Dive Brief:

• Employers continually make mistakes with onboarding new hires, says Anett Grant at Fast Company. It’s important to make a strong first impression in order to help retain new hires, as research shows around half of such jobs will leave for other jobs within 3 years.
• The 3 biggest mistakes that employers make with onboarding include: going silent on the candidate once the offer letter is sent out, neglecting to acknowledge the new hire with a brief celebration and dumping excessive amounts of information on the new hire all at once.
• Grant advises employers have a more consistent and structured strategy for onboarding employees over time, to improve the overall experience of each new hire.

Dive Insight:

Onboarding is a necessary aspect of bringing new people into the team, but it is generally a less than pleasant experience for most. Not only is there a lot of paperwork, process, and procedure to go through, but it tends to be overwhelming for new employees. 

Approach onboarding as a learning experience first and foremost. Pacing the new hire with a clear list of both administrative and managerial tasks can help make this more productive. Also ensure onboarding engages employees with the culture — including their team members — sooner rather than later. Instead of shutting down and walking off the job, new hires can feel supported and get up to speed faster.