A recent survey finds 28 percent of new hires are willing to quit their new jobs if they don’t find it satisfactory in the first 90 days. The study, by Robert Half & Associates, underscores the importance of appropriate onboarding strategies, says Mike Gremmer, a regional vice president for Robert Half & Associates.

“One of the biggest mistakes is that organizations don't recognize the importance of onboarding," Gremmer told Business Record. "It's not just a one-size-fits-all type of approach; I think you have to cater it to the individual and the role."

The survey also found nearly 89 percent of new hires say they want to meet with their new manager during their first day on the job, while 83 percent say they expect to meet colleagues on the first day, in order to start off on a positive note.

“The findings of this survey, backed up by other examples, point to the increased happiness of new hires who are provided with a structured onboarding sequence,” says Tess Taylor of HRDrive. “Learning and development pros would do well to remember that employees are bound to learn in different ways, and quality training programs will reflect this philosophy. New employees also shouldn't be caught off guard by day-to-day duties that are drastically different from their training sessions.”

A different survey, conducted in 2015 by OfficeTeam, found 54 percent of employees said they experienced a mishap in their new job in the first few days. Thirty-three percent of the time, this was due to technology not being set up properly. Sixteen percent said they didn’t receive an overview of their new company and its policies, 15 percent didn’t get introduced to their coworkers, and 14 percent didn’t even get a tour of the office.

According to Michelle Burke of Social Talent, these practical steps can be crucial to new hires, who are building an impression of their new workplace from day one. “The time that you spend investing in new hires through onboarding greatly benefits their ability to succeed at an early stage,” she writes. “This idea of ‘get them in and get them working’ without a doubt does more damage than good. Onboarding is more about nurturing the new employee, about checking in, about the personal approach.”

Good onboarding, Burke says, includes several essential tasks the first day: getting employees set up with the right equipment, giving them a tour of the building, introducing them to managers and co-workers, and giving them an overview of company policies.

In the first 90 days, she adds, new hires should have regular check-ins with managers and team leaders, be encouraged to give feedback and ask questions, and given the opportunity to shadow other teams and departments, in order to get a better feel for the how the organization operates.

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Proper onboarding can prevent new talent from jumping ship

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