Your on-boarding process isn’t really on-boarding anyone. Here’s why.

So you decided to hire someone. Maybe it’s the long-awaited super expert who was headhunted from a competitor, or a young talent with great potential. You say “Finally! Now things will start moving along!” and the new employee goes “Yay! I have a new, exciting job! Can’t wait to get started!”

Then there’s the on-boarding. Here’s your computer, your desk, our office, your closest colleagues, your first client/project/tasks, this is how we do things around here. Go get’em!

Fast forward a few months. That new hire is doing great, the first project was successful and you’re feeling great about this person. You just hope they stick around at least long enough to offset the cost of recruiting them, which could be anywhere from a few months to a couple of years.

Aaaaaand, here’s where you need to stop to think. How is it really going? What’s going through that new employee’s head? Are they still excited about their job and the prospects they see? Or are they already disengaging for some reason, seeing this job as something to endure while they look for something that would actually fit them better? If it’s the latter, chances are they will leave, way too soon. You’ve probably seen this and wondered what happened when everything seemed just fine.

That process with the computers and such is called on-boarding, but does it really lead to someone being on board? No, it doesn’t.

The beginning of an employment relationship is based on images and mental models, built gradually through each contact between the employee and (potential) employer. These mental models will then become the psychological contract. If the concept is new to you, there’s a lot of research and other useful information about it out there. The psychological contract describes the unwritten, often also unspoken, assumptions and wishes that are placed on an employment relation from the moment first contact is made between the employee and the organization. If they didn’t know that your company existed when they were contacted by a headhunter, that’s when it started. If the employee sought out the company, the process started much earlier. They’ve heard about you from others, seen things on social media, even done some research. They went through one or more interviews, negotiations, and then they started working. All of these situations have added to their psychological contract, which can be more important than the actual employment contract. It’s what truly determines whether or not your new employee is on board.

The psychological contract includes assumptions about tangible things such as rewards and compensation, but also more intangible aspects of the relationship, such as how one wishes to be treated, what the company culture should be like, what kind of leadership and management one expects, what type of roles one hopes to be in, or how tasks and roles will develop over time. The (often sub-conscious) reasoning can be something like “I’ll work very hard on this first project that is not exactly what I want to do, so that after this one I will get something more interesting, as was promised in the final round of interviews.” or “If I get all this responsibility and accountability, I’ll be happy to take it, but I expect my manager to give me freedom to choose my ways of working and not micro-manage me, because that’s the kind of management that drove me nuts in my last job.” Some might say these things out loud, but many won’t even know they thought them until something goes wrong.

When a psychological contract is intact, it is beneficial to both the employee and the organization - it makes people motivated to do their best and leads to higher achievement. However, a breach in the psychological contract due to disappointments or negative surprises can be detrimental to the future of the employment relationship. When a new employee perceives that the employer is not fulfilling their part of the contract, they will adjust their input and effort accordingly, leading to sub-optimal performance. The person who was expecting a more interesting project next, but ends up stuck in the same type of projects he started with, will be disillusioned when he sees someone else take the interesting projects he was hoping to move on to. And if the person who wanted all that freedom ends up hitting all sorts of unspoken rules in the organization, or doesn’t feel like the manager trusts them to get the job done right, he will soon be on the Most Likely To Leave list.

What can you do, then?

First of all, don’t forget the psychological contract exists and is extremely important. Make sure you take the time to talk to each new hire about their first impressions, their wishes, and their concerns. Even more importantly, scope out how their expectations are being met. Does reality match the mental image of what they thought they’d get when they started working? Are they being managed in a way that makes them perform their best, or are they hoping for a different type of guidance? What are their hopes in terms of rewards, recognition, advancement? What truly motivates them? Make sure you do this with everyone, because it is worth the investment.

Second, start earlier. No matter how badly you need to hire someone, make sure you know what kind of position and role you’re hiring them for. Communicate this honestly and clearly. Don’t hire people like you if you don’t need another you, even if they’re the easiest choices. If you’re using a recruitment consultancy, make sure they portray your company the way you want to be portrayed. Make sure they’re honest and give candidates a mental image that matches reality. Finding a winning candidate is not enough if that winner ends up leaving because expectations aren’t met.

But what if you already messed this up?

If you find out there has been a breach of a psychological contract, all is not lost. You just need to be humble about it and get back to the drawing board. In many cases, also according to research, the disappointment over the current situation can be turned around and harnessed to create improvements if the organization is willing to make changes. However, in order for this to happen, the person must have a wish to stay with the organization despite the breach. This wish is related to good relations to managers (especially the closest one), an acceptance of the organization’s values in general, and to a lesser extent, a perception of what would be sacrificed by leaving. What does this mean in practice? Hire people who share your values. Ensure that they have a good and honest relationship with their superiors. Make sure you listen very carefully to what that disillusioned employee has to say. If you want to keep them, give them resources to improve your organization, make sure no empty promises are made, and do your best to give them the kinds of tasks they want. If you can’t do that, be honest about it.

So, are your employees on board after the on-boarding process? No, they’re not. They’re only on board as long as the psychological contract is intact and positive. That contract is built up over time, in interaction with people, and not through a set of standardized procedures. Be attentive, keep an open and frank dialogue going at all times and especially when new roles and tasks are assigned. Ask for brutally honest opinions and don’t take them personally, but instead try to use them in improving the situation. It will pay off.