Finding talent is expensive.
After using resources to advertise a role, sit through multiple interviews to narrow down applicants, and then train new hires, the last thing employers want to do is repeat the expensive process – just months later.
So businesses with a high churn rate among new hires will be eager to hear what makes workers go from being enthusiastic about a new job to giving up quickly after accepting the job.
According to new research, it’s all down to poor onboarding.
Paychex surveyed more than 1,000 workers who started their current jobs last year and found that 80% of respondents who felt they lacked training due to a lackluster onboarding plan would quit.
First impressions count
The onboarding process can tell new employees everything they need to know about the workplace’s culture, support systems, processes, and structure (or lack thereof).
Despite the importance of this first impression, only half of new hires feel satisfied with their onboarding experience at their current job, according to the study. Meanwhile, those who work remotely or for smaller companies are more likely to have a poor onboarding experience.
Nearly a third of employees find the onboarding experience confusing—with this figure rising to 36% for remote workers, who most often feel undertrained, disoriented and devalued after onboarding, compared to on-site or hybrid workers.
That’s why remote employees are 117% more likely than on-site employees to plan to leave their employer, according to the research.
“Given that a large percentage of employees prefer to work remotely, companies may want to refine their remote onboarding process to fill this gap,” the report suggests.
Meanwhile, employees working at small companies are less satisfied with onboarding than employees at large companies, and are more likely to feel undertrained. So, about two-thirds of people who work for small companies report that they will leave their employer.
GenZers, the newest working generation with the least comparable prior experience are also the least satisfied with onboarding and the most likely to feel undertrained, compared to the older cohort.
With this in mind, the report says human resources departments should keep this potential generational gap in mind when onboarding new employees and consider providing additional training and on-the-job support.
Employee re-onboarding
According to the report, here are the top 5 elements that employees believe will improve the onboarding process:
- Participate in a team (22%)
- Create an epic welcome (18%)
- Make the process simple (18%)
- Address career development (14%)
- Identify a friend or mentor (12%)
But employers who fail to use these elements in the onboarding process are not a lost cause. Not only can employers start making changes in current processes for future joiners, but the report also recommends managers re-onboard the entire workforce.
“When organizations look to improve their onboarding process, making the onboarding experience welcoming, engaging, and clear can vastly improve employee retention and morale,” Alison Stevens, director of HR Services at Paychex told Fortune. “It is also important to offer longer-term employees re-onboarding as a retention strategy in order to refresh the work environment and solve individual problems.”
Businesses that fear employees will find a process that is re-introduced to corporate culture and dull and long-winded expectations of other sports boxes do not need to worry; study actually found that 71% of employees want employers to carry out re-onboarding throughout the company.
And when done right, it can be beneficial for both businesses and individuals:
After re-onboarding, employee focus is reported to increase by almost 50%. More than a third of workers also report feeling more productive, efficient and closer to their team.
In another plus for the business, retention improved by 43% after re-onboarding, which helps reduce the need for hiring in the first place.
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