Onboarding: A bespoke approach that reduces costs and increases productivity

Approximately 25% of the working population make a job move every year¹. Given the rise of the gig economy and the game changing impact of virtual technology, our increasingly automated workplaces can anticipate even higher levels of employee movement.  As the trend takes hold the cost of replacing leavers has the potential to rocket.  In fact, according to a study by Oxford Economics in 2014 it costs the organisation a staggering £30,000 to replace a single job². This includes costly recruitment campaigns, lengthy selection activities, unsatisfactory temporary resources, labour costs, logistical expenses and loss of productivity. 

Over time, faced with a new reality, organisations will be forced to take steps to reign in the direct costs of recruitment finding innovative, faster and more cost effective ways to attract and select employees.  However, indirect costs such as loss of productivity are more evasive and more complex to address.  For example, there is a period of time when the departing employee starts a process of ‘letting go’.  As they disassociate the impact of their diminishing productivity will be felt keenly by the people who rely on their know-how and contribution.  To further compound the dilemma, it also takes some time for the incoming employee to reach an optimal level of productivity.

So, is loss of productivity inevitable and can it be minimised?

It’s probably impossible for someone to leave a job without reducing their productivity to some extent – surely that’s inherent to leaving isn’t it? Clearly, organisations will benefit from implementing effective exit strategies to minimise disruption but as about 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days³ (not forgetting the impact of those who remain and are unproductive) a strong focus on helping new recruits to smoothly integrate into an organisation or role, thereby reducing their ‘mean time to contribution’, will generate much greater value. Getting your onboarding process right then is central to your success for both increasing retention and productivity.