Optimize employee onboarding to better retain top talent
Kelly Kinnard Contributor
I once showed up for my first day at a new job only to find that my desk hadn’t been cleaned out — or even dusted. I spent my first hours at work finding the kitchen, unearthing cleaning supplies, wiping down my desk and sorting through (aka throwing out) someone else’s files.
How do you think I felt about my decision to take that job? What if I told you this has happened to me at every single tech job I’ve ever taken, at big and small companies? And, incredibly, it keeps happening to new hires at tech startups every day.
Gallup found that only 12% of U.S. employers do a great job of employee onboarding — the rest are lackluster or downright bad.
A good employee onboarding program can improve employee retention by as much as 25% and make new hires 69% more likely to stick with an employer for three years. In an incredibly tight market for hiring tech talent, retention matters a lot. But onboarding is unfortunately an after-thought for busy tech companies today, which are scaling so rapidly, they often think the recruiting process ends once a sought-after hire accepts the offer.
Big tech companies like Google and Facebook can spend lavishly on employee onboarding (in addition to offering sky-high salaries, of course). But any company, big or small, can create a five-star onboarding experience without breaking the bank. Below are some suggestions that can help your company get new employees engaged from their first day — and, most importantly, help them stick around for your startup’s journey.
1. Start the onboarding process before your new hire shows up
Kelly Kinnard Contributor Kelly Kinnard is the VP of talent at Battery Ventures, a global technology investment firm. She is based in San Francisco. I once showed up for my first day at a new job only to find that my desk hadn’t been cleaned out — or even dusted.…
Recent Posts
- NBA bans player for life over online sports betting
- I’ve seen Sony’s impressive new mini-LED TV backlight tech in action, and OLED TVs should be worried
- YouTube can stream 8K videos to your Meta Quest 3 – even though its displays aren’t 8K
- Apple renews For All Mankind and announces a spinoff series set in the Soviet Union
- Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robot is a swiveling, shape-shifting nightmare
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011