A new study suggests firms risk losing newly hired employees during the critical first few months of employment due to inadequacies with onboarding processes.

The ‘UK Employee Support and Retention Survey’ conducted by employee engagement specialists Wildgoose asked people who had started new jobs within the last year about the quality of onboarding they experienced at their new company. Almost two-thirds said elements of the process were insufficient, leaving them confused or alienated.

Employers get one chance to make a good first impression and successful onboarding focused on guidance, training, direction and values is essential in achieving this. Yet the research found nearly half of new recruits were not given personal targets for role progression and just over a third were not made aware of their core responsibilities, both key elements in terms of engaging employees in new roles.

The survey also found dissatisfaction varied by company size, with onboarding issues most prevalent in the SME sector. Indeed, over three-quarters of new starters with SMEs felt their experience could have been improved. As well as lacking guidance on personal targets and core duties, some SME new recruits also stated they had little help from colleagues in similar roles.