5 onboarding benefits – what can you gain if you process it well? 

Onboarding is often underestimated by organizations, yet so much depends on it. It is perhaps the single most important stage of an employee’s journey in the company, and you can be sure first impressions will last.

What are the main onboarding benefits?

1. Positive employee experience 

When asked to provide opinions on their onboarding experience, over 85% of employees did not have a great time. The rest that did have a great experience, though, were much more likely to recommend an employer to a friend or family member, citing better overall employment satisfaction.  

One of the crucial onboarding benefits is making a great first impression. If our recruits did not enjoy their onboarding experience or found it confusing, they are much more likely to look for better opportunities.

2. Efficient preparation of new employees

Did you know that the average new employee productivity for the first month of employment is only estimated at 25%? What’s more, over 70% of new hires feel like they have not been prepared enough to fulfill their new role effectively. 

Research shows it can take over a year to reach peak performance for new hires – but one of the most important onboarding benefits is that it can shorten that time significantly. The best onboarding programs can span several months, gradually easing in the employee and providing them with the tools necessary for efficient work. 

3. Increased employee engagement 

Don’t expect your employees to engage with their team and work unless they have been introduced well – effective onboarding can make your new hires feel more connected with their workplace, leading to higher productivity and much less confusion. 

If you want your employees to feel excited about their work and see them highly engaged with their work, training, and onboarding are the key to that. Don’t simply sit your new hire at a desk with a set of tasks for the day and leave them be – interact with them, find someone who can tell them more about the company and their work, and compliment them on a job well done. 

4. Better knowledge retention 

Onboarding processes that are short and lacking in activities won’t stay long in your new hires’ heads. In fact, most employees retain only about 10% of what they learned during onboarding. Spreading the onboarding process over a longer time, showing specific use cases of the knowledge they learn, and revising the knowledge they have already learned can highly improve knowledge retention in new hires. 

Make sure each onboarding activity and exercise has a meaning and is relevant to their position – skills that your employees will rarely use will evaporate very quickly and you might miss on many onboarding benefits.  

5. Better talent retention 

The employee turnover rate has never been higher and, according to Gartner, it might jump another 20% this year. Changing employees is costly, time-consuming, and problematic since the rest of your team will have to make up for those who left. 

One of the great onboarding benefits is that it helps companies keep their employees for longer, providing them with effective training and building positive relations with the company. If you want to prevent your employees from immediately looking for a new position as soon as they’re hired, make sure they feel warmly welcomed and well-prepared for their job.  

Reap the onboarding benefits in your future work 

Both work satisfaction and further self-development of new employees can be highly dependent on their first few weeks at the company. With plenty of promising available opportunities all around, your new hires might start looking for something different if they don’t find your company supports their development. 

Let your new hires know how important self-development is to you – provide them with all onboarding benefits using Workai – an advanced digital employee experience platform with extensive knowledge management capabilities.

How can you achieve onboarding benefits with Workai? 

Using Workai, you can easily plan and deploy internal training with knowledge-rich training pages, automatic signups and attendee management, and digital feedback that’s easily accessible. 

Onboarding doesn’t have to be painful – with Workai, building structured knowledge bases is easy, letting you create tutorials and courses that present a step-by-step introduction for new hires in a fun and engaging way.