Gone are the days when employees used to join organisations with the intention of staying on for a long time. Some from the older generation have only worked for a single employer all their lives. Today, the scene is entirely different. Employees with less than six months of tenure have the lowest intent to stay (three years or more) at their organisation — just 38 per cent versus 65 per cent overall, reveals Qualtrics survey. This huge difference of 27 percentage points raises some questions. Why are new hires eager to leave quickly?
The answer lies in the mismatch between employee experiences of the new hires and their expectations. Earlier, employees were known to remain highly engaged in their new jobs for a minimum of 12 months, but now they are already considering quitting in that period.
More than a third (39 per cent) of employees admitted that they would move on from their present organisation within the next 12 months, which is an increase of six points from last year. The survey also reveals that new hires reported KPI scores much worse than the tenured employees across the board.
Only 38 per cent of the employees who have been with the organisation less than six months intend to stay on with the organisation. About 65 per cent of the employees who are less than six months old in the organisation are engaged, while only about 66 per cent of these new hires feel a sense of inclusion.
That is why, CHROs today are more focused on onboarding. Last year, the figures were different. According to our 2023 State of HR Report, focus for CHROs on onboarding was nine points below talent attraction and hiring. While 50 per cent CHROs focusssed on attracting and hiring talent, 41 per cent focused on onboarding.
The report suggests than an effective onboarding programme can ensure that new employees are set up to deliver value to the organisation.
But this doesn’t happen when employees with less than six months of tenure are often excluded from annual-engagement surveys. That means, it is essential for the onboarding process to have its own listening programme.
It is the employers’ duty to ensure that their new employee-experience programmes are able to fulfil the expectations of incoming talent. It is these employee experiences that shape the first impression employees form of the organisation giving them a fair idea of what it would be like to work there.
High time employers began to focus more on the onboarding experience, which includes the social aspects – whether employees are working in the office, remotely, or in the hybrid mode. Socialising is essential for new hires to come up to speed, establish connections, and learn to navigate the new workplace culture.
This also has financial benefits. After all, losing new hires costs the company a lot more than losing a tenured employee what with the expenditure incurred in hiring and training amongst others. Instead, it makes more sense to make the new employee experience positively memorable so that the new hires stay on and may be even attract others like them.