People

The Onboarding Experience: How to Keep Your New Employee Engaged

Employer welcoming new employee to the job

Empower employees to succeed by clearly communicating what they're working toward.

The hiring and onboarding experience can determine whether your new employees will stick around for the long haul or cut and run. Nearly 61 percent of people have walked away from a job because it turned out to be different from expected, according to "Keeping Pace With the Evolution of Work: Creating a New Employee Experience."

Here's how to set the groundwork for attracting top talent, helping your people grow, and giving them reasons to stay.

Provide Goals and Direction

Employees will be more engaged — and productive — if they know exactly what they're expected to do and where it will get them. Yet only 25 percent of employees have been given defined development goals by their employer.

Empower employees to succeed by clearly communicating what they're working toward — and give them the tools and support to get there. They'll thank you by sticking around long enough to see themselves achieve rewarding goals.

Meet Employees' Needs

The ADP Research Institute¨ has uncovered five critical needs that motivate modern workers:

  • Freedom
  • Knowledge
  • Stability
  • Self-management
  • Meaning

Make employees comfortable and engaged from the start by meeting these needs, and tailoring each employee's experience to their specific strengths and desires as much as possible. When their needs are satisfied and they're able to work in a way that suits them, they'll be less likely to look for other options.

The work of keeping employees around for the long haul starts at with the onboarding experience.