[Infographic] 20+ Onboarding Stats to Share With Your Leadership Team

Did you know that an onboarding program can increase employee retention and new-hire productivity by 82% and 70%, respectively or that only 12% of employees say their company did a good job onboarding them? How about that 77% of employees who went through a formal onboarding process hit their performance goals? Pretty shocking, right? These are just two employee onboarding statistics that begin to paint a picture of its importance.

Keep reading for more than twenty more. 

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Is Employee Onboarding Important? Only if You Want Them to Be Successful

What does all this mean?

Employee onboarding matters in a MAJOR way.

A well-designed program can boost revenue. But at the same time, an onboarding program can cost you some serious cash if you don't do it in a way that provides value to your employees — fast. This is reason enough to get an employee onboarding program off the ground (or up your investment into an existing one). 

Beyond that, current onboarding statistics show that an employee's performance, productivity, engagement and effort are directly tied with the quality of their onboarding experience. Unsurprisingly, this plays a role in employee retention, which will continue to be crucial during the Great Resignation. So, if you want your employees to perform and you want to retain them, you must invest in training. 

The Role of Technology in an Employee Onboarding Program 

What does all this mean? 

Most HR and hiring teams don’t have the necessary tools and technologies in place to implement an effective onboarding program. As a result, most programs are slow, tedious and require a big lift from internal teams. In fact, a study found that administrative tasks account for more than 73% of HR's time.

That’s why it's important to choose a learning management system (LMS) that can power your employee onboarding program. Not only will this free up your hiring teams and managers to focus on other onboarding activities, but you’ll be able to completely tailor the experience to meet the unique needs of each employee. For example, with an LMS, you can use different content types and delivery to ensure all of your employees can learn at their own pace. Collectively, this technology can help you reduce time-to-value for your employees.

More Employee Onboarding Statistics: The Good 

What does all of this mean? 

The best onboarding programs start early. And by early, I mean before the first day. By starting the program early, you'll give new hires a chance to ease into their role and get a foundational understanding of the company and role before introducing more complex topics (e.g., your go-to-market strategy and product features). 

Pro Tip: Use an LMS to automatically deliver relevant content to new hires as soon as they sign their offer. Then, monitor their progress and reach out before their first day if you see how they’re doing and if they need any help.   

These stats also paint a clear picture that the best employee onboarding programs often go above and beyond what a typical program would consist of — think assigning a mentor,  incorporating social media and laying out a clear career progression plan.

Even More Statistics: The Bad (and Ugly)

What does all of this mean? 

Unsuccessful onboarding programs typically have a few things in common. First, they're too short, failing to extend beyond the first month of employment or adjacent topics like company culture. Additionally, unsuccessful programs generally fail to set a good guiding light (i.e., they don't measure the impact of onboarding). 

But if you ask me, the undisputed ugliest stat is that far too many companies spend nothing (ZERO!) on employee onboarding or don’t have a specific onboarding budget. while only 19% have a specific onboarding budget. 

Combined, these employee statistics illustrate a golden — possibly once-in-a-lifetime — opportunity. With the growing importance of workplace advancement, a dwindling premium on financial benefits and the fact that many companies aren't taking the former seriously, you have the opportunity to establish an online education program that not only helps you stand out but improves performance and retention.

Want to see how Northpass can help you optimize your employee onboarding program? Reach out today.