Enboarder^®released new research on the state of employee onboarding based on a survey of more than 1,000 employees in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. As companies continue to grapple with maintaining morale and engagement in the new world of work, only 26% of employees said they felt fully informed, engaged, and confident during their most recent onboarding.

This research also reveals that remote and hybrid workers are struggling most when it comes to onboarding:

– Remote new hires are the most likely to have had a truly terrible onboarding experience (42%), followed by hybrid workers (39%).
– Remote new hires are nearly 50% more likely to say company culture was demonstrated poorly or not at all compared to their peers on-site.
– Field workers are more than 2x as likely to feel like they were not fully informed, engaged, and confident during their onboarding process compared to their peers on-site.
– Remote new hires are almost 2x as likely to say the onboarding software or app they used was not helpful.

Human connection and communications remain key differentiators for onboarding in a tight labor market. New hires who made friends during onboarding were four times more likely to say they had an “over the moon” experience and nearly twice as likely to say they had a positive experience. That positive onboarding experience can translate into real ROI for companies.

Of employees with a positive onboarding experience:

– 42% felt more engaged
– 46% were satisfied with their job decision
– 34% were motivated to stay longer at the company
– 32% would recommend the company as a great place to work

Unfortunately, many companies are fueling dissatisfaction, turnover, and performance challenges by not modernizing their onboarding. When employees have a terrible onboarding experience:

– 34% felt disengaged
– 33% regretted accepting the role
– 30% had a negative outlook on the work environment
– 25% actually left their job
– 25% shared their negative experience with others

“Leaving onboarding to chance is a huge risk considering the massive investment companies make when it comes to recruitment,” said Dan Finnigan, CEO at Enboarder. “This report clearly shows the experiences we have when we start a new job have a huge impact on employer brand, employee experience, and performance. The fact is, most onboarding programs are falling short – and it’s negatively impacting the bottom line.”

Other key findings from the new report include:

• Onboarding tech adoption is widespread, but sometimes no software is better than bad software. Seventy-four percent of new hires interact with some form of onboarding software, but only 19% found the apps or software to be very helpful.
• Work friendship is a multiplier of positive onboarding outcomes. Friendships 2x the likelihood of employees feeling well-informed about their roles and the clarity of their job expectations. Having effective onboarding software available also correlates with friendship formation, as those without access to apps or software were 3x less likely to make friends than those with software they found helpful.
• “Over the moon” onboarding is achievable with a focus on stronger communications and people connections. 80% of people with an “over the moon” experience said onboarding started before their official start date. Another 62% of new hires with “over the moon” experiences said they had strong personal connections at work.

Explore HRTech News for the latest Tech Trends in Human Resources Technology.