, it doesn't matter if you are flipping burgers or working in the corporate office of a bank, every worker benefits from a great onboarding experience that will encourage them to stick around as long as possible.

Cut to the chase - where to start

If you organization is struggling to retain staff, onboarding is a great place to focus your energy. In particular, look at how your managers are approaching onboarding.

Managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement, so it’s safe to say they have the biggest impact on an employee’s onboarding experience.

Managers have a major influence on a hire’s experience at their new job, but they’re busy, and don’t usually have in-depth HR training. That’s why Enboarder is built to provide manager coaching, nudges and reminders to help even the busiest of managers deliver engaging onboarding experiences for their new hires.

If your managers are invested in providing great onboarding, and they are being supported with the right tools to do so - you’re already a long way ahead than many others in the battle against high turnover.

…

If you’re interested in reading more about the link between retention and onboarding, check out our new whitepaper and let me know what you think!