Onboarding new employees is a vitally important challenge for all companies. Finding the right talent for each role – someone who has the skills and knowledge to contribute to the company’s success, but is also in tune with its values – requires great effort and dedication.
However, according to Gallup, only 23% of employees thrived in their jobs during 2023, while 59% joined the dreaded trend of ‘quiet quitting’, and 18% demonstrated active disengagement. Much of the blame for these statistics can be pinned on the onboarding process, an essential corporate practice designed to ensure that new hires are integrated as quickly as possible and feel part of their new company.
However, If you’re still not convinced of its importance, then this article will provide you with a number of key insights into onboarding statistics, to highlight exactly why you should invest in a solid onboarding process.
Key Employee Onboarding Statistics
The onboarding process involves not only welcoming new employees, but also properly integrating them to ensure their long-term success within the organization. A well-designed onboarding process can have a positive and significant impact on all aspects of employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity. To help you see these benefits more clearly, we’ve put together some of the most important onboarding statistics for you:
Onboarding Success Rate Statistics
Onboarding success rates are a key indicator of the impact these programs can have on a company. They can be measured through parameters such as: employee retention; initial productivity; employee satisfaction; and the time taken for a new employee to fully integrate into their new team and company culture. The following onboarding statistics highlight the importance of investing in a well-structured and planned onboarding process:
“Employees who have positive experiences in their first 90 days are up to 10 times more likely to stay with their new company”
One study found that for new employees, good experiences during their first few months at the company have a significant impact on their decision to stay or leave.
“70% of employees decide whether a job is right for them within the first month”
On average, companies have roughly 44 days to significantly influence the long-term retention of their talent. 29% of employees decide whether to stay within their first week, while 70% of them do so within the first month.
How to achieve a higher success rate
In order to achieve a high onboarding success rate, companies should focus on several key factors:
- Structure and Planning: A well-structured onboarding plan, covering a period ranging from an employee’s very first day to their first six months, will give you space to cover all the most important aspects.
- Mentoring and Support: Assigning experienced mentors or coworkers to new employees as guides can provide invaluable support and accelerate their onboarding experience.
- Customized Training: Tailoring training to the specific needs of individuals and their job responsibilities will ensure that new employees gain all the skills and knowledge they need in an efficient way.
- Culture and Values: Introducing new employees to the company culture and values at an early stage will help to align their expectations and behaviors with the aims of your organization.
- Tools and Technology: Using digital onboarding platforms can make the entire onboarding process more flexible, interactive and efficient.
Statistics on the Costs of Employee Onboarding
We’ve seen so far that the onboarding process is a fundamental part of any employee’s professional cycle, but of course, it does involve a significant investment for the company. The costs of the process cover various phases such as recruitment, training, adaptation time, the provision of benefits and compensation, and administrative costs. Understanding that each step of the process is valuable is key to developing strategies that are both effective and efficient. The statistics below highlight the importance of these cost-related issues:
“Every time a high-performing employee leaves during their first 6 months, the company loses around 20% of their salary”
Staff turnover leads to some of the highest costs. Whenever a high-performing employee leaves the company within their first 6 to 12 months, the cost to the company is around 20% of the employee’s salary. On top of this, filling the vacancy will then bring on additional hiring costs. However, even if an employee who experiences a bad onboarding process chooses to stay, they are more likely to feel disengaged at work, resulting in a cost to the company of around 18% of their salary.
“Companies with effective onboarding processes enjoy a 50% increase in new employee productivity”
Any increase in new employee productivity leads to savings in time and money for companies. A recent SHRM report found that organizations with an effective onboarding process benefit from employees who are 50% more productive.
“Lack of employee engagement costs around $8.8 trillion”
According to Gallup, lack of employee engagement is responsible for multi-billion dollar losses in productivity each year. Therefore, strengthening employee engagement should be one of a company’s highest priorities from day one. The most effective tool to achieve this is the onboarding process.
How can the onboarding process be optimized to reduce costs?
In order to minimize costs and maximize ROI on onboarding, companies can implement a number of key strategies:
- Process automation: Using onboarding software or apps like isEazy Engage can help to reduce costs and make the whole process more efficient.
- Ongoing, flexible training: Implementing training programs which adapt to the employee’s learning pace can improve productivity in the long run, translating into higher profits.
- Continuous evaluation and improvement: Evaluating training processes and collecting feedback from new employees allows you to make constant adjustments to your onboarding program. It will also help you identify areas for improvement, and modify budgets to get the most out of your programs.
Statistics on ‘what employees want’ during the onboarding process
If there is one very important thing that companies and HR departments should strive to understand, it’s that the onboarding process is not simply about complying with legal and administrative requirements. Instead, it is a shining opportunity to establish a strong, healthy and positive relationship between the company and its new talent. Understanding what employees really value and require during their onboarding can make an enormous difference to their levels of satisfaction, commitment and productivity in the long term. So what do employees really want? Let’s take look at some relevant onboarding statistics:
“Employees expect professional tools and logistics to be ready to go from day one”
Training employees in processes, and ensuring that all relevant tools and equipment is ready for them should be a mandatory component of any onboarding process. This ensures that employees do not become frustrated, and helps to prevent loss of time and additional costs to the company. Despite this, a survey conducted by Talmundo revealed that a surprising 43% of new employees had to wait more than a week for their working tools and logistics to be ready. Even then, 18% of them still hadn’t received the tools they needed to start working after two months.
“9.35% of employees report that good opportunities in training and development make an organization more attractive to work for”
A study by PWC, on the features that make a company more attractive to employees, revealed that 35% of respondents value training and development initiatives as amongst the top three most important offerings.
What you can do to meet employee expectations
There are a number of actions you can take to improve your onboarding process and ensure that it meets employee expectations:
- Offer clarity and communicate clearly: Simply put, employees want clear and effective communication from day one. This should include a detailed description of their responsibilities, expectations and goals. The first few weeks are crucial to establishing this clarity and making a good impression.
- Welcome employees and foster integration: New employees want to feel welcomed and valued from the outset. Social integration plays a key role in this. You can help the process along by organizing presentations, welcome events, or even arranging mentoring.
- Training and development: Access to appropriate training is essential to ensure that new employees feel prepared and fully capable of carrying out their responsibilities. Accordingly, provide opportunities for ongoing development, give employees access to a variety of learning resources, and ensure that they have all the necessary tools and training available on how to use them.
Statistics on the challenges of employee onboarding
Every onboarding process presents a series of challenges that can afflict both new employees as well as the company as a whole. Some of the most common include: a lack of structure to the onboarding process; information overload; inadequate social integration; the scattered nature of remote work; and even technical challenges and lack of feedback. Let’s take a look at some onboarding statistics that illustrate these challenges more clearly:
“Only 39% of employees would describe their onboarding process as clear”
One of the biggest challenges during any onboarding process is managing to clearly communicate the company’s values and mission at the same time as explaining a new employee’s professional responsibilities. One study revealed that only 39% of employees consider their onboarding process to be clear, while 32% of them rated it as confusing, and 22% as disorganized.
“60% of employees said they felt disoriented after their latest online onboarding experience”
Digitization, as well as the dramatic changes that many workplaces have recently undergone, have also impacted onboarding statistics. In fact, many companies claim that a purely online onboarding process requires significantly more effort. Unsurprisingly, a high percentage of remote employees feel poorly trained during their onboarding processes, with 60% of them reporting that they feel disoriented, and 36% of them feeling confused.
Are there any solutions to these challenges?
Yes! And a big part of those solutions lies in creating consistently well-structured and coherent onboarding plans. Try the following useful tips:
- Create a timeline that spans the employee’s first weeks or months, featuring specific milestones and objectives.
- Spread key information over several weeks, instead of overloading employees on the first day.
- Organize events and activities that encourage social interaction and foster teamwork.
- Ensure that all necessary tools and equipment are available and ready to go before the employee’s first day.
- Provide remote employees (or those with hybrid work models) with effective alternative solutions – such as isEazy Engage – for a successful online onboarding process.
Negative statistics on Employee Onboarding
When not managed properly, an onboarding process can have a number of significant negative consequences. A range of studies and statistics reveal some of the most common problems encountered during onboarding, emphasizing the need for a more careful, strategic approach.
So, to conclude, here are some of the most revealing negative statistics concerning employee onboarding, and what these numbers mean for companies:
“Only 43% of employees feel they have a complete onboarding experience”
Many companies focus their onboarding efforts onto a single orientation day with an accompanying information package on benefits. This inevitably results in a poor onboarding experience.
“52% of employees said they felt let down after their onboarding process”
A poor onboarding experience has a significant impact on staff retention and morale. According to recent studies, after their most recent onboarding experience, 52% of employees said they felt let down by their company, while 56% felt disoriented and 49% even felt devalued as a person.
“Only 12% of employees agree that their organization has a good onboarding process”
Finally, Gallup statistics assert that a very low percentage of employees feel satisfied with their onboarding process. This data reveals that many companies lack a defined strategy, or one effective enough to captivate attention and strengthen employee commitment.
Transform your new employee experience from day one!
We’ve taken a close look at a number of key statistics and data on onboarding, which together reveal the importance of a well-structured and strategic process. Investing in an effective onboarding process can significantly improve employee retention, satisfaction and productivity, which ultimately benefits the entire organization.
If you want to learn more about how to create an effective onboarding plan, then we invite you to read our detailed guide to creating transformative experiences for your new employees. And, if you want to go even further, then we recommend trying isEazy Engage, a unique platform designed to make employee onboarding more interactive, engaging and efficient. Digitize and optimize your onboarding process, make the whole process smoother, interact more effectively with your team, and boost their engagement and productivity from the very first moment. And all this, in just one app! So what are you waiting for? Request a demo today!
Frequently asked questions about onboarding statistics
Employee onboarding is so important because it sets the tone for the proper integration and success of new team members. A good onboarding process helps employees to clearly understand their roles, their company culture, and wider organizational goals.
The onboarding process should last between 90 days and six months, depending on the complexity of the role and the organization. A well-structured onboarding period allows employees to gradually adapt to their responsibilities, and get used to their new work environment.
An effective onboarding program should include a formal welcome, role-specific training, integration with the company culture, clear goal-setting, and the provision of solid feedback. Additionally, you should also assign a mentor or experienced coworker to guide each new employee.
A good onboarding process has a direct influence on employee retention. When new employees feel welcomed, valued, and properly trained, they are much more likely to stay with the company in the long term. Statistics show that organizations with strong onboarding processes enjoy an improvement in employee retention of 82%. Using tools like isEazy Engage can streamline the process even further, creating a positive experience from day one.
Any tools that facilitate the automation of administrative tasks, or help you to streamline the delivery of training content and monitor employee progress, will help you enormously. isEazy Engage is an excellent option to digitize and enhance the onboarding process, offering a fully interactive and personalized experience for new employees.
The best practices for virtual onboarding include establishing clear and consistent communication, using video calls for presentations and training, providing easy access to digital resources, and encouraging social integration through virtual, collaborative activities. Additionally, it’s crucial to ensure that new employees always have access to the tools and support they need from day one.
