Onboarding and retention in the corporate world seem to be especially challenging these days, with stats stating that 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days! 

How can you close the gap between candidate experience and employee experience? How can you show your new hires that you are just as invested as they are in their new role? And how can you set up new hires for success from day one? 

The answer: a robust onboarding program! 

In fact, Glassdoor research states that: 

  • Organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by as much as 82% and productivity by 70%. 
  • 91% percent of employees who went through effective onboarding felt strong connectedness at work.
  • 49%of employees who went through effective onboarding reported contributing to their team within the first week.

The numbers don’t lie! Here are a few of our top tips for improving an onboarding program. 

Start Early

The onboarding process can begin the minute you have a signed offer from your candidate. Introduce the new hire to the team, maintain consistent communication leading up to their first day and use onboarding software to get the paperwork out of the way as quickly as possible. 

Process and Procedure

If you’ve started early, your new employees will start on the first day eager to get up-to-speed and start contributing. Within the first week, we recommend: 

  • Working with an internal or external Human Resources professional to ensure you have a robust onboarding program in place. 
  • Selecting a mentor to work closely with the new hire.
  • Introducing the team and making the new employee feel welcomed and included. 
  • Setting clear expectations.

Branded Products

We couldn’t forget the bread and butter of any successful onboarding program: branded products! Branded merchandise and onboarding welcome kits for new employees can help create passion and excitement from the first day. It will help new employees feel like they are a part of a team. 

Not sure where to begin? Here are some of the most effective branded products for new employees:

Branded apparel: Wearable branded products are welcomed by all when they are high quality products that can be worn in and outside of work. In addition, they foster brand recognition and allow your new hire to feel like a part of the team.  

Drinkware: A branded tumbler for carrying coffee to and from the office or a branded water bottle to keep at their desk. 

Tech: Give employees a branded portable charger or a padfolio with a charging pad to keep them powered up throughout the day. 

Onboarding kit: We can work with you to create a box of branded goods for each new hire – one that can be ordered for every new hire with just a few clicks of a button on your end. Our team can hold the kits and drop ship to new employees homes before their first day or to your office for day one. 

Don’t Forget Virtual Onboarding

Virtual onboarding can be a bit more tricky – you can’t give your hires an office tour or gain a quick personal connection over lunch or coffee on the first day. It is crucial to ensure your work from home employees still feel just as connected and productive from their own homes. 

We recommend tailoring many of the tips above to work for a virtual employee, too. In addition, a welcome box filled with branded products is an excellent tool to make a splash on day one. The box can include branded apparel, drinkware, office tools and more. 

Understanding what effective onboarding really means (and then practicing it) can be a true competitive advantage for your organization. We would be happy to set you up with a human resources professional to begin your official onboarding process. 

And of course, talk to our team to learn how you can use branded products to create a robust and personalized experience for your new hires.