Your Onboarding Wake-Up Call: Three Things Most Companies Get Wrong

Your Onboarding Wake-Up Call: Three Things Most Companies Get Wrong

Many organizations treat onboarding as an administrative formality, checking off a box before the real work starts. But onboarding is your first impression on new hires, and a comprehensive onboarding process has been shown to increase retention, boost productivity, and decrease new hire confusion.

Day One is Too Late

The onboarding experience starts when a new hire accepts their role, not the first time they clock in. While you’re getting them set up in the system, your newest team members are preparing themselves for a new role.

After they accept their offer, new hires are searching for information on your company, reading reviews online, re-reading their job description, and forming expectations.

Get ahead by:

• Sending a personal welcome note from their direct manager.
• Sharing a “getting started” packet with team bios, a preview of their first week’s schedule, any light reading about your company or their role, swag, etc.
• Answering questions about logistics in an email that outlines their first day.

Paperwork Sets the Tone

A new employee’s administrative onboarding experience signals what working at a company will actually feel like. Outdated documents, poorly-configured web portals, and confusing instructions tell new hires that their time here will be defined by chaos.

Nobody talks about this one, but everyone has lived it: you accept a job at a company that seemed polished and professional, and then you receive a DocuSign packet from 2014, a benefits portal that crashes on mobile, and IT instructions that reference a system the company stopped using two years ago. These are our onboarding paperwork red and green flags:

Offer Letter Delivery

• Red Flag: Emailed late, as a scan of a printed document
• Green Flag: Sent over digitally on the same day

Benefits Enrollment

• Red Flag: A set of lengthy PDFs sent over without context
• Green Flag: A guided, intuitive portal with a dedicated contact

Payroll and Direct Deposit

• Red Flag: New hires get a form on their first day
• Green Flag: Completed online before day one

IT and Equipment

• Red Flag: Spending the first week waiting on system access
• Green Flag: Equipment is ready, and accounts are active on day one

Forms and Compliance

• Red Flag: A stack of papers and links to training with no explanation
• Green Flag: Organized, explained, digital, completed in advance

First Day Communication

• Red Flag: Figuring things out as the day goes on
• Green Flag: Clear agenda sent ahead of time

The 90-Day Cliff

Why do around 30% of employees quit after their first 90 days? They might seem engaged and like a strong fit for their new role, but the three-month mark approaches and they submit their letter of resignation.

What happened?

Here’s the pattern: a new hire comes in strong. They’re engaged, they’re asking questions, they’re showing up. Around the two-month mark, things seem to settle. Managers breathe a sigh of relief. And then, right around month three, the resignation lands on your desk.

What happened?

Here are three reasons employees leave after 90 days, and three ways you can address these concerns.

Role vs Reality:The role they applied for and the role they’re doing have diverged too far.

The Fix:Re-assess your job descriptions and ensure they match your actual expectations.

Opportunities to Advance: Employees want the opportunity to growin their roles, but after 90 days may realize that isn’t possible.

The Fix:Create clear career paths and provide opportunities for employees at all levels to invest in their development.

Feedback Void: No one has provided them with meaningful feedback. The Fix: Provide clear, consistent feedback and ensure leaders are accessible to answer questions about expectations.

Fixing the issues that start with onboarding and continue into the first 90 days of employment needs more than a 90-day one-on-one. Continuous conversations, check-ins, and clear expectations help your new hires thrive.

PuzzleHR helps organizations build onboarding processes that streamline the new hire experience and reduce your administrative burden.

Ready to put your best foot forward? Contact us today.