They say you only get one chance at a first impression and in the employee induction space, that first impression means a lot.
The cost of getting it wrong
A study by Brandon Hall Group suggests that organisations with strong onboarding processes improve their new hire retention rate by 82% and their employee productivity by over 70%. The importance of employee induction can’t be overstated.
Research by Robert Half found that 59% of Australian hiring managers have had an employee resign during their probation period due to poor onboarding processes and 43% of managers lost new employees within a month of hiring them.
Are we looking at induction through rose coloured glasses?
Despite these alarming statistics, it seems that hiring managers are missing a beat when it comes to the effectiveness of their induction efforts. The Robert Half survey mentioned above indicates that 28% of hiring managers believe their current onboarding process is ‘excellent’, 51% think their process is ‘good’, and 16% believe what they are doing in the induction space is ‘sufficient’.
This disparity in manager perception and retention figures suggests there is a fundamental disconnect between how managers believe they are performing from an induction point of view and what is actually happening when a new person joins an organisation.
The paradigm is a simple one, to ensure the success and retention of new hires, you must make sure their induction experience is structured, consistent and positive.
The benefits of a structured employee induction program
Like all organisational challenges, for employee induction to be successful, a solid plan needs to be in place and consistently executed against.
With that in mind, let’s shift our thinking and look at the benefits organisations reap when they commit to a consistent, structured employee induction program.
1. Make the new employee feel respected
Induction is the first of a myriad of interactions between your new employee and your organisation. Taking the time and effort to engage them in your operations, it’s people and its operations show you are committed to the relationship and its success.
2. Optimise orientation tasks
How does the copier work? How do I log into our payroll system? It’s boring, but administrative induction has to take place for employees to get up speed as quickly as possible. What’s more, with a technology solution like Tribal Habits, laborious tasks are easily automated, freeing up staff time and reducing the training load.
3. Increase employee retention
As the statistics in this article show, there is an undeniable link between strong employee induction practices and employee satisfaction and retention.
4. Open communication lines
A well-structured induction process should encourage and nurture conversations and relationships across your organisation. Your new starters should be integrating with the people they work directly with as well as those in other functions. Open and fluid communications during the induction process will give your staff an understanding of what other employees do and how they work together to succeed.
5. Develop a workplace culture of inclusiveness
Disturbingly, 40% of Australians feel lonely at work. This links to the point above about communication, but the induction process is the first point of contact your new starters will have with their co-workers. If this process is managed properly, bonds should form between employees that build company culture and allows people to bring their ‘real selves’ to work.
6. Win the talent battle
The way an organisation treats (and inducts) its employees has a direct impact on the market’s opinion of that brand. Websites like glassdoor.com have brought transparency to this field such that potential employees can now understand what it’ll be like to work for your organisation. Look at companies like SalesForce, Google or any aspirational business on the ‘Great Place to Work’ list and ask: Do these organisations have strong, consistent induction practices or are they leaving things to chance by taking an ad-hoc approach?
7. Save money and time
A scalable, repeatable onboarding process can be rolled out each time a new starter joins, no need to re-invent the wheel. By moving the more tactical elements of the onboarding experience online, organisations can free up the time of experienced staff by reducing the amount of face-to-face training required.
The evidence is clear that a structured, repeatable induction process drastically improves the way an organisation operates. If you want to be an employer of choice for great talent and want to ensure your talent is engaged as working effectively in as little time as possible, a formal, technology-supported approach to induction is a must.
To find out more about organisations are using Tribal Habits to create customised induction experiences, get in touch with us at hello@tribalhabits.