How to turn new hires into long-term contributors
Onboarding that inspires
Onboarding is more than a checklist; it’s a defining moment in the employee experience. And it matters more than ever.
Over one-third of new hires say they plan to leave their companies within the first year. But when onboarding is done right, it can flip that script entirely.
The secret ingredient: recognition
Recognition plays a powerful role in onboarding. When new hires are reminded how their work impacts the company’s mission, they’re twice as likely to want to stay. Personalized recognition makes an even bigger impact. Employees who feel connected to their managers are 5.7 times more likely to feel inspired at work.
Key milestones like 30, 90, or 180 days are perfect opportunities to celebrate progress. Yet only 53% of new hires have their 1- or 3-year anniversaries recognized. Those who don’t receive early recognition are twice as likely to be job hunting.
Real results from real customers
After implementing a strategic onboarding and recognition program using their recognition platform, a large global healthcare organization saw an increase in the program overall, but especially in their entry-level high-turnover population. Personalized emails from the recognition program with links to a digital welcome kit that included culture videos showed these results:
- 6.4% improvement in 90-day retention
- 5.4% increase in recognition receiving percentage
- 6% of new hires logging in their first year – a 14.5% increase from prior to enacting the program
- 99% of employees receiving recognition in their first year
- 4,000+ employees engaged with the digital welcome kit
The program didn’t just hit the new hire population. A reminder on the recognition site to recognize new team members promotes a targeted welcome eCard. Managers get monthly communication with a list of new hires hitting specific milestones in their first year and links to a digital kit that shows the experience at each touchpoint.
This targeted communication led to:
- 100% of managers with new hires gave recognition to that direct report, compared to 73% of managers overall
- 2,300+ “Welcome to the Team” eCards sent in a year
- 1,200+ managers accessed the digital Manager Kit
The journey starts on Day One
An employee’s experience is a journey, and onboarding sets the tone. And it’s not just the first day or even the first week. By having intentional recognition and communication strategies around milestones in the first year that include peers and managers, new hires will:
- Know their role, their peers, their leaders, and your culture
- Feel like they belong at your organization
- Do the behaviors that drive alignment to your values and increase performance and intent to stay
By continuously auditing and evolving your onboarding process, you ensure that new hires feel supported, valued, and inspired from the start.
Because when onboarding works, employees don’t just stay… they thrive.