Research commissioned by recruiter Robert Half has found almost six in 10 (59 per cent) Australian managers have had a new employee resign during their probation period due to poor onboarding processes. Almost half (43 per cent) say they have even lost an employee during the first month because of it.
Despite many managers’ statement that they have lost staff because of a poor onboard-ing process, many of the same Australian managers assess their onboarding pro-gram to meet expectations. According to the survey of 460 Australian hiring managers, almost one-third (28 per cent) believe their current onboarding process is “excellent”, while over half (51 per cent) state their onboarding process is “good”, and 16 per cent say it is “sufficient”, suggesting a possible disconnect between employers who think they have an efficient onboarding process and employees leaving the organisation due to a poor onboarding process.
Additionally, Australia’s hiring managers state it takes an average of five months for new employees to gain a level of proficiency where they can independently and successfully manage their responsibilities. While several factors come into play when helping an em-ployee reach his/her full potential, having a well-developed onboarding program surely plays a role, leaving organisations who do not have a proper onboarding program ex-posed to greater productivity risks as it generally then takes longer before their new em-ployees reach the same level of proficiency as their tenured colleagues.
“While having a well-developed recruitment strategy is essential to attract and secure top talent, the job isn’t done the moment the employee signs the contract,” says Andrew Brushfield, director of Robert Half Australia. “It is equally important to train and retain the staff member.
“Companies who fail to deliver on an efficient onboarding process have a greater risk losing the employee early on which in turn leads to lost productivity, additional costs due to having to replace an employee and damaged team morale among existing staff who have to manage the additional workload until a new staff member joins the team.”
“As part of a successful onboarding strategy, employers should make the new employee feel welcome and provide him or her with the necessary tools to be able to do the job,” says Brushfield. “New starters also need adequate and regular guidance on job require-ments and goals, and managers need to check in frequently to see if they have questions or concerns. Delivering an onboarding experience that’s on the mark with employees’ needs will not only increase retention rates but also ensure new recruits start delivering results early on.”
