Employee experience | Putting people at the heart of onboarding

Increasingly, new starters are looking for customer grade experiences from their onboarding experience. How can you provide it? And why is it worth the investment?

Today’s employer attraction strategies put candidates’ needs front and centre. They’re engaging, brand building, and take full advantage of the latest technology. Creative advertising campaigns run across multiple channels, driving candidates to careers websites full of rich, thought-provoking content. Assessments are immersive and interviews experiential. Everything is designed to convince the right talent to say ‘Yes’.

But after they do, what happens next? A few forms? A letter of congratulation? Perhaps an email from a line manager? At the very moment the candidate becomes an employee, many businesses drop the ball. At which point, many candidates return the favour by disengaging too. One to three months is the typical time between offer and start date for professional, executive and management hires. It’s a long time to be ignored.

The problem can be even worse for graduates, who typically have over nine months before they start.