Nowadays, people are more and more likely to leave a job rather than staying long-term. As the gig economy trend continues, finding, hiring and retaining great employees is a top challenge for organizations.
Making sure that the onboarding process is well thought out, engaging, consistent and focused is an impactful way that employers can significantly improve the chances of retaining their new hires and keeping them as long-term teammates.
Read More: New Employee Onboarding for Successful Retention
While working with hundreds of companies across Northeast Ohio, we have seen what companies do right and what can cause an employee to leave, taking the cost of hiring them.
In this article, we explore how much of an impact a robust onboarding process can make on employee retention.
Training is a Necessity in Onboarding
According to CareerBuilder, 25% of companies polled said that their onboarding program lacks training.
Many organizations worry that if their employees develop skills while under their employment, that they risk losing that employee, and those skills to a competitor. This is where great onboarding pays off! Onboarding is an opportunity to welcome employees by immersing them into the culture of your organization and by showing them all the ways they can meet own professional goals while they are a vital part of the organization.
TIP: Keep your onboarding fun and use the time to turn a new hire into a team member. Review the company mission, culture and assign a mentor to create strong coworker relationships.
Increased Retention with Onboarding
New employees who are part of a well-designed onboarding program are 69% more likely to remain at a company for up to three years.
Lack of or a poor onboarding program many times leads to losing an employee due to their experiences of a feeling of ambiguity, feeling confused or alienated and possibly lacking confidence in their new role and environment.
TIP: Work out your onboarding process to become a well-oiled machine. Use checklists and procedures to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Strong Onboarding = Cost Savings 
SHRM reports that the average cost to fill a position is between $3,000 and $18,000.
This necessitates the importance of hiring employees who are skilled and feel like sticking around. The risk of losing employees increases when employers fail to engage staff with a strong onboarding program. The price of putting in place an onboarding program is much lower than the cost of re-filling even one position.
TIP: Be strong through the entire hiring and onboarding process. Take your time to hire the right people and have an onboarding process ready before their day one.
Onboarding = Performance
Data shows that onboarding programs increase employee performance by over 10%.
It is essential to make sure when a new employee enters into the organization, they receive ample attention, excellent communications and learn what is expected of them. This will help them become integrated into their new role and allow them to feel like they’re part of the team which is a great determiner of their performance.
TIP: Schedule 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins with your new employee. Keep updated on their needs and how they are performing.