Why Bother With Onboarding?

The importance of a proper start

Many organizations invest plenty of money and time in designing the perfect customer journey: each step is meticulously thought through, planned out and executed. It is a shame that lots of these companies forget to attach as much importance to the journey of staff development and in particular, to employee onboarding.
 

The significance of proper onboarding programs cannot be understated. Teams that fully embrace effective onboarding programs are able to cut time-to-productivity down significantly, whilst giving staff an enjoyable and valuable experience.

Companies Aren’t Getting It

The proportion of companies that don’t pay enough attention to new hires’ onboarding is staggering. One survey found that 22% of companies don’t have any formal process in place, and another 49% say theirs is only slightly successful. What is more, Gallup reported that 88% of employees don’t think their organization does a great job of onboarding new starters.

What is clear, then, is that their HR decision-makers are unaware of just how much proper induction processes can benefit the company. Companies with a standard onboarding process experience 50% greater new hire productivity, and 54% of companies with onboarding programs reported overall higher team engagement.
When 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience great onboarding, businesses that don’t onboard properly are bound to fall behind.

The Human Factor

Retention rates (and by extension, the costs of replacing outgoing new-hires: it costs up to 213% of an executive’s salary to replace him or her!) are a massive factor of why it is critical to get onboarding right. But we cannot forget another reason, arguably more important, for why great onboarding is so crucial: those who work for you are people first, and members of a workforce second.

You always remember your first days in a new job, whether you’re a new hire to a company, or changing roles within one. Since new starters will always consider their first days as some of their most memorable, organizations need to design a process that allows them a smooth journey through the complexities of starting somewhere new.
When a company doesn’t have a proper schedule to get employees acquainted with a new position or the people they will be working with, they risk leaving that team member feeling neglected or non-motivated — so much so that, as mentioned before, they may leave altogether! These feelings can even spread throughout the team, resulting in a sharp productivity drop.

Put People At the Forefront

A proper onboarding program is an excellent way of helping companies save money through retaining key talent, whilst helping the workforce feel more empowered and motivated. 

This article first appeared here.

Author Bio

Inês Sobral is Marketing & Customer Success Manager at niikiis. She has 9+ years' experience in offline and online marketing, corporate communications, social media, and e-Commerce.  Visit www.niikiis.com  Connect Inês Sobral