How to Optimize Your Onboarding Process to Boost Retention

Hiring great people is hard. Keeping them? Even harder. In fact, a 2023 report by Gallup found that only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job of onboarding new employees and that weak onboarding significantly increases the risk of early turnover.

How to Optimize Your Onboarding Process

It’s a costly problem, but also an avoidable one. Strong onboarding programs don’t just help new hires “settle in” they build connection, clarity, and momentum from Day One. They can improve retention, boost productivity, and leave a lasting impression that turns a new joiner into a long-term contributor.

In this article, we’ll walk through how to optimize your onboarding process in practical, people-first ways and why it might be the most underrated retention strategy in your toolkit.

Why Onboarding Process Is the Key to Retention and Productivity

Let’s be honest: most onboarding is underwhelming. New hires are bombarded with policies, left alone to read 87-page PDFs, and maybe get a “welcome lunch” if they’re lucky. But research shows that great onboarding isn’t just a nice-to-have it’s a major retention lever.

According to SHRM, up to 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days. But companies with structured onboarding programs see 50% greater new hire retention and 62% greater productivity within their first year. That’s not just paperwork that’s impact.

Effective onboarding helps new employees:

• Feel welcome and confident

• Understand the business and their role

• Build early relationships

• Start contributing faster
  

It’s not about ticking boxes. It’s about making your new hire feel like they’ve made the right choice and you have too.

Start Strong with Preboarding and First Impressions

Onboarding starts before Day One. That window between offer acceptance and the first day is prime time for preboarding. If you go quiet, candidates can start to feel uncertain. But if you stay engaged, it builds excitement and trust.

Here’s what strong preboarding can look like:

• Send a warm welcome email ideally from their manager, not HR.

• Share helpful info like what to expect on Day One, company values, org charts, or team intros.

• Prep their tech and workspace don’t wait until the morning they start.

• Invite them to a team WhatsApp group or virtual lunch before they join.

• Assign a buddy or welcome guide someone who’s not their boss but knows the ropes.

Remember: your goal is to reduce Day One anxiety. Think of preboarding as laying the runway so when your new hire lands, everything feels smooth.

Go Beyond Orientation: Culture, Clarity, and Connection

Culture, Clarity, and Connection

A good onboarding program does more than introduce people to their desk and password policies.

Here’s what great onboarding covers:

Culture - From the way people communicate to how decisions get made, new hires need to “read the room.” Build cultural integration into onboarding. Talk about company values. Tell stories. Celebrate team wins. Assign buddies or mentors who model the culture in action.

Clarity - People are most anxious when they don’t know what’s expected of them. Make the role crystal clear. Align with the job description, define success and walk through KPIs or OKRs. Set 30-60-90 day goals and check in regularly.

Connection - Early belonging drives long-term engagement. Schedule one-on-ones with team members, cross-functional intros, or leadership coffee chats. Simple things like “Who do I go to for what?” or “How do we give feedback here?” go a long way. Here’s a simple but powerful example of what that connection can look like: On your first day, your manager sits you down and asks,

"What’s important to you outside of work, and how can I support you?"

The trick is to pace things out. Don’t overload the first week. Give space for learning, reflection, and relationship-building.

Equip Managers, Mentors, and HR to Deliver a Unified Experience

Too many onboarding programs fail because ownership is fuzzy. HR thinks managers are doing it. Managers think HR is. The new hire? They're just hoping someone remembers they started today.

Strong onboarding is a shared effort, but that only works when roles are clearly defined.

Here’s how to break it down:

HR sets the structure - Create the checklist, schedule sessions, and own compliance, logistics, and tools. HR also ensures consistency across departments and gathers feedback to improve the experience.

Managers bring clarity and accountability - The hiring manager is the most critical player. They should own the 30-60-90 day plan, provide regular check-ins, give early feedback, and help the new hire prioritize work.

Buddies or mentors offer social integration - This role makes a huge difference. A peer guide helps navigate the unwritten rules, answers the awkward questions, and gives the new hire a trusted point of contact.

Don’t leave onboarding to chance. Give each stakeholder tools and training to play their part.

Automate the Process Without Losing the Human Touch

Human Touch

If onboarding is still 100% manual, it’s time for an upgrade. Today’s best HR teams use automation and low-code platforms to handle repetitive tasks, freeing up time to focus on people.

What can you automate?

• Welcome emails and document requests

• Preboarding reminders and Day One checklists

• Scheduling onboarding sessions and training

• Status tracking (e.g., has IT set up their laptop?)

• Feedback surveys at Day 7, 30, 90
  

HRIS make it easy to set up workflows and track onboarding progress. You can create role-based templates, assign tasks, and ensure consistency across teams and locations.

But here’s the key: don’t automate everything. Keep the human in human resources.

Use automation to simplify logistics, not replace connection. A video message from the CEO or a handwritten welcome note still goes a lot further than a perfectly automated calendar invite.

Measure What Matters: Tracking Onboarding Success

How do you know if your onboarding process is working?

Too many teams set it and forget it. But great onboarding evolves — and that means tracking the right metrics.

Here are a few worth watching:

• Time-to-productivity - How long until the new hire is fully up and running?

• Early attrition - Are people leaving in the first 3–6 months?

• New hire satisfaction - What do people say in onboarding surveys?

• Hiring manager feedback - Are managers confident in their new team members?

• Engagement and connection scores - Are new hires feeling like they belong?
  

Send a pulse survey at key milestones: Day 7, Day 30, and Day 90. Ask about their experience, clarity of role, how supported they feel, and what could’ve been better. Then actually use that data to improve the program.

Bonus: Share onboarding success stories with leadership. It reinforces the business case for continued investment and sends a signal that onboarding isn’t just an admin task, it’s strategic.

Conclusion: Make Onboarding Your Retention Advantage

A great onboarding experience doesn’t happen by accident, it’s intentional. From preboarding to cultural integration, from clear manager involvement to smart automation, every step shapes how a new hire feels about your company and their decision to join. Done right, onboarding builds early momentum, strengthens engagement, and significantly reduces the risk of early turnover. It signals that your company doesn’t just fill roles, it invests in people. If you’re looking to take your hiring process to the next level, explore more practical advice on our website, including articles like 10 Interview Mistakes Even Experienced Hiring Managers Make, How to Keep Candidates Engaged Through the Interview Process, and What to Include in a Performance-Based Job Description. Make onboarding your competitive edge and a reason people stay.