29th May 2025 4 MIN READ •Resources
Is building a ‘magnetic culture’ possible in the modern world? Retention has always been a puzzle HR has found difficult to solve, but arguably now more so than ever. In a recent poll, Gallup found that only 20% of employees feel connected and engaged at work.
If this Gallup statistic is indicative of our workforce, the question is, how can we begin to build out our company culture so that employees want to stay with us and top talent wants to come to us?
In our latest guide, we outline exactly how businesses, just like yours, can build a magnetic company culture in just three simple steps.
Contents
What is onboarding?
We’ve probably all experienced poor examples of onboarding. From feelings of isolation on that first day, sitting alone in reception waiting an age for your manager to come and collect you, to realising within the first 10 days of your new role that you’d been sold a totally different job to the one you’d applied for.
Of course, for every bad experience, there’ll be scores of good ones too. The point is onboarding is an absolutely crucial component of recruitment, and not only recruitment but retention too.
But what is onboarding? It can be an overused phrase in the HR world, and one that can be reduced to the purely ‘practical’ element of securing new talent. But it’s more than that…
Here’s our definition: ‘Onboarding is a mixture of obligatory employee checks such as Right to Work, contracts and references, alongside proactive communications that engage the new employee, giving them the best possible chance to succeed in their role.’
Why the focus on employee onboarding?
Without a robust onboarding process, you face the risk of candidate flight, or in other words, candidate dropoffs. There’s also the possibility of disengaged new starters, and let’s not forget the possibility of facing legal consequences if the right checks haven’t been managed correctly.
Get onboarding right, on the other hand, and you’ll increase the number of successful hires, you’ll immerse individuals into your culture, you’ll align them with your vision and values, and dramatically increase their speed-to-competency.
The sooner these things happen, the more chance you have of retaining your new hires long-term, thanks to high engagement and satisfaction levels. And, of course, it goes without saying that onboarding should be the time you ensure all the necessary legal checks and measures are undertaken to ensure you remain a legally compliant employer.
What makes for effective onboarding?
When it comes to onboarding, the best advice we can offer is: don’t improvise. It’s no surprise that 58% of employees are more likely to be at the same company three years later if they experience a structured onboarding process. Instead, structure your process, whether onboarding remotely or inperson.
With a well-structured onboarding process you will achieve the following:
Improved employee engagement
Ongoing employee engagement is crucial when you consider just how quickly a new starter can become disengaged. If the new starter has had a poor onboarding experience, disengagement will start right from day one.
Increased likelihood of retention
A Gallup fact: Did you know 87% of highly engaged employees are less likely to leave their roles? Conversely, according to Indeed, an unstructured onboarding program where new starters don’t receive the proper information increases the likelihood of churn by 11%.
Strong company culture
A structured onboarding process will induct new starters to your company culture, assimilating them, welcoming them, and giving them a chance to see where they fit into your culture and how they’ll contribute.
Increased productivity
Employee productivity is sometimes considered a negative phrase, but it’s what we employ people for; we hire them to do their jobs and to be productive. A structured onboarding practice will highlight new starters’ goals, roles, and targets appropriately – all with the aim of maximising productivity.
Positive experience
A good onboarding experience will ratify the new starter’s decision to join your company. It will help reduce the anxieties, stress, and the emotional upheaval of leaving another job to come to you
The first step: Preboarding
First and foremost, a robust and structured onboarding process is necessary to ensure you, as a business, and your future employees feel secure that you’ve made the right choices in choosing each other.
Onboarding can’t be skimmed over; if it is, it doesn’t work out well for either the business or the new starter.
Indeed, such is the current state of the recruitment world; structured onboarding has never been so important. With uncertainty all around us, both from a business and a candidate perspective, we’re all looking for a modicum of security. To provide it, let’s start at the beginning…
Preboarding: An onboarding necessity
It’s no secret that hiring the right talent is difficult, which is why preboarding is an onboarding necessity. But what exactly is preboarding? We define preboarding as ‘The period between accepting an offer and the onboarding process proper.’
Most companies will use this stage as its digital bridge between recruitment and employment, taking care of the necessary paperwork and checks and measures before a new starters first day.
However, preboarding should be important for all businesses. It’s a time where companies can invite new starters into the office to meet future colleagues or invite them to a company event to get to know future colleagues in an informal setting.
Where most companies go wrong at this stage is to make preboarding a time-saving exercise. And while it’s good for the employer to get all the right checks in place before a start date, will limiting preboarding to background checks make your business stand out? Will it breed trust and loyalty?
Good recruitment is all about building relationships. Having the necessary background checks done and dusted and the contract signed and sealed before your new starter walks through your door is good.
But preboarding should be about energising the new starter before they begin while ensuring your they’re insulated against either a counteroffer or a better job offer from another company.
In a nutshell: A good preboarding stage should seek to be practical, while engaging and supporting the new starter.
The Power of Onboarding: Ultimate guide to employee onboarding
HR’s currency is people; the more you invest in people, the more successful the overall business will be. In our free Power of Onboarding Guide, we’ll uncover the true power of a structured onboarding process, how it can help you engage your people, retain top talent and even attract the very best.
The most significant thing to remember with onboarding is that the talent at your business is your biggest asset. Discover the power onboarding can have on your business.
