An employer is most likely to lose newly
recruited employees when their job is not what they anticipated, according
to a new survey.
Nearly all (90 percent) of the 1,817
executives polled in a recent survey by the Futurestep division of HR
consulting, executive search and recruitment firm Korn Ferry said that new-hire
retention is an issue for their organization. Over half (52 percent) said that
10 percent to 25 percent of newly hired workers leave within the first six
months. Twelve percent of respondents reported their turnover figure for new
hires during the first six months as between 26 percent and 50 percent.
“With low unemployment rates and
increased need for specialized talent, keeping new hires is a critical
issue,” said Bill Gilbert, president, North America, Korn Ferry
Futurestep. “It’s incumbent upon recruiters and hiring managers to paint a
clear picture of what will be expected of the candidate in his or her new role
and to make sure promises of resources, job structure and reporting
relationships are fulfilled.”
Nearly one-fifth (19 percent) of respondents
said new hires leave because they don’t like the company’s culture. Fifteen
percent said new employees didn’t see a path for advancement, and another 15
percent said new employees didn’t like their boss.
“I found that the majority of
organizations are not providing candidates with insights into their
organizational culture in a meaningful way,” said Nora Burns, a
Denver-based hiring consultant and founder of HR-Undercover, an advisory
practice for which she has “mystery shopped” employers’ hiring and
onboarding processes.
“One of the biggest surprises I faced while working undercover was
reporting to work for my first day and discovering that the team I’d be working
with was completely unaware that a new employee was starting, and the manager
was completely unprepared for my arrival,” she said. "Employers
set the tone of culture from the very beginning of the employment relationship,
and having to dig out of a deficit that was created on Day 1 can be nearly
impossible.“
Burns urged HR to move beyond just providing
"the PDF identifying cultural values and/or mission and vision” and
to work on better articulating how those elements may impact the new employee
on the job from day to day. "There is a lot of sugar-coating,
particularly with front-line and mid-level jobs along the lines of promoting
how ‘fun it is to work here.’ Hiring managers may be too quick to move into
sales mode and away from providing a realistic job preview in terms of both
tasks and team dynamics.“
Burns says that honest job previews are key to
keeping new employees, “this includes not only the tasks, responsibilities and
physical demands, but also insights into the level of collaboration,
expectations of performance feedback and consistency versus change in the
role."
Burns also recommended actively involving
existing team members in both hiring and onboarding to help reduce early
departures. "It’s harder to walk away from a manager and from a team
that you like, and it’s more difficult to dislike people who help you and
clearly want you to succeed."
Onboarding
Should Go Beyond the Basics
Nearly all the respondents to the Futurestep
survey (98 percent) said onboarding programs are a key factor in retention
efforts, and 69 percent said they have formal onboarding programs for all new
hires. Another 10 percent limit programs to entry-level employees.
However, 23 percent of those programs last
only one day, and 30 percent last only a week. Nineteen percent of respondents
run new-hire onboarding programs that last one month, and 3 percent have
yearlong programs.
"Onboarding must be about more than just
the basic administrative processes such as entering time, submitting paperwork
and logging onto the intranet,” Gilbert said. “It should also help
new hires understand available development opportunities to help them succeed
in the organization.”
Using
Data to Onboard
Nearly half (42 percent) of respondents say
they use data collected during the recruiting process, such as candidate
assessments, to help with onboarding once a candidate is hired.
Assessments that examine competencies, traits,
drivers and experiences can provide valuable insights about candidates that can
be customized into development and onboarding plans for new hires.
Use prehire skills assessments during the
onboarding to your advantage. These instruments, and their results, provide
guidance regarding what the candidate already knows and what areas require
development.
Candidate information can also be a great
source when auditing the organization’s recruiting process.
“Checking in with new hires about their
candidate experience is critical to enhancing your hiring process,” Burns
said. "It’s best done by someone who wasn’t directly involved in the
new hire’s process, or through a well-written and truly anonymous survey in
order to obtain fully candid and truthful information. Make it safe to
provide constructive feedback on the process without fear that word will get
out that ‘Betty complained about how long it took Bob to call her back between
interviews.’ “
Of course, if the organization is unwilling to
change what is being asked about, don’t ask it in the first place, she added.
The onboarding process can make or break the
new-hire experience. Going through the recruitment process to attract top
talent may go to waste if your new employee does not stay with your company for
an extended period of time. Converge HR Solutions offers full HR support,
including recruitment, job descriptions, and the onboarding process. Make sure
your employees know what to expect when they walk into their first day of work,
and that you are prepared as well. To browse
our services, visit https://convergehrsolutions.com/. Contact us directly at info@convergehrsolutions.com or 610-296-8550.
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