Onboarding for Better Retention
15 September 2008
Read by 1827 persons
Is onboarding new employees the final stage of recruitment and the first stage of retention? More and more companies are convinced of this.
Recruiting an employee does not end with the signing of the employment contract. Some companies have implemented onboarding policies for their new recruits. Careful onboarding of a new hire, supporting them in their role, and monitoring them during their probationary period will help them become operational, productive, and autonomous more quickly.
But, beyond professional efficiency, more and more large groups aim to cultivate, among their executives and young graduates, lasting involvement, commitment, adherence to their culture and values, and even a sense of belonging to the company, from the first months of collaboration. Is good onboarding a way to retain employees? While there is no magic formula that can completely avoid employee departures, structured and planned onboarding can have a significant positive impact on retention. "No study has established a direct link between onboarding and retention. These two concepts do not fall within the same timeframe. Onboarding is a short-term and sometimes medium-term issue for the company, while retention requires a long-term policy. However, we can consider that onboarding indirectly contributes to retaining an employee. Indeed, an executive or a young graduate who remembers difficult onboarding in the company will be more likely to look elsewhere as soon as the opportunity arises," explains Damien Leduc, consultant at APEC.
Methods and Tools
Implementing an onboarding process for new employees requires prior reflection to define the company's specific challenges and objectives.
While some tools, such as a welcome booklet, providing information on the intranet, site and facility tours, and introductions to teams, allow executives or young graduates to have benchmarks and a global vision of the company's organization, they are not enough to generate a sense of belonging or strong involvement. In fact, some large groups choose to deploy an onboarding process over several months or even two years, including a welcome phase (seminars or integration weekends, meetings with representatives from other company entities), a support phase (tutoring, mentoring, discovery internships, training) and a follow-up phase (interviews, evaluations).
An onboarding policy therefore requires methodology, tools, and the involvement of human resources managers and line managers. However, to establish a lasting relationship with its employees, the company will have to integrate this onboarding policy into a global retention approach. This requires anticipating other retention levers such as training, development opportunities, compensation, and recognition.
Posted on September 15, 2008
recruteurs.apec.fr
Recruiting an employee does not end with the signing of the employment contract. Some companies have implemented onboarding policies for their new recruits. Careful onboarding of a new hire, supporting them in their role, and monitoring them during their probationary period will help them become operational, productive, and autonomous more quickly.
But, beyond professional efficiency, more and more large groups aim to cultivate, among their executives and young graduates, lasting involvement, commitment, adherence to their culture and values, and even a sense of belonging to the company, from the first months of collaboration. Is good onboarding a way to retain employees? While there is no magic formula that can completely avoid employee departures, structured and planned onboarding can have a significant positive impact on retention. "No study has established a direct link between onboarding and retention. These two concepts do not fall within the same timeframe. Onboarding is a short-term and sometimes medium-term issue for the company, while retention requires a long-term policy. However, we can consider that onboarding indirectly contributes to retaining an employee. Indeed, an executive or a young graduate who remembers difficult onboarding in the company will be more likely to look elsewhere as soon as the opportunity arises," explains Damien Leduc, consultant at APEC.
Methods and Tools
Implementing an onboarding process for new employees requires prior reflection to define the company's specific challenges and objectives.
While some tools, such as a welcome booklet, providing information on the intranet, site and facility tours, and introductions to teams, allow executives or young graduates to have benchmarks and a global vision of the company's organization, they are not enough to generate a sense of belonging or strong involvement. In fact, some large groups choose to deploy an onboarding process over several months or even two years, including a welcome phase (seminars or integration weekends, meetings with representatives from other company entities), a support phase (tutoring, mentoring, discovery internships, training) and a follow-up phase (interviews, evaluations).
An onboarding policy therefore requires methodology, tools, and the involvement of human resources managers and line managers. However, to establish a lasting relationship with its employees, the company will have to integrate this onboarding policy into a global retention approach. This requires anticipating other retention levers such as training, development opportunities, compensation, and recognition.
Posted on September 15, 2008
recruteurs.apec.fr
