New hire onboarding: don’t underestimate its importance
Whether or not you’re familiar with our new hire onboarding concept of the Valley of Uncertainty™, one thing is undeniable: you do not want new hires landing there.
The Valley of Uncertainty is the unsettling time for candidates when they transition from the recruiting department into the day-to-day business as an employee. It’s also when your new employees are at the highest risk of leaving the organization. Studies show on average, 51% of companies typically lose new employees within the first six months of employment. Unfortunately, that’s a pre-pandemic statistic.
The pandemic’s impact
In July 2022, McKinsey reported the voluntary quit rate throughout the Great Resignation has been an alarming 25% higher than pre-pandemic levels. A staggering 4.2 million workers quit their job in June 2022 alone. These stark numbers have kept employers across the country scrambling to retain their investment and spare their bottom line.
How do you protect your talent investment?
Getting new employees on the right path at your company is what new hire onboarding is all about. And it’s why onboarding is the critical first step in safeguarding your talent investment for the long-term. With the talent wars still raging with little relief in sight, it’s one of the best tech investments you’ll make.
But can onboarding actually prevent employees from plunging into the Valley of Uncertainty’s depths? It absolutely does. It boils down to three simple but profoundly important steps:
- Definition – Define what onboarding means to your organization.
- Accountability – Who in your organization owns the onboarding process?
- Administration – How is your onboarding program being administered today?
Definition
Michelle Graham, Click’s Director of Communications, says onboarding isn’t limited to just administrative paperwork. In fact, it’s one of the biggest misconceptions about onboarding. “New hire onboarding is the process a person goes through when they join an enterprise on the payroll.” She says the process does include the paperwork (of course), but there’s so much more that the onboarding process entails:
- technology provisioning
- first 90-day goal setting
- engagement with key individuals
- immersion in company culture and purpose
Graham contends onboarding new hires is the sum of all the activities involved in setting up a new employee for success while fostering a sense of belonging. But who is responsible within the business for ensuring this happens consistently with each new employee?
Accountability
Who owns the onboarding process? New hire onboarding is a business process that’s often not owned by any single individual or department. Graham says this causes a “clear lack of accountability by any one department.” The simple fact, she asserts, is that everyone within an organization is responsible for their own segment of the onboarding process.
Furthermore, the limited visibility into new hire onboarding as a whole prevents leaders from understanding where the stop gaps may be. “There’s no way to run a root-cause analysis and impact change, especially if there isn’t a department that’s at least 51% accountable for the process,” Graham stated.
For onboarding new hires, Graham explains the four distinct business units most often involved in the process:
- Talent Acquisition – Transitions candidates to new hires with offer letters and a hand off to Human Resources.
- HR – Facilitates candidate movement from new hire to permanent employee, providing employee development opportunities.
- Hiring Managers – Responsible for the output of the new hire, with a focus on productivity as early as possible.
- IT – Manages the new hire provisioning of hardware and software applications.
Additionally, the following departments can also play a pivotal role in onboarding new employees:
- Facilities – Provides the appropriate physical access to buildings, floors, parking, etc.
- Legal / Risk Management – Ensures all policies and compliance checks are completed.
Like Graham, Compliance experts agree that the responsibility for onboarding new hires effectively requires “several staff members across multiple departments.”
The very first step is building a clear focus for onboarding accountability within the organization. Onboarding is always exponentially more successful when there’s a collaborative effort between departments. With solid alignment among internal business partners, the path to developing a concerted approach to onboarding new hires can be an efficient and successful process.
Administration
Consider how your new hire onboarding is being administered today. Does it prevent new hires from falling to the depths of the Valley of Uncertainty? Does it adequately tackle the critical transition from new hire to employee in a strategic, intentional way?
“There are available technologies that act as the “spine” for processes like onboarding. Click Boarding’s employee experience platform automates every step of the onboarding process so new hire activities are completed when and where they need to,” Graham explained. “It delivers visibility across the business with critical data points, empowering each department to be successful in their key activities.”
Graham says because this automation is managed with technology, there needs to be an owner within the business, just like with every other technology. “It typically lands with Talent Acquisition or Human Resources. Primed with data, visibility and technology, this group can drive change in the process that has real meaningful business impact.”
Safety from the Valley of Uncertainty
New employees are one of the biggest investments a company makes. Isn’t it time to extend and protect your investment so they don’t end up in the Valley of Uncertainty? Ensure they’re transformed into productive, engaged employees.
When you’re ready to learn how our automated platform delivers the stellar employee experience your new hires deserve, we’re here for you!
