Dive Brief:

• Employers looking for an improved onboarding process need to update their strategies and stop living in the past, according to Entrepreneur magazine.
• The article cites a December 2015 ADP study that found 91% of managers, 81% of HR administrators and 75% of employers surveyed said they think their organizations are not very good at onboarding. The same survey reported that 79% of employees agreed: onboarding needed improving. 
• That being the case, Entrepreneur offers several ways to make it happen, including: making new employees really feel like a priority, turning onboarding into a true learning experience, keeping things flexible and using mobile/online tools as much as possible.

Dive Insight:

Entrepreneur notes that onboarding is frequently treated as little more than an afterthought and is done too quickly to be effective. That being the case, new employees would hardly feel they are a priority when so little effort is put into their early days on the job.

When new employees feel rushed and are required to undergo a process that doesn't seem to focus on their development and futures, they would likely sense they are wasting time, resulting in frustration. What they really want is to experience what they see as "useful material" that can help them build skills related to career development.

As for engagement, employers must realize that onboarding needs to be ongoing and involve both new employees and employers during the entire experience. It's not a one-off to be treated lightly, and needs to be keyed to learning and growth.