5 (Completely Avoidable) Problems With Your Employee Onboarding Program

Besides laying the foundation for successful integration into an organization, your employee onboarding program can also increase job satisfaction, boost productivity, and reduce employee turnover. Or, if your onboarding program isn't thought out well, it can do the exact opposite.

With high turnover rates come higher recruitment costs, not to mention the blow to your company's reputation on the job market. Employee onboarding programs have been shown to increase employee retention by 82%. This means that at least a part of your turnover rate is due to problems in your onboarding process.

The worst or best thing about this, depending on how you want to look at it, is that some of those problems are completely avoidable. Here are five common employee onboarding program problems you can address today.

1. Lack of structure

If you don't have a structured onboarding program for new hires, this is your sign to create one. As much as 79% of employees say that onboarding programs help them integrate into an organization and understand the company culture.

On the flip side, a disorganized or non-existent onboarding program has a serious negative impact on new employees. With insufficient guidance, new hires struggle to understand their roles, responsibilities, and how they fit into the company's big picture. This uncertainty then results in disengagement due to decreased confidence in their own ability to succeed.

On top of that, a bad onboarding experience makes your organization look chaotic or unprofessional. This leads to new hires being unclear on what's expected of them, which means sooner or later both the new hire and their manager will get frustrated.

If this dynamic goes on for six months, as much as 23% of new hires are ready to leave in search of a workplace with more clarity.

What you can do about it

Seeing that the core of all the issues above is a lack of onboarding structure, what you can do to fix it is simple: develop a standardized onboarding plan. This plan should focus on guiding the new employee through their first few weeks with the company.

To make sure you don't miss any steps, create an onboarding checklist that covers critical aspects of employee onboarding. For example, these could be:

• Orientation, to help new hires understand the company's values and culture and how they fit within it
• Role-specific training, to provide guidance on responsibilities, KPIs, and expectations
• Resource access, to ensure new employees have access to all software, hardware, and company platforms required for their role
• Support, so that the new hire has a go-to person for questions and advice

2. Information overload

In the effort of giving a new hire absolutely all the information they need for their new position, some companies go too broad too soon. Instead of gradually introducing the new hire to the company and their responsibilities, they want to get all the information out there right away.

As a result, your new hire is completely overwhelmed with the amount of new data they now have to catch up on. Giving the new hire a lot of documentation to go through right off the bat creates a completely opposite effect from what you were going for.

Instead of feeling informed and supported, they feel stressed and like they can't keep up. They struggle to identify what's most important, which leads to potential mistakes and lowered confidence in their abilities.

What you can do about it

For starters, don't overload your new hires with information as soon as they join your organization. Instead, organize the information into smaller, manageable segments. That way, your new hires can learn at a comfortable pace rather than breakneck speed.

Start by identifying critical information they need to know immediately to perform in their role. This means getting them introduced to key responsibilities and basic company policies during the first few days of onboarding.

Then, over the next few weeks (or months, depending on the role), introduce gradual training sessions. That way, your new hire has already had time to get used to the work environment. Since they're in a less anxious headspace than when they were just starting out, they'll be able to retain and apply knowledge more effectively.

Last, but not least, make sure your new hires feel supported during their adjustment stages. This means regular check-ins, leaving room for feedback, or even providing them with a mentor to help them navigate their new role.

3. No personalization

When you're creating an employee onboarding program, it's tempting to fall into the trap of one size fits all. The problem here is that you're treating all new hires the same way, regardless of their individual needs.

Keep in mind that new hires come with different experience levels, personalities, and expectations from their roles. They also have different learning styles and comfort levels when it comes to pacing.

An impersonal onboarding process can make new hires feel like just a number instead of a valued team member. As a result, they don't integrate well into the company culture, become less motivated, and less committed to the organization.

What you can do about it

While having a standardized onboarding program is a great start, the level of personalization you bring into it is what truly makes it shine. A great onboarding program means 69% of employees will stay for three years, which is significant seeing that the average employee tenure is currently at 4.1 years.

To personalize your onboarding program, start the process by learning about their background, skills, and experiences. You can do this by conducting initial interviews or surveys. This will tell you more about their previous roles or areas they feel need improvement.

Then, design your training and development programs according to the role of the employee. For example, a person with extensive experience won't benefit from foundational training. What they'll need is advancement opportunities. Likewise, a junior in a field will be overwhelmed by advanced training because they first need to get the foundations down.

Another thing to keep in mind is that different employees have different career goals. What you need to do is find out what those are and whether they align with the company's objectives. While some employees might want to advance and develop new skills, others might be completely satisfied with where they are now.

4. Bad communication

As with anything else, poor communication throughout your onboarding program leads to misunderstandings, misaligned expectations, and confusion. It also leads to new employees feeling disconnected from their colleagues and the company.

Without knowing who to approach with questions or concerns, new hires can feel isolated and unsupported. Because of this, they may struggle building connections crucial for collaboration and job satisfaction.

In addition to that, poor communication during employee onboarding can create misaligned expectations. Eventually, those lead to dissatisfaction because employees feel that the reality of their role is different from what was advertised.

What you can do about it

To improve communication during your onboarding process, you should aim for transparency. From the get go, introduce new hires with the company's communication protocols. This should include information on accessing company communication channels, as well as who to contact for specific questions or issues.

Next, make sure your new hire understands the organization's hierarchy, including how they fit within it. A directory of key contacts can help you with this, as it includes department heads, team leads, HR, and IT support.

Lastly, keep in mind that good communication is a two-way street. Your new hires should feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, questions, and concerns.

5. Company culture out of focus

With so many things your onboarding program needs to cover, it's easy to overlook the company culture aspect. That said, not making sure your new hire fits in results in them feeling disconnected from the organization.

This disconnect can lead to a lack of motivation and commitment, resulting in higher turnover rates. Without a strong connection, employees start feeling like outsiders and are more likely to go somewhere where they feel like part of the team.

What you can do about it

The solution to this one is simple: don't forget to include company culture into your onboarding program. When your new hire first joins, introduce them to the company's history and core values. Explain how these values impact decisions, as well as interactions within the company.

Then, encourage new hires to engage with employees from different departments. This can be done through one-on-one introduction sessions, group meetings, or projects. Being in touch with different departments makes your new hire feel more included and helps them understand the company from a broader perspective.

How does your employee onboarding compare?

If your organization sees onboarding as just a procedural necessity, it's probably the reason for that high turnover rate. When done right, onboarding makes employees feel engaged, satisfied, and committed to the company.

When done just as a formality, it results in high turnover and decreased employee satisfaction. So, how many of these common problems do you identify with? More importantly, how many of them do you new hires identify with? The sooner you find out, the sooner you can start improving your onboarding and, as an extension, your employee retention rates.