A Strategic Approach to Onboarding Design: Surveys, Materials, & Diverse Hires

Abstract

The onboarding process is critical for successful employee performance and retention, yet research shows that in Fortune 500 companies alone, half of all senior executive outside hires fail within 18 months of entry, and half of all hourly workers leave new jobs within the first 120 days. Organizations that have effective onboarding processes are not only able to better prevent the failure and disappointment demonstrated by these statistics during employee transition into organizations, but most importantly, they are able to improve time-to-productivity, performance, engagement, and retention of new hires. Although research about best-in-class onboarding practices and their benefits is vast (see Appendix 1), this report will focus on 3 key aspects of the onboarding process: Best practices to build an onboarding survey, important materials to align the onboarding process, and key considerations for onboarding diverse hires.