Most companies are incredibly bad at onboarding. Like ridiculously bad.
In fact, according to a study that Forbes did, between 48% and 64% of new employees consider leaving a new job, or at least are less likely to stay at the job, after experiencing a bad onboarding process.
More than half the people consider leaving a job after a bad onboarding experience. It’s crazy.
The Six Months You Just Wasted
So you’ll spend 6 months trying to hire somebody.
You interview them 4 times, maybe 5 or 6. Check the references, negotiate the salary, and convince the person to leave a company they already know. People they already know. And a boss they may actually like. In order to take a chance on you.
Sometimes they’re even turning down another offer to do it. It’s not like it’s a small decision.
And then they show up for their first day at work and you’re like: “Welcome. Here’s your laptop and temporary password. That’s your desk. Get comfortable. The benefits orientation is at 10.”
What the hell are you doing?
You just spent months selling this person on the idea that joining your company could change their career. And your first act is to teach them how to fill out an expense report and submit for vacation time.
Come on now.
The Jane Story
I was talking with a client recently about a hire she made that she was really excited about. Let’s call the client Jane, like in The Jetsons.
This was a great hire. This was somebody Jane really wanted. It was the kind of person where the whole leadership team was excited. They thought: if we can get her on our team, that’s going to change everything.
They got her.
And her first week was filled with HR paperwork, laptop setup, benefits, org chart, a meeting about meetings. Somebody gave her a tour of Slack, which I’m sure was thrilling.
By Thursday, she pulled a colleague aside and asked if it was normally like that there.
That’s not a question you want your brand new employee asking in their first week at work.
Not surprisingly, 6 months later she was gone. Refer to the Forbes study I mentioned earlier.
It wasn’t because this woman couldn’t do the job. She could.
It was because in her first week there, she had already started wondering whether taking the job was a mistake.
The Question Nobody Answers
Most companies think onboarding is about getting someone set up. It’s not.
Getting someone set up is logistics.
Onboarding is something completely different.
Every new employee, from the second they walk through the door on their first day, is asking one question. And most companies are too busy explaining the health benefits to even consider the question, let alone answer it.
Here’s the question every new employee asks.
