Is Retaining Employees an Onboarding Problem?

Recruiting high-quality employees becomes an expensive and frustrating process if you can’t retain the workers, but studies show that a problem with retention isn’t necessarily the new hires—it’s employers’ failures at onboarding.

The following observations come from Entrepreneur magazine:

1. Employers aren’t clearly communicating job expectations or providing the proper training and resources for giving new hires confidence in their work.

Nearly one-quarter of respondents to a 2015 survey say “they were less productive because they lacked the tools they needed to excel. Mix that with the general confusion that comes along with being new, and you have a recipe for onboarding disaster,” according to Entrepreneur.

2. Employers aren’t helping workers understand their roles in their companies and how those positions impact the businesses overall.

“By ignoring goal alignment during onboarding, employers are setting up new hires for failure,” Entrepreneur says.

3. New employees don’t necessarily understand the companies that hire them, so they don’t know up front if the business is a good fit for them.

“The assumption tends to be that if a worker comes into the office every day, he or she learns what the company is really about. But all too often, things like company values, culture and other distinguishing characteristics fall through the cracks,” Entrepreneur says.

4. Companies aren’t prioritizing ways to integrate new workers into existing teams.

Another survey shows that 40 percent of employees say “their colleagues were the aspect of their company that meant the most. In addition, 66 percent said co-workers improved their productivity,” according to Entrepreneur. The problem? Lack of successful integration into teams damages what new employees value about their jobs, as well as their efficiency.