Cognexo

John's story (anonymised cautionary tale)

John received an offer from "WorldTech" — a culmination of long-held ambition. Throughout recruitment there was much talk about impressive growth plans, career development and company culture. He had a 3-month notice period and expected a check-in call from WorldTech — but no call came.

On his first day: no record of him joining, no security badge, no designated workspace or laptop, people unaware of his arrival, no structured schedule, his line manager was on leave and the HR Manager was out of office. Over the next few days he was left adrift to navigate shared drives and systems with colleagues having no time to help.

After the first few weeks, still no clear path ahead, and he witnessed high staff turnover reflecting the company's culture. Before his 3-month probationary period closed, feeling undervalued with no sense of belonging, John left. This cost WorldTech between 6–9 months of his salary to re-hire (HR Grapevine).

‍

Top 5 insights on creating a great onboarding experience:

#1 Hit the ground running with a solid pre-boarding experience — the average gap between signing a contract and start date is 1–3 months. Proven pre-boarding steps: welcome pack of goodies, assigning a mentor/buddy, setting up intro meetings, completing paperwork, microlearning course about the company.

#2 Set goals and clear expectations — establish clear goals, expectations and objectives from the outset; a solid plan with follow-ups and check-ins; 30, 60 and 90 day plan setting out clear structure.

#3 Create human connections — since the pandemic, it has become increasingly difficult to effectively onboard employees remotely. Team-building activities, social events and technology helping with engagement of new hires through social learning and personalised communications.

#4 Support continuous learning and growth — AI-powered solutions can develop a programme of continuous learning that identifies and closes skills gaps whilst deploying knowledge reinforcement to mitigate knowledge fade.

#5 Analyse and optimise — ongoing evaluation of your onboarding programme is crucial; collect quantitative data (attrition rates, NPS, progress towards KPIs) and qualitative data (focus groups, one-to-ones); evaluate right throughout the employee lifecycle from onboarding to offboarding.