How Onboarding New Employees Can Improve Business Performance

Many organizations do an inadequate job of onboarding new hires. A report completed by Gallup states that 88% of employees think their employer did a poor job with the onboarding process. It comes as a surprise that businesses are not putting enough focus on this. Not doing so can lead to an increase in employee turnover and loss of productivity, which will cost the business money. It is vital that organizations invest in developing a formal onboarding program to support their workforce and improve employee performance. 

Let’s take a look to see why onboarding is key to business success.

• Provides Clear Guidelines and Sets Expectations

A significant benefit of delivering onboarding training is that it sets clear expectations of new hires. It also provides them with guidelines they can follow to do their jobs successfully. They will have a better understanding of their roles, how they need to perform, goals they need to strive for, and the end result if they achieve their objectives.  

• Improves Employee Performance

New hires will not know how to perform their duties well if you do not provide them with proper role-specific training during the onboarding process. As a result, they will not be able to work efficiently. They may make many errors along the way, which can be costly for the company. For your team to perform at a high standard, you will need to educate them on fundamental expectations, and on best practices and processes on how to do their jobs the right way. 77% of employees who had a formal onboarding process hit their first performance goals. For your team to hit their targets and exceed them, a proper onboarding program needs to be in place.

• Boosts Engagement and Morale

Having a formal onboarding program will set a positive impression of the organization. It shows that the company is supportive and dedicated to helping their employees reach success. Your team will feel valued and be motivated to do the best job possible. Also, when your team is happy and fulfilled in their roles, you reduce the risk of employee turnover.

• Increases Employee Retention 

Many employers lose a lot of their new hires within the first year due to a lack of support and resources to be able to do their jobs well. Turnover can be expensive as employees need to pick up the slack, which takes time, energy, and resources. Also, the time and costs to find and train new employees add up. Contract Recruiter indicates that the average cost of replacing a single employee is between 16% and 20% of that employee’s salary. Having an onboarding training program in place will help in retaining new hires. Organizations that do can improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.

• Enables Your Team to Be More Productive Sooner

You want your team to be up and running as soon as possible once they start working. Having staff go through onboarding training will help bring them up to speed faster. A study by Deloitte states that an effective onboarding program can improve time to productivity by 60%. Your new hires will be able to tackle their responsibilities sooner compared to doing it on their own with minimal guidance. Your entire team will be operating like a well-oiled machine!  

• Creates Standardized Training and Processes

An onboarding program will provide your employees with the same training experience. They will be taught how to perform their duties and be informed on policies the same way as everyone else. You can be assured that everyone will be on the same page and are completing their work in a consistent manner to meet company standards. 

• Ensures Your Workforce is Compliant

Many organizations have to adhere to strict industry laws and regulations. You want to ensure your workforce is consistently following protocols so your organization can maintain their compliance. Incorporating compliance training within the onboarding process will educate your workforce on requirements and the steps they need to take to remain compliant. If you don’t provide compliance training, your employees will not follow policies consistently. They will be more vulnerable to health and safety risks, and your business may have to deal with hefty penalties and fines.

• Enables You To Track Learner Progress

Having an onboarding program will allow you to track learner progress and performance more easily. For example, if you have a list of courses learners took, you will be able to see what training they have completed and which areas they are struggling in.

Final Thoughts:

From reducing turnover, speeding up competency, to improving performance, the benefits of providing employees with onboarding training is substantial. Being able to manage and deliver this type of training effectively, however, is no easy task. A learning management system such as SkyPrep can easily help facilitate and support your onboarding efforts. You will be able to deliver the most impactful onboarding training program for new employees and generate positive business outcomes long term.