The first few weeks of a new job can set the tone for an employee’s entire tenure. A smooth, efficient onboarding process not only makes new hires feel welcome and prepared but also significantly impacts your company’s bottom line. But how do you know if your onboarding process is truly effective? The answer lies in meticulously tracking and analyzing your onboarding metrics. These key performance indicators (KPIs) provide valuable insights into where your process excels and where it needs improvement. Failing to monitor these metrics can lead to increased candidate falloff, wasted resources, and a negative experience for new hires.
In this article, we’ll delve into five critical onboarding metrics that will empower you to optimize your new hire experience and ultimately, improve your organization’s efficiency and success.
Why Onboarding Metrics Matter
Before we dive into specific metrics, let’s understand why they are so crucial. Without a clear understanding of your onboarding performance, you’re essentially flying blind. You might be unknowingly wasting time and resources on inefficient processes, losing promising candidates due to frustrating experiences, and placing an unnecessary administrative burden on your HR team.
By tracking and analyzing onboarding metrics, you can:
- Identify bottlenecks: Pinpoint areas where the onboarding process is slow or cumbersome.
- Reduce candidate falloff: Minimize the number of candidates who drop out before their start date due to a poor experience.
- Improve efficiency: Streamline your onboarding process, saving time and resources.
- Enhance the new hire experience: Create a more welcoming and engaging onboarding journey for new employees.
- Optimize resource allocation: Allocate your HR team’s time and resources more effectively.
- Demonstrate ROI: Measure the return on investment of your onboarding program.
5 Key Onboarding Metrics to Track
Here are five crucial onboarding metrics that every organization should be monitoring.
1. Engagement Rate: Getting Them in the Door
This metric measures the percentage of candidates who respond positively to your request to begin the onboarding process and actively initiate it. It’s calculated as:
(Number of candidates who started onboarding / Number of candidates offered a position) x 100
A low engagement rate indicates that candidates might be losing interest or encountering issues before they even begin the process. This could be due to a cumbersome initial step, lack of clear instructions, or a poor perception of the company. High candidate falloff at this stage is a critical problem to address.
Steps to improve:
- Make the initial onboarding invitation clear, inviting, and easy to access.
- Review the instructions to make sure they are simple to understand and there are clear next steps.
- Highlight the benefits of joining the company during the onboarding kickoff.
- Look for common reasons why candidates might be hesitant to start the process.
2. Completion Rate: From Start to Finish
This onboarding metric reflects the percentage of candidates who fully complete all necessary onboarding tasks, such as paperwork, training modules, and background checks. It is calculated as:
(Number of candidates who completed all onboarding tasks / Number of candidates who started onboarding) x 100
A low completion rate means you are facing significant candidate falloff mid-process. It suggests friction points within the onboarding experience, like complex paperwork or unclear communication. If a candidate starts onboarding, then doesn’t finish, that is an unnecessary cost you could have avoided.
Steps to improve:
- Simplify the onboarding process by reducing unnecessary paperwork.
- Provide clear instructions, tutorials, and support materials for each task.
- Implement automated reminders to keep candidates on track.
- Consider implementing an automated onboarding system to provide a smoother process.
3. Onboarding Time: The Clock is Ticking
This onboarding metric tracks the amount of time it takes a candidate to complete the entire onboarding process. It can be broken down further into specific categories, such as:
- Paperwork Time: The time it takes to complete all necessary paperwork.
- Background Check Time: The time it takes to complete background checks and drug testing.
- Training Time: The time spent on initial training and orientation.
- Assessment Time: The time spent taking any pre-employment assessments.
An excessively long onboarding time can be frustrating for candidates and may signal an inefficient process. It could also mean lost time to productivity. A quick and efficient process signals organization and professionalism.
Steps to improve:
- Map out each step of the onboarding process to identify bottlenecks.
- Look for areas where tasks can be simplified or streamlined.
- Leverage technology to automate repetitive tasks, such as forms completion.
- Communicate progress and estimated timelines with candidates.
4. Admin Touches: Human Intervention
This onboarding metric counts the number of times an HR admin or other staff member needs to be directly involved in the onboarding process for each candidate. This could include answering questions, providing support, reviewing documents, or taking corrective actions.
High admin touches indicate inefficiency in the process. If the process is truly streamlined the candidate should be able to complete everything themselves without the need for much intervention. Reducing the number of admin touches allows admins to focus on more strategic HR tasks.
Steps to improve:
- Identify tasks that trigger the most admin touches.
- Standardize processes to minimize the need for manual intervention.
- Develop a comprehensive knowledge base for common questions.
- Consider implementing a self-service onboarding portal.
- Automate as much of the onboarding process as possible.
5. Admin Time: Time is Money
This onboarding metric calculates the total amount of time HR admins or other staff spend managing a candidate’s onboarding, often measured in hours per candidate. This can be further broken down to determine “time per touch” by dividing the total time by the number of admin touches.
A high admin time indicates an inefficient process and high cost to the organization. It can also highlight processes that are overly complex, and processes that could benefit from automation.
Steps to improve:
- Track time spent on onboarding tasks.
- Identify repetitive and time-consuming tasks that can be automated.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of current onboarding technology and processes.
- Implement self-service tools and automated onboarding workflows to reduce manual work.
- Use the “time per touch” to see which processes are taking the most time per admin touch and are therefore the most costly.
The Power of Automated Onboarding
Technology plays a pivotal role in improving your onboarding metrics. By implementing an automated onboarding platform, you can streamline the process, reduce administrative burden, and create a smoother, more engaging experience for new hires.
An automated onboarding system can help you:
- Centralize all onboarding tasks in one platform.
- Automate paperwork completion with electronic signatures.
- Schedule and track training modules.
- Provide automated reminders and notifications.
- Track background checks seamlessly.
- Reduce the risk of errors and delays.
- Provide a consistent and professional onboarding experience.
- Gather feedback on areas for improvement.
By investing in the right technology and diligently tracking your onboarding metrics, you can create a positive first impression for new hires, reduce candidate falloff, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your organization. The key is to continuously monitor these metrics and adapt your approach based on the data. This will ensure you are providing the best possible onboarding experience for every new hire. You’ll be able to see clear improvements in your key onboarding metrics over time, along with an improved overall employee experience. Don’t wait to take control of your onboarding process and see what improvements await.
