The Power of Effective Onboarding to Drive Amazing Employee Retention Rates - Workology

The Power of Effective Onboarding to Drive Amazing Employee Retention Rates - Workology Redefine Onboarding: More Than New Employee Paperwork This post is sponsored by BreatheHR. Employee friendly HR software designed to help tame your business.   For Americans facing the opening strains of the twenty-first century, one thing is clear, we are going through a time of change and volatility. When you look past the obvious rancor of politics and focus in on things that affect everyday people the workplace is just as uncertain in many ways. Recent statistics show that nearly half of all employees are ready to leave their present company, if given a better opportunity by a competitor. That’s why talent retention strategies, such as engaging in a strong initial, and ongoing onboarding process is so important right now. Remember, while fifty percent or more of your talent may be prepared to jump ship, if your competition is looking to poach from your team, they’ll be aiming at the ones you can least afford to lose. What can be done about it? Redefine Onboarding: More Than New Employee Paperwork Defining buzzwords can be tricky. Onboarding is typically taken to mean the process in place to welcome and install new employees into a company. Its more than just orientation and new employee paperwork. It can include training, help with interpersonal networking, checking in at regular intervals to ensure a smooth transition and more. But what about the period beyond the first six months? And even more important, what about ‘internal onboarding’? Only 15% of companies extend any sort of Onboarding program past the first six months The six month point is where most employees make the critical decision to go or stay Only 1 in 50 companies is still thinking about Onboarding past one year, the point at which most employees shift from “on the job training” to “continuing development” Companies that do extend onboarding may be sending some important signals to their talent that they are not getting anywhere else. Onboarding in today’s workplace shouldn’t end when the ‘new’ wears off and an employee settles into their job. Engagement and other retention strategies are ongoing efforts. Companies have to invest in their employees if they want the employee to invest in the company. We need to think about employee onboarding programs both in person and virtual onboarding programs especially if you have remote employees. By providing continued and ongoing support, beyond unlocking the doors and turning on the lights, employers can engage in a meaningful conversation about their talent’s future with the company. They can begin to set expectations for further down the road, but this conversation often gets overlooked in the absence of intentionally extended onboarding, designed to integrate new talent for the long haul. An Employee is Never 100% Fully Onboarded Ever It is often assumed that at some point, HRs job is finished. The employee has been successfully onboarded you might say. They’ve successfully engaged the new hire in company culture, helped them make connections and get the training they need and now they are a full fledged member of the family. Often, issues similar to those experienced by new hires arise for transfers or internal promotions. This is a great opportunity to develop internal onboarding. HR can provide the continued support and encouragement needed to keep your developed talent from leaving, through an intentional process centered around making internal transitions as smooth as possible. Don’t assume that the connections and company culture stay the same from location to location, or even from position to position. Develop ways to ease the transition. By letting employees know you are there to support their growth, you ease anxiety, which can be a cause for heading to ‘greener pastures’ even with employees who are moving up. By maintaining an attitude of readiness to help and making it clear that you don’t expect them to handle every bump on their own, you gain their trust and confidence in the working relationship. Make Onboarding synonymous with employee retention It’s not rocket science, but it does take focused, intentional planning to implement a healthy onboarding program. The bottom line is that Happy and productive employees are more likely to stay, saving you dollars and time to develop new talent. By assuming that change is change, whether it’s their first day, or their twenty-fifth anniversary, and creating programs to help make those adjustments, effective onboarding can be the driving force behind amazing employee retention. *A special thank you to this article’s sponsor, BreatheHR.    FTC Disclosure: I received compensation for mentioning the product listed above as part of one of the services I offer my clients. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission  16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.