Strategic Onboarding:

The Effects on Productivity, Engagement, & Turnover

By: Lisa Reed, MBA, SPHR

Onboarding Defined

A systematic and comprehensive approach to

integrating a new employee with an employer and its

culture, while also ensuring the employee is provided

with the tools and information necessary to

becoming a productive member of the team (1).

How Important is Onboarding?

43% of employees state the opportunity for

advancement was the key factor in deciding whether

or not to stay with an organization, and the

onboarding process, or lack thereof, was a main

factor in determining advancement potential within

a company (2).

EMPLOYEE

PRODUCTIVITY

What is Employee Productivity?

An assessment of the efficiency of a worker or group

of workers, which is typically compared to averages,

is referred to as employee productivity (3).

Costs of Employee Unproductivity

More than $37 billion dollars annually is spent by

organizations in the US to keep unproductive

employee in jobs they do not understand (4).

What Effect Does Strategic Onboarding Have On Employee Productivity?

Only 49% of new employees without formal onboarding meet their first performance milestone (5).

In contrast, 77% of employees who are provided with a formal onboarding process meet first performance milestones (6).

Employee performance can increase by 11% with an effective onboarding process, which can also be linked to a 20% increase in an employee’s discretionary effort (7).

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement describes the way employees show a logical and emotional commitment to theirwork, team, and organization, which in turn drivestheir discretionary effort.

Costs of Employee Disengagement

Actively disengaged employees are more likely to

steal, miss work, and negatively influence other

workers and cost the United States up to $550 billion

annually in lost resources and productivity (8).

What Effect Does Strategic Onboarding Have On Employee Engagement

• Employers who invest the time, commitment, and resources to the onboarding process are rewarded with higher levels of employee engagement (9).

• A strategic onboarding process not only prepares the new employee for his/her respective role, it has a directimpact on the employee’s initial performance and engagement by promoting confidence and involvementat the most crucial point in the employee’s life cycle (6).

EMPLOYEE TURNOVER

How to Calculate Employee Turnover by Month

monthly turnover rate

number of separations during the month average number of employees during the month

(Divide # of separations by # of employees and multiply by 100)

For example, let’s say we had 80 employees during the month of Feb. and 4 employees separated employment in Feb.

m = 4 ÷ 80 X 100 m = 0.05 X 100 m = 5% turnover rate for the month of February

What is Employee Turnover?

The rate at which employees depart and are replaced within an

organization is referred to as employee turnover (10).

Turnover can be categorized into four groups, which are exit costs,

vacancy costs, recruitment costs, and onboarding costs (11).

Costs of Employee Turnover

It costs up to 50% of an entry-level employee’s salary to

replace him or her, 150% for mid-level employees, and anastonishing 400% for high-level and highly specialized

employees (12).

Additional factors for consideration are decreased service levels and increased errors, which occur more often when

employers experience turnover.

What Effect Does Onboarding Have On Employee Turnover? Over 90% of new hires decide within the first three months if they are staying with that employer (13).

A 2014 survey found that one third of every 1,000 respondents reported they had quit a job within 6

months of starting, and of those respondents, 17% state they left before the third month. Interestingly,

one third of those who quit state they did not receive any form of onboarding (1).

Of those who quit before six months of employment, 23% state they would have stayed longer if they

had received clear guidelines to what they’re responsibilities were, 21% would have stayed if effective

training had been provided, 17% stated a connection with a coworker would have helped them stay,

12% would have stayed had their unique abilities been recognized, and 9% desired more attention from

the manager and coworkers (1).

69% of employees who receive a structured onboarding process stay past the three year mark (13).

Okay, Now What? There are many different approaches to strategic onboarding.

Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time (Bradt & Vonnegut)

Successful Onboarding: Strategies to Unlock Hidden Value Within (Mark Stein)

Creative Onboarding Programs: Tools for Energizing Your Orientation Program (Doris Sims)

GOAL

Transactional Onboarding TO

Strategic Onboarding

How Do You Get There?

Strategic Onboarding at a Glance

New EmployeeOrientation

~Forms, Checklists ~Transactional~Paper-Based ~1 Day or Less with HR

Onboarding ~Separate from Hiring ~Training Process ~Culture-Setting ~Formal Introductions

A Process

Strategic Onboarding ~Integrated with Hiring ~Socialization ~Mentoring ~Use of Technology

An Experience

A Checklist

(15)

Strategic Onboarding Model

Before First Day • Extend personal

welcome • Communicate

first day logistics • Send paperwork

in advance and any online/portal access • Prepare for

employee’s arrival

First Day/Orientation • Focus on sharing

the mission and values • Incorporate

senior leadership • Orient employee

to workplace and ‘norms’ • Assign/introduce

mentor/sponsor • Fulfill immediate

requirements for employment

First Week • Ensure direct

managerial involvement • Set performance

expectations and job scope • Assign

meaningful work • Communicate

resources or networks required for work

First 90 Days • Provide essential

training • Monitor

performance and provide feedback • Obtain feedback

through new hire survey and other means

3 & 6 month ‘Touchpoints’

First Year • Recognize

positive employee contributions • Provide formal

and informal feedback on performance • Create employee

development plan

Outcomes:High employee job satisfaction level ~ Retention of high-performers ~ Continued employee engagement and commitment ~ Faster time-to-productivity (18)

The Four C’s of Onboarding

Compliance – Teaching employees basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations

Clarification – Ensuring new employees understand theirnew jobs and all related expectations

Culture – Providing employees with a sense oforganizational norms – both formal and informal

Connection – Helping the new employee establish vitalinterpersonal relationships and information networks

12 Best Practices

Ensure that the program ismonitored over time.

Be sure your program is consistentlyimplemented.

Make onboarding participatory.

Develop a written onboarding plan.

Use formal orientation programs.

Make the first day on the job special.

Implement the basics (e.g., preparetheir workstation, cell phone, andother essentials) prior to the first dayon the job.

Use technology to facilitate theprocess.

Use milestones, such as 30, 60, 90and 120 days on the job – and up toone year post-organizational entry —to check in on employee progress.

Include key stakeholder meetings aspart of the program.

Engage stakeholders in planning.

Be crystal clear with new employeesin terms of:

• Objectives.• Timelines.• Roles.• Responsibilities.

(16)

Five Strategies to Consider

1. Extend Learning Timeframe 2. Learn Through Others 3. Guide Learning 4. Measure Impact 5. Standardize and Scale (17)

Extend Learning Timeframe

FOCUS: Adding a relational learning component

HOW: Extending onboarding program past six months

EFFECT: 1. Learn more completely. Learning in small bites over time, known as the“spacing effect,” enables better understanding, retention, and adoption ofworkplace learning.

2. Improve performance. Adding on-the-job learning over an extended timeperiod reaps big benefits in terms of helping that employee understand thejob, understand how it relates to the ‘big picture’, and achieve productivity faster.

3. Have higher retention rates. Transforming your workplace into a continuallearning environment keeps employees engaged and interested, which are keyfactors for improving new hire retention.

Learn Through Others FOCUS: Adding a ‘show me, don’t tell me’ approach

HOW: Incorporating personalized 1:1 collaborative learning connections

EFFECT: • Better data retention with the “show” vs. “tell” approach. Hands down, people learn

better when shown in person in an on-the-job environment.

• Increased employee engagement. Being face-to-face with someone demands attentivelistening and feedback, resulting in a more productive learning experience.

• Ability to understand the “soft” learnings of a job. We all know there’s so much to learn beyond specific job responsibilities to be a success. Understanding intangible aspectslike culture or the weight of departmental priorities can play a huge role in employeesatisfaction and, ultimately, success.

• An understanding of the “insider tips” everyone needs to do their job. Who’s your go-to person in accounting to get something approved? What managers should be kept in –or maybe out – of the loop? Understanding these tips is vital to employee performanceand success.

Guide Learning FOCUS: Adding a structure for informal, on the job learning

HOW: Implementing guided workflows (checklists) that are continuous and productive

EFFECT: • Specific milestones and tasks are addressed. Mapping out everything from

initial training through connecting with a peer through completing specificmilestones creates a structured learning opportunity that does not wane overtime.

• Check-ins and assessments provide real-time feedback. Built in checkpointsgauge progress and identify issues earlier. Self, peer, and managerialassessments can provide new hires with invaluable feedback.

• A definitive end point to the program provides focus. Having a clear end point helps employees focus on reaching their goals. It’s also the right time tomeasure outcomes at the individual, job function, and overall program level.

Measure Impact FOCUS: Assessing the success of the onboarding program

HOW: Implementing and tracking metrics on two levels – employee andprogram – using surveys

EFFECT: • Achieved understanding of individual success. Gain answers to

questions such as: • Was the learning productive? • Did the employee feel anything was missing? • Did he/she enjoy the process or feel it was a chore?

• Achieved understanding of program success. Evaluate program success by:

• Tracked data showing time-to-productivity rates • Before and after turnover rates • Onboarding completion rates • Identify progression rates toward business objectives

Standardize and Scale

FOCUS: Standardizing for repeatability

HOW: Encompassing all new hires consistently

EFFECT: • Uniform, effective new hire experience

• Consistent new employee training

• Adoption of the workplace culture

• Clear understanding of expectations and goals

A Parting Thought

Onboarding is not a single event,it is an ongoing talent strategy!

Resources1. Society for Human Resource Management, 20132. Boettcher, 20093. Van den Brand, 20154. Llarena, 20135. CIMS, 20176. Windust, 20167. Society for Human Resource Management, 20158. Lipman, 20139. Ali, n.d.10. Mayhew, n.d.11. Rossheim, 201612. Borysenko, 201513. Beuder, 201314. Ndunguru, 201215. Bersin & Associates, 200916. Insperity, n.d.17. Chronus, n.d.18. US Dept. of Defense