Written by Mercer's Steve Goldberg

The HR process known as onboarding has been, by most observers’ accounts, a perennially under-performing process. These perspectives have been percolating for decades and the vast majority of the complaints relate to how onboarding is too often a major missed opportunity. This near-universal take has seemingly permeated the entire spectrum of companies—across organizational size, industry and geography.

Despite this concerning historical context, there are growing signs that perspectives are changing for the better about the initial experience with one’s new employer, job, and team. Indeed, onboarding is trending more positively, partly due to the process being increasingly viewed as where Talent Acquisition meets Talent Management, where the talent lens becomes primary and where the process focuses on reducing the time to full productivity and acclimating one to corporate culture, management styles and potentially changing org structures. It’s also the period that sets the stage for the trajectory of that employee’s contribution over time (also referred to as employee lifetime value or ELTV). No doubt another factor in the better perception of onboarding is the abundance of onboarding-relevant data collected by employers and the availability of different tools and methods for analyzing that data. As one example, organizations can now distinguish situations where a new employee might feel connected (a core aspect of onboarding) to their job/role, but not necessarily to their team or manager; or perhaps connected to their job and manager but not necessarily to their employer’s core values.

This article includes the following sections:

1. Industry research findings and key takeaways
2. Applying a different lens: “Immersive Onboarding”&nbs
3. Onboarding technology solutions grow up
4. Three onboarding best practice to consider
5. Parting comments
6. Industry research findings and key takeaways

From a bottom-line perspective, the preponderance of credible industry research around this process or activity area has yielded similar findings in regard to feeling connected and aligned with an employer’s culture, purpose, mission and values, such as:

• Working for an organization with a purpose they can be proud of has taken over first position in terms of what helps employees thrive, and this is consistent across the globe, as cited in Mercer’s Global Talent Trends Report 2024.
• According to Jobvite’s 2018 Job Seeker Nation Report, 30% of new employees voluntarily leave their jobs within the first 90 days.
• PwC’s research on the connection between strategic purpose and motivation in 2019 found that 28% of employees don’t feel connected to their company’s purpose or mission.
• Corporate culture ranked #3 in the reasons why employees stay, according to Mercer’s Global Talent Trends Report 2024, clearly also demonstrating the importance of feeling connected.

Citing a more recent and often cited piece of industry research, a report conducted in 2022 by analyst firm Aptitude Research looked at how companies were reframing their views around onboarding, to the extent that they were. The results were based on both quantitative research (300+ responses from senior HR and Talent Acquisition practitioners), and qualitative research (over 50 interviews with the same peer group). The research found compelling evidence of onboarding having a demonstrable linkage to retention, employer branding and quality of hire. Here are the specific findings along those these:

• Retention: Eighty-six percent (86%) of employers believe their new hires make the decision to stay at a company in their first 90 days.
• Employer Branding: Three-quarters (75%) of new hires share their first day of work experience on social channels, certainly impacting sentiments about employer brand.
• Quality of Hire: Eighty-three percent (83%) of employers believe managers know if a new hire is a quality hire within the first 90 days.

Additionally, the research found that as companies prepare for the future of work and invest in talent transformation, onboarding is still not getting adequate priority in many organizations:

• Companies are twice as likely to spend on talent acquisition and employee experience than onboarding.
• 42% of companies do not have a dedicated onboarding solution.
• Only 26% of companies are fully automating the onboarding process.

Research published by Paychex a year later in 2023 cited 39% of those surveyed finding their onboarding experience clear, 32% finding it confusing, and 22% finding it disorganized. And finally, yet another corroborating study by HiBob revealed that 64% of new employees are likely to leave a new job within their first year because of a negative onboarding experience.

One can logically infer from these various findings that while HR leaders and other professionals might view some of the goals and desired outcomes of onboarding in strategic terms (e.g., compressing time to productivity), the prevailing view has been a much more tactical or administrative one. Frankly, the typical new hire onboarding process has through the decades, mostly been viewed with an HR accountability lens, so the focus has principally involved getting on payroll, enrolling in benefits, and completing compliance-related forms. Why is it that the longtime, commonly held view of this first stage in the employee journey so often about “housekeeping items” notwithstanding its importance to get those right? It is no doubt a combination of factors, including the notion that established patterns in business enterprises are quite difficult to change let alone reconstitute or reverse.

Applying a different lens: “Immersive Onboarding”

A modern view of onboarding might be centered around a new employee experiencing the essence of what their new job/role, team, manager or supervisor, and organizational culture and core values are all about; and experiencing the essence of anything can be considered an “immersive experience.” When this immersion happens optimally, the new employee is more prepared to navigate early challenges on the job by, for example, very easily connecting with those colleagues who can readily offer relevant and specific support. Additionally, any ambiguity or confusion about priorities that can plague a new worker can be mitigated with a more immersive onboarding, especially when HR is in partnership and aligned with the new employee’s business area.

Using the immersive lens, a best-in-class onboarding process would encompass such elements as the employee fully understanding their initial or near-term goals and priorities, how these fit into the longer-term expectations for their role and, just as importantly, their career aspirations. As to the latter part of that sentence, we are indirectly highlighting the criticality of the organization knowing what the employee expects of their employer and management during their startup period and thereafter. This might range from performance and career support to other employee-centered programs aimed at employee engagement, job satisfaction and well-being, to clarity around company policies and practices as well as ensuring their non-biased and consistent application.

This really amounts to a dual emphasis and two-way alignment between the needs, interests and goals of both employee and employer. It is the lack of this alignment that would seem to materially contribute to HiBob’s finding (above) that “64% of new employees are likely to leave a new job within their first year because of a negative onboarding experience.” Moreover, combining the immersive onboarding mindset and lens with very practical program features or components (like shadowing another employee, the assignment of an onboarding buddy, frequent pulse checks from one’s supervisor or manager, having a diverse set of employee levels and roles participate in a new employee orientation) or just allocating/budgeting more time to ensure effective onboarding are all likely to pay dividends in the form of compressing and employee’s time to productivity, increasing employee retention, and having more of the workforce essentially serving as employer brand champions.

Onboarding technology solutions grow up

Before we even talk about infusing onboarding technology solutions with AI, let alone its more recent incarnation - Gen AI, we can point to enabling the basic use case of an automated workflow that perhaps sends the new employee’s manager a set of 3-5 questions on the Friday before the new team member starts. These could focus on identifying priorities or goals for the first 30 days, who to meet, what learning content to review, etc. Another example of where foundational or straightforward technology (vs. more advanced digital capabilities) can nonetheless have a sizable impact is simply to make a knowledge or content hub available, one where all onboarding activities and resources are accessible in one place. Another type of core system functionality that helps organizations optimize their onboarding process is the leveraging of real time analytics that provide insights into how employees are judging their onboarding experience as time goes on, and comparing these “sentiment scores” at different junctures and across different parts of the business.

More sophisticated onboarding technology is at play when functionality such as sentiment analysis is deployed. This is where the system or tool scans for common themes, topics and sentiments being expressed about the onboarding experience in anonymized emails and company discussion boards. Some manifestation of AI is typically relied on to perform this type of sentiment analysis. And as we’ve all come to learn over the last year, GenAI, including when deployed in conjunction with large learning models (LLMs) extends AI capabilities to where content is system-generated that can effectively tailor each employee’s onboarding experience. While known as “personalization”, this is arguably still a relative concept.

To illustrate … a “level 1” personalized onboarding scenario might involve content based on job/role or the charter or perhaps past highlights of the new employee’s business unit or location. The next level of personalized onboarding might factor in other situational / contextual elements such as current business challenges, issues and/or opportunities of high relevance to the new team member. And to the extent that the onboarding program extends over several weeks, program design can leverage technology to reflect in real time elements such as feedback garnered on the experience, or learning opportunities designed to accelerate one’s ramp-up. Personalization via AI can also account for how each person learns best, i.e., type of format, length and medium, or channel.

Another way that technology enables a competitive advantage in onboarding involves simulations. While these can sometimes be challenging – which might be by design to enhance the experience, they do allow learners to meaningfully “explore and navigate” without leaving their workstation, which can of course help in developing business competencies for better performance on the job. Simulated experiences also result in being more emotionally connected, more focused on material or key points being conveyed, and in many cases, more confident in mastering the material covered. An innovative and engaging onboarding program that leverages simulations, often delivered through virtual or augmented reality technology, can also convey a sense that the organization truly wants to generate excitement and enthusiasm if not a genuinely memorable experience for their new employee.

Three onboarding best practices to consider

Here are three onboarding practices that organizations have successfully employed to enhance new employee onboarding, thereby achieving better downstream business outcomes:

1. Establish a “pulse team” from a cross-functional group of peer-level colleagues (ideally, as opposed to senior executives) charged with knowing what’s going on with each new employee’s acclimation and integration process, including if they are feeling supported, if they have what they need to be productive and if there’s no discernible signs of regretting the decision to join. Importantly, when this exercise isn’t just confined to the initial period of employment but is repeated at different intervals determined by the organization, it can be quite impactful.
2. During the recruiting process, the organization should ascertain and note what the prospective new employee expects relative to their first 60-90 days, including from their onboarding experience. This is a key part of the proactive listening that should occur to inform, guide, and as much as practical, tailor each employee’s onboarding based on their role, career goals, new team and the expectations that they shared.
3. Finally, while the notion of “culture fit” is a common concept, it can be based on the somewhat narrow perspective that the new employee can’t make the culture and value set even better – or serve as a “culture add.” Additionally, messaging such as “culture add” vs. “culture fit” conveys to the new team member that they should just “be themselves” since that is exactly what intrigued and interested their new employer.

Parting comments

As previously stated, the trajectory of an employee’s contribution over time (also referred to as employee lifetime value or ELTV) is an increasingly popular lens in HR / Human Capital Management circles. It is quite easy to see how optimal onboarding experiences not only shorten the cycle for a new employee to reach their level of maximum contribution and productivity but can also have the effect of sustaining that level for a longer period of time. In closing, the good news story around modern onboarding is that with the enablement of technology (foundational and more advanced), the bringing to bear of key data and actionable analytics, plus what is now widely known as reliable best practices, go-forward research around this stage in the employee journey is more likely to paint a more attractive and encouraging picture.

About the Author: Steve Goldberg began his collaboration with Mercer in December 2023 as a contributing analyst, author, and advisor. He has been operating on all sides of Human Resources, Human Capital Management and HR Technology for over three decades across three continents. Steve earned an MBA in HR and is a frequent speaker at industry and solution provider events. He has been engaged by 60+ HCM solution providers to date.