From start to finish,
the hiring process can be lengthy and complex with so many
steps, people, negotiations, and costs involved. When a new
hire is finally set up with a start date, many may think the
hiring process has finally ended...and now on to the next one.
Ideally your process should continue to another essential
phase...onboarding.
The Case for
Onboarding
Why should you be
concerned about a solid onboarding process?
According to Dave Dart,
Managing Partner of the Morisey-Dart Group, "This is where you
set the tone, positive or negative, for a new hire's career
with your organization. All of the time, energy, and costs
that were expended during the hiring process are at risk if
your company doesn't have a proper onboarding
process--especially when "top talent" is
involved."
Dart continues, "It
doesn't
make business sense that a company would go through the
expense to hire someone, pay them a salary, and then lose them
because they didn't start the relationship off on the right
foot."
If a new hire doesn't
stay with your organization because his early impressions were
less than stellar, your investment is gone--not to mention you
now have to start again. The more advanced the position and
its relative responsibilities and salary, the higher the cost
in time, productivity, and revenue.
Partners at Connect the
Dots Consulting, Erika Lamont and Brenda Hampel, cite some new
hire failure rate statistics in their blog post titled,
Onboarding--A True Partnership between a New Leader and
the Organization (published on Human Resources Sources
website, March 30, 2012).
"46% of new hires leave
their jobs within the first year (Source: eBullpen,
LLC)."
"50% of current
employees are actively seeking or are planning to seek a new
job
(Source: Deloitte)."
"58% of the
highest-priority hires, new executives hired from the outside,
fail in their new positions within 18 months (Source: Michael
Watkins)."
"Only a 19% success
rate--one out of five of the process output can be classified
as unequivocal successes (Source: Leadership
IQ)."
Lamont and Hampel refer to Dr. John
Sullivan, strategic talent management expert, regarding his
thoughts and findings when it comes to a correlation between
poor new hire retention rates and weak or non-existent
onboarding processes.
"He emphasizes that
onboarding is the process that can have a significant impact
on these failure numbers. So it follows that implementing a
successful onboarding process can reap big benefits for your
organization."
In Dr. Sullivan's own
website article titled, Retention Problems Begin During
the Hiring Process, he says that most companies tend to
view recruiting and retention as two separate processes and
this leads to failure.
Sullivan says, "I
estimate more than one-third of the factors that drive future
turnover have their roots in the recruiting, hiring, and
onboarding process."
When it comes to the
direct impact that orientation and onboarding have on future
retention, Sullivan continues, "The first few days on the job
have a dramatic impact on future retention...new hires
subconsciously judge whether the organization meets, exceeds,
or fails to meet the expectations they have based on how they
were treated during the first week and month."
Dr. Kathleen A. Dodaro,
Executive Director at Healthcare & Consulting Services,
published a whitepaper titled, Retention is Key,
where she discusses the importance of onboarding and states
how she believes an effective onboarding program has three
interrelated functions.
Dr. Dodaro states,
"It ensures that the new
hire feels welcome, comfortable, prepared and
supported."
"It enables the new hire
to make a positive impact within the organization both
immediately and over time."
"The employee's success
leads to satisfaction and retention, which allows the
organization to continue to meet its mission, vision and
goals."
Dr. Dodaro also cites a
retention statistic that drives home her point that effective
onboarding is key to success.
"New employees who went
through a structured onboarding program were 58%
more
likely to be with the organization after three years
(Source: The Wynhurst Group)."
Once you've spent the
time, effort, and money to find top talent, it only makes good
business sense to continue with a solid onboarding process. It
will help your new hire get acclimated and established within
the company so that productivity can begin faster. Then you'll
start to see the return on your investment, both monetarily
and through retention.