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Every business has a unique process for onboarding new hires, but not all onboarding programs are doing their job— and the data proves it.
Although 41% of employers believe that lacking a structured process hurts their company, 36% don’t have a documented or structured process.
A study by Gallup Analytics found that only 12% of U.S. employees thought their company had a satisfactory onboarding process, with one in five employees saying they either had a poor experience during onboarding (or no experience at all).
With nearly 20% of employees reporting a bad onboarding experience, tracking onboarding processes is critical so you can evaluate their success.
The importance of evaluating your onboarding strategy
Onboarding goes beyond collecting W-2 forms and completing paperwork. It should also prepare your new hire for the role they’re filling.
During the onboarding process, you should:
- Introduce the hire to team members
- Create accounts, including employee email accounts
- Explain business processes and policies
- Provide training for their role, including training for their tech stack
- Set them up for payroll and explain their benefits
These are critical tasks that should be a priority during the onboarding process. If employees don’t receive what they need during onboarding, they’re more likely to feel overwhelmed, struggle with their jobs, and express dissatisfaction with your company.
A weak onboarding process, therefore, directly impacts both productivity and retention. Consider that:
- 69% of employees said that they’re more likely to stay at a company if they have a strong onboarding experience
- 35% of employees find companies with strong training programs more appealing
- Organizations with a formal onboarding process see a 50% boost in productivity
You’re more likely to attract, retain, and keep top talent if your company makes a good first impression with your onboarding program, and they’re likely to be more productive right out of the gate.
Measuring your onboarding experience, therefore, is essential to understanding the experience of your new hires and how it impacts your organization. You may find opportunities to improve the training period, boosting both productivity and retention.
Onboarding performance metrics to measure
When monitoring onboarding programs for success, these are the metrics to watch:
New hires’ job satisfaction
Collecting feedback through surveys that ask about the onboarding process and overall job satisfaction can provide first-party insight. Use anonymous surveys to get honest answers.
Fostering a feedback culture can also help you assess new hire satisfaction. Managers should check in regularly with all employees, but particularly new hires to ensure that they’re feeling confident in their jobs and have the resources they need for success.
Time to productivity
This determines how long it takes, on average, for new employees to begin working independently. Teams with good training during onboarding have shorter time to productivity, even if they need extra support or resources for the first few months outside of the initial training period.
Employee turnover
Companies with poor onboarding experiences have higher turnover rates, so if yours is high with no other explanation, look at the new hire experience. And if you’re rapidly losing a significant percentage of employees who have been with the company for six months or less, that’s a major red flag.
The average employee turnover rate varies significantly by industry, so you can check the benchmark turnover rates for your industry to see where you should be.
Make sure that your HR team asks about the onboarding process during employee exit interviews to see if it impacted their decision to leave.
Compare performance of new vs. established employees
While long-term employees will always have an edge, especially when it comes to organizational knowledge, new employees shouldn’t be noticeably lagging in performance once they’re out of the training period.
Get input from managers
Management may be the first ones to notice if there are flaws in the onboarding process when they see new employees struggling with the same challenges or asking the same questions. They can potentially provide suggestions for improving the employee experience.
Track onboarding processes over time to ensure your program is improving. By monitoring onboarding programs within the company, you can continually improve it— and the employee experience along with it.
Stay organized with a new hire onboarding checklist
Documenting a systemized onboarding process is the first step to creating a successful program. It’s repeatable, predictable, and easy for all team members to execute.
Wizehire created a New Hire Checklist that covers both pre-employment and training.
You can use this checklist to track each new hire’s progress throughout onboarding, ensuring that every task is complete and the new hire knows what to expect. Customize the checklist for each team and employee, adding information about task deadlines or who to contact for next steps.
The checklist can be shared through a Google Doc. You can also upload the lists into project management tools like Asana or Monday. Whatever you choose, stay consistent with your team and choose a collaborative option so that both the new hire and their managers can track the onboarding process.
Download the new Wizehire New Hire Checklist
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