Great news: You’ve found your new hire!

You’ve made a significant investment of time, money and effort into recruiting them. Now, it’s time to set them up for long-term success. In a recent study, 86 percent of respondents said they felt that an employee’s decision to stay with a company long term was made within six months of being hired. This underlines the need for a well-designed onboarding strategy.

Additional research supports this premise:

  • 49 percent of millennials say they would have liked better onboarding in their jobs.
  • 32 percent of global executives said they had experienced poor onboarding experiences.
  • 22 percent of all staff turnover occurs during the first 45 days of employment.

On a positive note, as reported by the Society for Human Resource Management:

  • 91 percent of first-year workers are retained by companies with an efficient onboarding process.
  • It is 69 percent more likely for new hires to stay at a company for at least three years, following a positive onboarding experience.

Onboarding vs. Orientation

Onboarding is not the same thing as employee orientation.

  • Orientation typically takes place during the first few days of employment and involves taking a tour, general introductions to the company, and the completion of necessary paperwork.
  • Onboarding is a broader indoctrination of a person into the important aspects of an organization’s values, people and culture. It’s an opportunity for a newcomer to become confident in their role and understand how it impacts the business, and learn what type of behavior is expected of them. Orientation should encompass everything from training and socialization to learning the overall lay of the land.

Orientation should be a top priority for every company, with the same amount of effort invested in it as you would put into wooing a candidate.

How Employees Benefit

Starting a new job is a major life stressor. Often, when someone arrives for their first day, they don’t know a single person. Good onboarding helps them by:

  • Reducing stress. By telling new hires what they need to know before they need to know it, proper onboarding lessens the negative effect that may occur when they enter this daunting new situation. It enables them to concentrate on their job, rather than on their anxiety.
  • Developing job knowledge. The right onboarding ensures employees fully understand their role and how it relates to the company’s big-picture operations. New hires learn what’s expected, how to deliver, and how and when their performance will be evaluated. This upfront education can prevent damaging errors down the line.
  • Bringing them into the social circle. Peers play a huge role in employee motivation. Being the new kid on the block can be isolating especially to introverts. But if an effort is made to introduce and include them, it gets them settled in faster. And the sooner they feel comfortable, the sooner they’ll be able to approach their colleagues with questions and offer support of their own.

Candidate Ambassador Program

At Frontline Source Group, we go above and beyond to ensure that whoever is recruited for your business has the tools and resources they need to do their best on the job. Not only will your employee be able to contact their original recruiter, but they will also have access to a Candidate Ambassador for other unanswered questions they may have. A Candidate Ambassador will be there to guide them through their paperwork, payroll, timecards, attendance and other finer details. If they have questions, their Candidate Ambassador is their go-to!

Do you need additional guidance as you develop your successful onboarding strategy?

Contact Frontline Source Group today, at our nearest location. With proven expertise and a nationwide client base, we’d love to put our resources to work for you.