Employee onboarding done right: the benefits of an effective and efficient onboarding process

Bringing in new hires is essential for making sure your company thrives. But you won’t see results if you just throw them in at the deep end and leave them to it. So, let’s break down the benefits of employee onboarding for your business.

If onboarding isn’t something you engage in, you might not be aware of its advantages. Or even how to get started. But don’t worry. Even though this isn’t a how-to guide, we’ve also included a little advice at the end to help you on your way.

What is employee onboarding?

Onboarding follows after (and overlaps with) your hiring process. It’s when you familiarize new employees with their roles and the inner-workings of your business.

When a new employee joins your team, they don’t hit peak productivity right away. Even an experienced hire still needs to familiarize themselves with the systems and policies of your workplace. They also need to form connections with their new colleagues. And, in the case of office-based workers, learn their way around.

But it’s not just about keeping productivity high. The benefits of employee onboarding extend to workplace wellbeing too. It’s equally important to make sure new employees are comfortable and have all the support they need. Otherwise, they’ll soon be on their way out again.

The benefits of effective onboarding

Some benefits of effective onboarding are obvious. And you might think that means they’re the most important. But even the less blatant positives can still have a significant impact on your organisation. Let’s start with the obvious ones first.

Enabling peak performance

This benefit is one we touched on in our intro. But it’s still worth giving a proper explanation. As you know, new hires need help settling in before they can do their best work.

For evidence, let’s look to Gallup’s paper, Creating an Exceptional Onboarding Journey for New Employees. It includes several very important onboarding statistics. So, we’ll be referring back to it throughout this piece.

According to Gallup, new employees take 12 months to reach full performance potential. And 29% of new hires agreed they feel “…fully prepared and supported to excel in their new role” after experiencing onboarding.

Leaving employees to find their own way means they’ll have to spend a lot of time just figuring out the rules, and where everything is. They’ll be slow due to hesitation. Or else, they’ll make a costly mistake which your more experienced employees will have to fix.

Identifying employee support requirements

Identifying Employee Support Requirements

In today’s diverse workforce, one-size-fits-all management strategies are outdated and ineffective. Each employee brings unique strengths, challenges, and motivations to the table, which requires personalized support. The key to successful employee management lies in understanding these individual needs.

• Personalized support: Employees have unique strengths, needs, and drives.
• Effective onboarding provides opportunities to understand these needs.
• Regular check-ins with new hires ensure you address their specific support requirements.

By engaging employees during onboarding, you can tailor the process to suit each person. This might include assigning a mentor, offering flexible work hours, or providing a quiet workspace. Listening to employees about their support needs helps foster an inclusive environment, especially for neurodivergent individuals and those with physical disabilities. This tailored approach not only improves capitalizes on the benefits of effective onboarding, but also enhances career accessibility, ensuring a diverse and capable workforce.

Improving employee retention rates

Precise rates of turnover vary widely by employer, sector, and even specific roles. According to SHRM research, turnover for hourly workers can be as high as 50% in the first four months. And, for external senior hires, turnover can reach 50% in the first 18 months.

Employee turnover is a common worry for most businesses. Especially in the wake of the Great Resignation, when millions of employees left for greener pastures. But better employee onboarding makes people much more likely to stick around.

When employees struggle to find their way, they end up questioning whether they even belong. The stress of figuring things out can drive once-promising talent out of your company. And failing to support employees as they adjust doesn’t exactly inspire loyalty.

A well-designed onboarding experience ensures that new hires receive consistent support, professional development, and clear expectations, which helps them stay engaged over time. By investing in a seamless onboarding process, organizations can enhance job satisfaction, build long-term loyalty, and ultimately improve retention in an increasingly competitive labor market.

Making new hires a part of company culture

Workplace culture might seem like a nebulous concept to the uninitiated. But it’s actually very important. It has a defining influence on many aspects of our professional lives.

For instance, our ability to collaborate with one another. But also employee wellbeing, and even your recruitment potential. Workplace culture may be largely internal. But it can have a significant impact on how people on the outside view your brand.

In the online age, it’s easier than ever for employees to share their experiences. Positive or negative. Thanks to sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor, workers can inform each other about the quality of different employers.

The benefits of employee onboarding include a controlled introduction to work culture. We often look to colleagues and managers for an idea of how to act. But doing this without context can mean picking up bad habits. Onboarding provides valuable context for what people do, and why.

Increasing employee satisfaction

According to Gallup, employees with “exceptional” onboarding are 2.6 times more likely to be “extremely satisfied with their place of work.”

Job satisfaction plays a key role in employee engagement. The more someone appreciates their work and employer, the more focused they’ll be in their role. Satisfaction prevents us from becoming bored. And few things disengage employees faster than boredom.

This is also another reason why effective onboarding new hires can help to reduce turnover. After all, people are much more likely to start applying for other jobs if they aren’t satisfied with the one they already have.

Start reinvigorating your employee onboarding process

So, that’s about it for the benefits of employee onboarding. As noted earlier, this piece isn’t a full how-to guide. But, all the same, we want to finish by leaving you with some practical advice. So, here are a couple of general purpose tips for what good onboarding practices look like.

Effective onboarding is more than a brief experience

One of the most important aspects of onboarding is its duration. If you’re only dedicating the first week or two to onboarding, it’s time to rethink your strategy. The length of the onboarding process should be long enough to support the employee’s successful integration into the role and culture.

• Optimal duration: At a minimum, onboarding should last through the entirety of a probationary period.
• Gallup’s recommendation: For high-turnover organizations, focus on the first 90 days to address common reasons employees leave.
• Specialized roles: Positions with higher risk or specialized skills may require onboarding that extends over months or even a year, covering both the training period and initial post-training employment.

A longer, effective onboarding process gives new employees the time and resources they need to succeed, rather than rushing them into their responsibilities too quickly.

Ongoing communication is everything for effective onboarding

It’s essential to touch base regularly when onboarding a new hire. For one thing, this provides frequent chances for them to ask questions on matters they’re unsure of.

But it’s not just about answering their questions. You also need to solicit regular feedback from employees. New ones especially. Employee feedback provides valuable insights about the state of your workplace and how it can improve.

And insights from new hires can be among the most valuable benefits of effective onboarding. That’s because they’re looking at everything with fresh eyes. Things aren’t normalized to them like they are to pre-existing staff.

Then there’s the fact that this communication reflects well on you. Regularly checking in with new hires tells them you care about their progress. And this reinforces the idea that they made the right choice by joining your company.

Employee onboarding shouldn’t be one-note

Successful onboarding isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. There are many strategies to ensure new hires feel welcomed, supported, and set up for success.

• Welcome packets: Provide new hires with essential information, such as office layouts, workplace policies, and key procedures.
• Peer mentorships: Assign a colleague at the same level to mentor the new hire. This creates a familiar point of contact and helps them feel part of the team.
• Office tour: A tour of the workplace allows new hires to familiarize themselves with the space and meet key team members, establishing friendly connections early on.
• Gradual responsibility: Slowly phase in new hires’ responsibilities, allowing them to gain confidence and expertise before taking on a full workload.

While these tactics are all effective, it’s crucial to use them together for a more holistic onboarding experience. The combination of resources, mentorship, and gradual integration ensures a smoother transition and more successful employee outcomes.

Now you know the benefits of effective onboarding. And you also know how to put your best foot forward. So, go out there and help your new hires get the absolute most out of their onboarding experience!