It’s not often that you hear an employee rave about the onboarding process at their new job. With the launch of its new platform Welcome, the
“Everyone’s had that horrific experience where you start a new job and feel immediately forgotten about, and it sucks,” says Jon Stross, cofounder and president of Greenhouse. “A lot of companies used to think that onboarding was about getting people a computer and getting them on payroll. But the lightbulb is going off: This is about making someone a part of a team.”
Failure to create successful onboarding experiences can have costly implications for employers. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 20% of new employees
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“We see it at our own company,” Stross says. “The difference between getting a sales person up to speed in six weeks versus 12 weeks? That translates to a lot of actual money.”
Welcome enables employers to engage with new employees ahead of their start date, making sure they have the chance to connect with other new hires and know who their best points-of-contact are once they’re on the clock. Employers can track progress as employees move through their welcome tasks, survey new hires for feedback (whether at five days in or 90 days in) and ensure that legacy staffers are doing their part to welcome the new team member and get them up to speed.
“The first chunk is getting employees set up with the appropriate systems, but the second chunk is about making sure they have a buddy, someone to take them out to lunch or to meet them on a Zoom,” Stross says. “Companies can’t dictate friendship, but they can create spaces for people to meet each other, and that makes a huge difference for new employees.”
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As companies shift to hiring for talent rather than geography, effective onboarding processes can help create cultural consistencies for scattered staffers.
“You want to make sure that people aren’t treated like a second-class citizen because they’re not physically in the office,” Stross says. “A good onboarding process shouldn’t be dependent on whether someone is coming into the office to do it or not.”
It’s a reliable way to set employees — and a business — up for long-term success. Great onboarding can boost employee retention by 82%, and productivity by 70%, according to Glassdoor.
“In recruiting, companies make sure every touchpoint of the candidate experience is great, because we’re in this really competitive talent market,” Stross says. “Why would you want that to end once you send someone an offer letter? This is about telling the story of what’s important to your company. It’s about being thoughtful in how you welcome people.”
