A third of new hires report poor onboarding experiences

One-third of new hires have experienced poor onboarding experiences, with remote and hybrid teams struggling more than their in-office colleagues when starting a new job, according to a survey by onboarding and engagement platform Enboarder.

The survey, which polled more than 1,000 employees in the US, UK and Australia, found that one in three respondents started looking for another job based on their sub-par onboarding experience. A quarter of respondents actually left their positions, while an equal proportion shared their negative experiences with others, it added. 

As companies continue to grapple with maintaining morale and engagement in the new world of work, only 26% of employees said they felt fully informed, engaged and confident during the most recent onboarding.

“Leaving onboarding to chance is a huge risk considering the massive investment companies make when it comes to recruitment,” Dan Finnigan, CEO at Enboarder, said in a press release on the 25th of September.

Remote new hires are the most likely to have had a truly terrible onboarding experience, cited by 42% of the participants, followed by hybrid workers at 39%, according to the survey.

New hires working remotely are nearly 50% more likely to say company culture was demonstrated poorly or not at all compared to their peers working on-site. Meanwhile, field workers are more than twice as likely to feel they were not fully informed, engaged and confident during their onboarding process compared to their office-based colleagues.

Human connection and communications remain, key differentiators, for onboarding in a tight labour market, Enboarder said in the statement.

For respondents with positive onboarding experiences, 42% said they felt more engaged, 46% were satisfied with their job decision and 34% were motivated to stay longer at the company.

However, the survey found that many companies were fulling dissatisfaction, turnover and performance challenges by not modernising their onboarding processes. In terms of a terrible onboarding experience, 34% of respondents said they felt disengaged, 33% regretted accepting the role and 30% had a negative outlook on the work environment.

 “This report clearly shows the experiences we have when we start a new job have a huge impact on employer brand, employee experience and performance,” Finnigan said. “The fact is most onboarding programmes are falling short — and it’s negatively impacting the bottom line.”