Information technology leaders as well as industry workers say onboarding programs are extremely, according to a recent survey by TEKsystems, a provider of IT staffing services.
In fact, 62 of leader respondents and 49 percent of employee respondents say onboarding programs are necessary to establish a new hire's ability to be productive and add value while 53 percent of leader respondents and 45 percent of employee respondents say onboarding is important to a new hire's level of cohesion within their team. Another 46 percent of leader respondents and 44 percent of employee respondents say onboarding is important to determining a new hire's ability to be successful with the company in the long term.
"Given the questions onboarding programs help answer, it is not surprising to see both IT leaders and IT professionals in strong agreement about the role onboarding plays in building a successful employee-employer relationship," says Rachel Russell, director at TEKsystems. "Companies that build their onboarding programs strategically can help their new hires understand expectations clearly, reach productivity faster and feel more connected to the organization – all keys to long-term employee engagement and retention."
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Although both sets of respondents agree on the extreme importance of onboarding programs, most report that their onboarding programs are not a main priority, and they lack the necessary attention. In fact, 57 percent of employee respondents say they have had a formal and strategic onboarding plan less than 20 percent of the time, and 18 percent of employee respondents agree that sufficient attention is given to developing a strong onboarding program while 36 percent say little to no significance is devoted to onboarding.
Among leader respondents, 60 percent say only some significance is placed on developing a strong onboarding program, and 37 say enough emphasis is dedicated to onboarding, but 44 percent disagree.
"Unfortunately, organizations can become so focused on tasks, they forget that people – their most critical resources – need to be prioritized and taken care of if their tasks are to be accomplished successfully," Russell says. "It's clear that not enough attention is placed on developing comprehensive, strategic onboarding programs in most organizations. For an onboarding program to achieve its potential and offer return to an organization's investment in a new hire, organizational commitment is required. When employers do not put the appropriate time and effort into designing and implementing onboarding, time, money and resources go to waste."
The survey shows that when onboarding programs fail to receive the needed attention, they become inefficient and ineffective as only 12 percent of leader respondents and 13 percent of employee respondents consider their onboarding programs as extremely effective.
"There are several outcomes of ineffective onboarding programs that definitely hurt an organization's ability to achieve its business objectives," Russell says. "The most drastic is when new hires lose faith in the organization or themselves, and they quit. Turnover is bad enough just in general terms due to its cost and impact on morale and productivity. However, the pain is compounded when organizations lose what may have been a great hire simply because the onboarding experience failed."
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