Key Onboarding Metrics That Matter: Enhancing Your New Hire Experience

According to an article on LinkedIn (S2M Digital Recruitment, 2023), an effective onboarding process can increase retention rates of new employees by up to 82%.  This directly correlates with an increase of 50% in their productivity and overall improved job satisfaction. Effective onboarding sets the foundation for employee success, performance and engagement, which clearly leads to better outcomes for the company. 

What Are Onboarding Metrics? 

In simple terms, onboarding metrics are specific measurements that evaluate the effectiveness of a company’s onboarding process. These metrics supply valuable insights into how well new employees are integrated, trained, and supported as they transition into their roles. Monitoring quantitative and qualitative measurements such as retention rates or employee feedback helps a company assess the success or failure of their onboarding process. Adopting this data-driven approach allows companies of any size and industry to make informed decisions in order to optimise their processes and identify where improvements can be made.

Why Measure Employee Onboarding Success Metrics?

There is a growing appreciation of the many direct and indirect benefits that measuring employee onboarding success metrics can bring. Not only can it improve employee satisfaction and productivity, but it can also play an important role in the longer-term retention of employees. What’s more, metrics can be tracked instantaneously. Therefore, managers and HR teams can react in real-time, making changes where necessary to ensure a positive, supportive environment for new hires.

Metrics to Measure Onboarding Success

Here are the most important metrics to track during the onboarding process:

Time to Productivity

This metric tracks how quickly new employees become fully operational and productive in their new roles. Key milestones of performance can either be measured by the time taken or by which tasks have been completed proficiently. If an employee becomes fully productive relatively quickly, this indicates that the onboarding process was successful.

Onboarding Satisfaction Score

This metric assesses the engagement and satisfaction levels of new employees during and after the onboarding process. This satisfaction score can be confirmed through surveys, feedback sessions and informal discussions which can show how connected and committed new employees feel to the company. The surveys are best done at intermittent points during the onboarding process. For example, after one month, three months, six months and after a year.

Early Turnover Rates

An early turnover rate relates to the percentage of new employees who leave within a relatively short time, for example within a year. Measuring early turnover rates can reflect the effectiveness of the company’s onboarding and retention strategies. This is because such employees have often had a negative experience during the onboarding process. A high turnover rate not only costs time and money but can also affect a company’s brand and team morale.

Completion Rate of Onboarding Tasks

This key metric monitors how well and how quickly new hires have completed their required training and onboarding tasks. A low completion rate can indicate that there may be a problem with the onboarding process, such as the quality and amount of training that they receive or the time given to complete the tasks well.

First-Year Retention Rate

Onboarding metrics can include the tracking of employees who remain at the company after one year, or other set time periods. Lower retention rates show that the onboarding process might not be effective and might not be helping new employees feel connected to the company. It's easy to work out that making a good first impression and maintaining a positive employee experience is key to maximising retention rates.

Feedback from New Hires

Getting regular feedback and suggestions from new hires during the onboarding process provides important qualitative data. This metric can highlight which aspects of the onboarding process are effective and which may need work. Feedback and suggestions can be collected through surveys, small focus groups and informal interviews.

90-Day Performance Reviews

Reviewing the performance of new employees before and after onboarding can provide valuable insights.  Evaluating employees at the 90-day mark can evaluate how engaged with the company and how well aligned with the job expectations they are. 

How to Collect and Analyse Onboarding Metrics

It’s essential for a company to check if their onboarding process is effective and make improvements where necessary. Various methods can be used to collect and analyse the onboarding metrics with the overall aim of enhancing the experience of new employees as well as improving retention levels.

Surveys

New employees can be given surveys at set points during or after their onboarding period. The survey should include questions about their experience, satisfaction levels, perceived preparedness for the roles and any suggestions for improvement.

Feedback forms

During the onboarding process, new employees should be given regular opportunities to provide feedback about training sessions and overall support received.

HR Software Tools

These tools can track key metrics such as time to productivity, completion rates and engagement levels.

Integration with Performance Management Systems

Onboarding metrics can be linked with Performance Management Systems to assess the impact of onboarding on new employees.

Start tracking your onboarding metrics with foundU today!  Contact us to learn more about how our tools can enhance your onboarding process.