Creative new employee onboarding strategies to boost retention

It’s day one at a new company and you’re sitting in company onboarding. You’re going to spend the next day (or three) listening to the company boast about how amazing they are to work for - their vision, history to date, and the tools they use to complete day-to-day tasks which you will soon dive deeply into learning. At first, onboarding may seem not that important, but on the contrary, it can make a huge difference in employee turnover in the first year.

Organizations spend a lot of time and money to get their onboarding processes set up correctly. It’s undeniable that starting off on the right foot is sure to set any new hire up for great success. But months or years into an employee’s time with a new company, things for an employee will inevitably be difficult or frustrating at times. At this point, that employee will be thinking, “This company has got some issues, and frankly, I’m not sure I want to be a part of it anymore.” So how do you stop them from second-guessing whether to leave?

Current onboarding strategies fall short when they fail to recognize the individual

Most onboarding strategies today fail to inspire and motivate because they lack an emphasis on the employee’s individuality and authentic self, both of which are necessary to create any true sense of belonging and purpose within an organization.

Revisit the initial scenario at the beginning again. This time though, imagine the organization has spent an hour or more with each new hire getting to know them as an individual, asking them about their strengths and weaknesses, their goals, and how they envision their trajectory in the future. The message to the new hire becomes radically different. Suddenly, the organization is invested in the individual and the conversation becomes two-way. Not only are you here to help the organization, but they are also willing to understand how your individual skill set and growth align with their own. When followed up with continued employee support, an employee will be much less likely to leave down the line.  

The reason expression of individual identity is so critical in onboarding and beyond

We as humans strongly desire to express our individual identity and do it authentically to realize our true potential. If we’re not convinced we are valued as an authentic individuals, we won’t stick around very long. If you need a longer explanation, you can go read all the research from Abraham Maslow in the mid-1900s or the research today from Brené Brown. You can also just pause for a minute and think. Think about a time you’ve been happiest and most fulfilled in your career or life, and I guarantee it has strong elements of your authentic individuality. If you’re still not convinced, consider this research:

Research from Cornell University sites that Wipro BPO, an Indian organization and global leader in business process outsourcing improved retention by over 33% during the first six months by making a simple one-hour change to the onboarding process to include individual self-expression exercises. Wipro BPO is a call center. They have attrition rates of 30 – 45%, 2x what most companies typically see.

 Wipro BPO still focused on its organizational identity during onboarding but used an hour to emphasize individual identity and authenticity. Even if you don’t believe it yet, adding just one hour to your onboarding strategy to incorporate the individual identity and authenticity of your new hires is a pretty low-risk strategy - you might as well give it a try.

Below are some of our simple suggestions for incorporating individual identity and authenticity into your onboarding experience:

• Provide company branded swag personalized with an employee name: Include personalized employee gifts such as a monogramed notebook from Moleskine with the company logo and employee’s name.

• Get the new hire contributing on day one! They brought skills so let them show those skills off to the team.

• Let the new hire spend 15 minutes introducing themselves to the team. This can be a more vulnerable exercise; but if you have a small team who is open to it, you can have everyone spend 15 minutes sharing their life story, whatever they see appropriate, and a team lead kicking it off is even more impactful from a leadership perspective.

• If you hire in cohorts, have the cohort split into small groups and do a survival simulation such as survival A. It’s a good way to bring all members together on equal footing, learn about each other’s decision-making process, and work as a team while sharing individual contributions.

• As a manager in a 1:1, spend 30 – 60 minutes asking the new hire questions about themselves:

  • What unique skill does this employee bring? What skills does this employee want to develop?

  • When does this employee work best and when are they happiest?

  • What short and long term career goals do they have?

  • And equally important, record these notes for later! They’ll come in handy during a 30–60-90 day onboarding process.