This new employee research from great{with}talent shows whether new employee expectations are being met. This includes both job expectations and company expectations. These results can help inform the onboarding process for new employees, recruitment and retention strategies in 2014.

Meeting New Employee Expectations 2014

Setting and matching new employee expectations are key to onboarding new hires. Not meeting these views can lead to low employee engagement which in turn effects productivity and customer service.

Moreover, by immediately disappointing new starters this can lead to high early attrition rates. This incurs costs in recruitment, training and development plus any loss from low productivity.

great{with}talent has conducted research on 7,490 people who joined an organisation in the last 12 months. The below charts show which pre-joining employee expectations have been met. (Click the images for more information.)

Read staff research: New Employee Onboarding in 2014.

Company Expectations

The above chart shows how well company expectations have been met. A close fit between expectations and reality with some minor differences (41.1%) was ranked highest.

This is a good sign. Some differences are to be expected due to minor misunderstandings or overlooked information.

By collecting onboarding data, however, companies can see if there’s a recurring area that could be worked on. This will improve the onboarding process for new employees.

What’s a concern is the report of a poor fit between expectations and reality due to some major differences (2.8%). Likewise those who did not have any pre-joining expectations (4.4%).

This suggests that new hires were not given any information on the culture of the organisation before beginning work. Alternatively, in the case of the former, they were and it was misleading.

Read: Six Tips for Enhancing Employee Commitment.

Job Expectations

This chart shows how well job expectations have been met. A close fit between expectations and reality with some minor differences (41.1%) again was the ranked highest.

Yet, considerably less saw a very close fit with no real differences (27.0%). Whilst more saw an okay fit and some differences (23.9%) and a poor fit with major differences (5.1%).

These results suggest that more focus is needed on conveying the reality of the job. During the recruitment process it is a good idea to have an honest conversation with new employees. This includes both a discussion of the role and the company.

Firstly, this can provide realistic organisation and job expectations. It can also help find the right fit for the position and the culture of the company.

This simple step can improve onboarding and employee engagement. Whilst lowering early attrition and overall staff turnover in the long run.

Contact great{with}talent and increase “speed to performance” of new employees with their onboarding tool:

(Main image from ere.net)