5 Key Metrics to Track for Measuring Onboarding Success

A strong onboarding process is a critical aspect of any employee retention strategy. Employees who feel connected to an organisation from the start are more likely to be engaged and feel motivated to contribute to the team. HR teams today are recognising the importance of investing in onboarding and creating opportunities to improve employee experience. However, a survey by Gartner reveals that only 13% of employees are satisfied with their experience. Furthermore, only 11% of new hires said they interacted with their manager between accepting an offer and their first day.

Even though HR teams are focusing on employee experience, there seems to be a mismatch between their efforts and the experience of employees. How can you identify what’s working for your business? What can help guide you to optimise your onboarding program? As you look to invest in enhancing new hire experience, it is important to identify the right metrics to track and measure the success of your initiatives.

What are onboarding metrics?

Onboarding metrics are key performance indicators (KPIs) used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of an organisation’s onboarding process. Tracking these metrics help teams identify opportunities to optimise their onboarding process ensuring that new employees are successfully integrated into their roles and the company culture. Given that employees with an exceptional onboarding experience are 2.6 times as likely to be extremely satisfied with their place of work, it is crucial for organisations to have processes in place to measure employee sentiments and the success of their onboarding initiatives.

What are the most important onboarding metrics HR teams should track?

1. Time to Productivity (TTP)

Time to Productivity refers to the duration it takes for a new employee to reach a level of performance that meets or exceeds the expectations set for their role. It helps determine how quickly new hires become fully operational and contribute meaningfully to their teams.

How to Measure Time to Productivity (TTP):

1. Define Productivity Benchmarks: Work with the hiring manager to establish clear milestones that indicate a new hire is fully productive. These could include specific goals, metrics, or tasks that reflect the employee's role and responsibilities.
2. Track Onboarding Duration: Record the start date of the new hire and the date they achieve the predefined productivity benchmarks.
3. Calculate Time to Productivity: Measure the time between the new hire’s start date and the date they reach the desired level of productivity. This is usually measured in days or weeks.

2. New Hire Job Satisfaction

One of the best ways to understand the effectiveness of your onboarding program, is to measure new hire job satisfaction. This metric assesses how happy and satisfied new hires are with different aspects of their job, including their work environment, role, management, and overall experience within the company.

How to Measure New Hire Job Satisfaction:

1. Surveys and Questionnaires: Use surveys or questionnaires to gather feedback from new hires about their job satisfaction. These can include Likert scale questions, open-ended questions, or a combination of both.
2. One-on-One Interviews: Conduct interviews with new hires to gain deeper insights into their experiences and satisfaction levels.
3. Feedback Forms: Provide feedback forms at various stages of the onboarding process to capture new hires' perceptions and experiences.
4. Pulse Surveys: Implement short, regular surveys (pulse surveys) to monitor job satisfaction over time and identify any emerging issues.

3. New Hire Training Completion Rate

Most businesses have a training program in place to get new hires up to speed. The New Hire Training Completion Rate measures the percentage of new employees who successfully complete their training program within a specified timeframe. It is a key metric for assessing the effectiveness of the onboarding process and can help provide useful insights on the success of your training program.

How to Measure New Hire Training Completion Rate:

1. Define the Training Program: Clearly outline what constitutes the training program, including modules, courses, and timelines.
2. Track Participants: Keep a record of all new hires and their training start dates.
3. Set a Completion Criteria: Define what it means to complete the training (e.g., passing assessments, completing all modules).
4. Monitor Progress: Use tools to track and monitor each new hire’s progress.
5. Calculate the Rate:
   • Gather the data: Count the total number of new hires and how many completed the training.
   • Use the formula:
     

4. New Hire Turnover (Voluntary & Involuntary)

One of the most common measures to determine the success of an onboarding program is new hire turnover. New hire turnover refers to the rate at which employees leave an organization shortly after being hired, typically within their first few months or within the first year. This metric is important because it can indicate issues with the hiring process, onboarding experience, or workplace culture.

It is important to distinguish whether the new hire left the organisation on their own accord or if they were let go. This will provide greater clarity for HR teams when evaluating the effectiveness of their onboarding programs.

Voluntary New Hire Turnover

Voluntary new hire turnover refers to the situation when new employees choose to leave the organisation on their own accord, typically within their first few months or year of employment. This type of turnover is significant because it can provide insights into the employee experience and the effectiveness of hiring and onboarding processes.

Involuntary New Hire Turnover

Involuntary new hire turnover refers to the situation when employees are let go by the organisation shortly after being hired, typically within their first few months or year. This turnover can occur due to various reasons initiated by the employer, such as performance issues, layoffs, or restructuring.

5. New Hire Employee Engagement

New hire employee engagement refers to the level of commitment, motivation, and connection that newly hired employees feel toward their organisation and their roles within it. Engaged new hires are more likely to stay with the company, reducing turnover rates.

How to Measure New Hire Employee Engagement:

1. Conduct Surveys - Use surveys at key intervals (e.g., after onboarding and at 30, 60, 90 days) to gather feedback on role clarity, and integration.
2. Regular Check-Ins - Schedule one-on-one meetings between managers and new hires to discuss experiences, challenges, and support needed, fostering open communication.
3. Monitor Engagement and Performance - Track performance metrics (productivity, goal achievement) and monitor participation in social activities, training and team-building activities.
4. Attendance and Participation - If you have a hybrid office model, track in-office attendance rates, absenteeism which can provide an insight into engagement levels

It is important to note that new hires typically take around 12 months to reach their full performance potential within a role and onboarding can play a crucial role in helping new employees feel engaged, and connected to their organisation and role.