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Does your early attrition have anything to do with your onboarding experience?

Onboarding experience is a key metrics especially in Hybrid workplace world

You cannot change the headlines. The year 2021 underwent the “Great Resignation” with a domino effect on the way work culture is perceived in every industry. In 2022, globally, about 55% of respondents reported higher turnover. Moreover, one in four companies experienced employee turnover of at least 13% . Geographically, US companies have faced much higher turnover rates than Australian corporations. Enterprises in the UK posit that the turnover level is the same as the pre-pandemic. Middle East CEOs are also bullish about the economic and revenue growth in 2022.

Although faced with this crisis, most organisations missed a uniform denominator – the employee onboarding process. This led to a drastic transition of employee expectations, with a major part of the crowd moving towards better jobs that added value to their personal and professional lives.

What do the statistics say?

In 2022, strategic onboarding is among the top focal points for many corporations. And with good reason! A robust employee onboarding process can help enhance employee retention rates by a whopping 82% .

However, the ugly truth is that about 88% of corporations do not onboard well . A call for concern, perhaps?

What is employee onboarding?

First of all, it is not the same as orientation!

Onboarding sets the tone and renders the first impressions of your enterprise to new employees. It involves providing new employees with requisite training and information to acclimate and groom them into their new roles by laying down the expectations and the company culture. The training, knowledge and resources help foster employee engagement, leading to employee satisfaction. Orientation involves providing employees with basic details such as the start date, necessary paperwork and routine tasks. In this way, orientation is a matter of a few hours or days. Onboarding is more extensive and can last up to 12 months.

Long story short, onboarding serves as the building block for workforce development.

Top employee onboarding challenges in 2022

Disengaged employees in the US cost their employees about USD 450 to USD 500 billion annually . Therefore, corporations that invest in robust onboarding experiences are more likely to enjoy benefits, including enhanced engagement levels and reduced turnover. However, achieving these is not an easy feat. And there are several challenges to conquer.

Talent scarcity and high turnover

A perennial issue of sorts, both scarcity and turnover are inevitable. Given the pace of advancement and dynamic ecosystems, employees are bound to seek out lucrative and enriching opportunities. In this way, their stints shall sometimes be short-lived. While education and experience cannot get challenged, what can be managed is the employee experience within the organisation and the job.

Onboarding only accounts to focus on paperwork and processes

According to research, only 12% of employees regard that their enterprise has a profound onboarding process. Over half of companies have a restrictive onboarding procedure, focusing on paperwork. Plus, over a third of employees posit that the onboarding program was inconsistent and reactive. The way around this is to structure the onboarding programs by focusing on people. It is pertinent to hand hold the employee through this period of learning and do continuous checks to ascertain their health in the organisation and seek regular feedback.

A slower race to productivity

Employee fatigue and exhaustion are the usual suspects across the board since the new employee is asked to deliver even before they understand their role. Furthermore, KPIs or Key Performance Indicators are not explicitly laid out in most cases, thus adding to the ambiguity. With ambiguity comes confusion, lack of clarity and insecurity. This all ends up with employees calling it quits.

A way around this is a healthy onboarding process. A well-planned procedure clears the air around expectations, responsibilities, roles, employee benefits, and team management, among other aspects.

Lack of communication

According to research, giving multiple avenues to communicate goals increases the willingness of employees to provide referrals by 93% of employees . That is, recommending others to join the company. The gamut of communication extends to meeting team members, answering questions before the start date and others. With that said, it is in the best interests of organisations to have a set of comprehensive employee engagement solutions, such as an option to complete employee pre-boarding online. This helps enhance the willingness to refer by 83%. Continuous communication further allows individuals to get acclimated to the organisation, build trust and collaborate faster. Accordingly, businesses must leverage the ambit of digitisation into their corporate resources.

Onboarding strategies to consider

Culture and leadership-driven programs

A thriving employee culture experience can boost revenues by 4x . Plus, it helps forge strong employee relationships at the workplace. It further allows the senior officials to groom the new joiners into the company’s ethos and aspirations.

People-First Hiring program

New joiners should be able to see more than a desk and computer. Typical instances are decorating the desks with balloons and hand-written notes. Adding a personal touch helps the employee feel appreciated and motivated.

Buddy program

A whopping 87% of corporations assign a mentor to a new employee during onboarding. A buddy guides the newcomer through the company culture and work ethic and introduces them to other members.

Personalisation

Most organisations take a One-Size-Fits-All approach. In such cases, all new joiners across diverse units and locations undergo the same onboarding experience. However, it is essential to provide personalised digital assistants to each individual who deliver information that matters to an individual’s powers and responsibilities within the company.

An Agile Approach with Continuous Listening

The onboarding experience can be a true indication of early attrition. Employees are always giving signals about how they feel and what they need within any process. Personifwy helps measure this continuously for the first 365 days across a range of parameters and provides early warnings in the case of a lower engagement. The People Data Analytics can then be used to take corrective action.

At the end of the day

Having a detailed and complementing employee onboarding process is paramount for talent management and retention. It is also crucial for curbing early attrition and enhancing the overall employee experience.

Personifwy is a conversational AI platform that offers a personalized digital assistant to the new joiners, hand holding them from Day 1 until they feel absolutely comfortable in an organisation. It essentially provides the right information to the right employee at the right time.

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