Remote work has made
However, as America’s labor force faces the great resignation, effective onboarding practices have never been more essential. According to Glassdoor, organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by 70%. Yet, Gallup found that as much as 88% of employees surveyed did not think their company had a very positive onboarding experience.
Jacky Cohen, chief people officer at the global HR tech company, Topia, believes many companies may overlook a key component of onboarding now that HR teams, managers and new hires are interacting through their screens: communication.
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“You make or break someone's experience in those first few days,” Cohen says. “They either feel connected, supported and cared for, or they feel like a small fish in a big pond. So, there's no such thing as over-communication right now.”
When a new hire is brought on at Topia, even before their first day, Cohen’s team automatically reaches out, providing information about the company and the specific team they’re joining. Topia also sends their new hires a survey, asking them questions based on the company’s values, which are then shared with everyone in the company, in order to introduce the newest member and how they are connected to the company’s mission.
“The pandemic has really exacerbated the need for connection,” says Cohen. “The moment the offer letter is signed, we make sure we are in touch, whether that's via email or phone, so people already feel that they're part of the team.”
For larger companies, hiring in cohorts allows a group of people to start on the same day, building that connection, Cohen says. The Human Capital Institute, which focuses on talent management and human resource, reported that 87% of organizations found buddy or ambassador programs to be beneficial to the onboarding process. Cohen compares this concept to a group of freshmen in a college dorm, where shared uncertainty can make new employees feel less nervous, if not more willing to reach out and ask questions.
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“You get to create this bond,” Cohen says. “They're going through this experience of integrating into a new company together and they can lean on each other.”
When the first week finally comes, it may prove ineffective to immediately dive into payroll and benefits. Instead, inform employees about the history of the company, its values, how it functions from the bottom up, and most importantly, how employees there communicate with each other, Cohen explains. Not only will this benefit the new hire, but the company as a whole.
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“We all own the company culture and we all own the experience that everyone has,” says Cohen. “I do think that every single person that someone interacts with throughout their experience at a company, and especially those first few days, does impact their perspective.”
It may even be worth lengthening the onboarding process, which on average lasts a week. HCI reported that the best onboarding programs extend at least 90 days to a year. According to SHRM, the cost per hire is $4,129 and it takes on average 42 days to hire someone. If someone quits their job or must move from their position because of inability to perform their role after experiencing an ineffective onboarding period, a company is losing out on money. Investing time and resources into onboarding is a vital business strategy, Cohen says.
“We are not going to get back to a place where the expectation will be that people are in an office nine to five, Monday through Friday,” she says. “So setting up now for virtual experiences and putting emphasis on how you onboard someone when they're not sitting next to you is setting us up for the future.”
