Homo Sapiens. We're social animals. And work is a social institution. So why aren't more onboarding strategies tapping into the power of human connectivity to help engage and retain new starters?
Human connection isn't a nice-to-have in onboarding, it's one of the strongest levers you have for engagement and retention. We all form long-term relationships at work. Colleagues we'll network with throughout our whole careers. Workmates who'll become close friends. Some of us will even meet our future spouse, it's estimated that in the UK, one in five married couples met at work (TUC survey).
Being able to build strong relationships and friendships at work is key to both performance and retention, and with first-year attrition commonly cited at 25-35% across industries, improving retention is vital. Gallup's long-running Q12 employee engagement research, which links twelve key workplace factors to retention, productivity and performance, includes “I have a best friend at work” as one of its twelve items, and employees who say yes are significantly more likely to be engaged.
Connections that drive retention
How powerful, then, to have an onboarding platform where new starters can interact with each other, and with your people, through both instant messaging and other interactive social tools.
NatWest Group (who has used Eli for over 10 years) knows just how powerful tools like these are, real-time data tracking nearly 9,000 hits on instant messaging last year. Their social walls also had over 10,000 hits as students forged even stronger links, discussing everything from finding accommodation to arranging meet-ups, all before they'd even started work. Graduate dropout fell dramatically too, by 5%, delivering a cost avoidance of £73,692.
A personalised experience
Such connectivity is only one strand of onboarding humans. The second key strand is personalisation. Frequently, the onboarding process can become a series of checklists, of forms to be filled in, and processes to be followed. All too often, the fact that there's a human at the centre of it all, someone who needs to be engaged, informed and enthused, is lost.
Delivering an experience that not only leverages the power of your employer brand, with engaging content that enthuses and excites, but also delivers specific information about the new starter's office, team, and first 90 days, can all help to make sure your potential new joiner does actually start. And that when they do, they are informed, confident, and ready to begin adding value to your business right away.
Once again, onboarding technology like Eli can achieve these goals, as a global technology and power client found out when they used Eli to tailor their preboarding and onboarding experience across 50 different countries, so that each new person received information relevant to them. Through this approach, they saw a big rise in their Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), their joining experience rated at +52 and the company itself at +73. That's the power of a human approach to onboarding.
FAQs
Why does human connection matter in onboarding?
Because retention and performance are built on relationships, not just process. Research consistently links workplace friendships to engagement, and onboarding is the first, and best, opportunity to start building them.
How can technology support human connection during onboarding, without replacing it?
The right platform gives new starters a way to message and connect with line managers, buddies and each other before day one even arrives, extending the relationships that would normally only start once someone's in the building.
What's the link between personalisation and onboarding success?
Generic, checklist-only onboarding treats every new starter the same. A personalised experience, tailored to someone's specific team, office and first 90 days, keeps them engaged and confident, and measurably improves outcomes like your Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS).
Does building relationships during onboarding really affect retention?
Yes. Gallup's engagement research has long shown a strong link between close workplace relationships and engagement, and onboarding platforms that enable early connection have seen measurable drops in candidate dropout before day one.
