Mentoring for Onboarding: Increase New Hire Retention and Maximize Hiring Investment

On the surface, the vast majority of today's organizations consider their employees to be long-term investments rather than short-term expenses. At a time when "employees" and "human capital" are synonymous in the eyes of both HR and non-HR leaders, there seems to be an easy formula for "people success": invest the money to attract the best people, then make them stay for as long as possible and generate a return on investment. But the numbers paint a different reality.

The Problem

Far from becoming reliable and profitable "human capital", many individuals actually lose money for their employers as soon as they come on board. According to a study by the Wynhurst Group, 22% of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment, and the cost of losing an employee in the first year is estimated to be at least 3 times salary. That means - for example, an organization with an average starting salary of $40,000, and an average recruitment class of 50, stands to lose $440,000 per year in turnover-related costs alone during the FIRST 45 DAYS of the onboarding cycle! Further considering that 46% of new hires leave within their first 18 months of employment (Leadership IQ’s study of over 20,000 new hires), it is clear that leaders must take action to address the various causes of voluntary employee turnover - especially during the costly "honeymoon" stage of the employee lifecycle.

"What's it REALLY like to work here?" That's the simple question that all new hires brew in their minds and hold at the tip of their tongues. But the question often goes unanswered, and organizations who fail to answer it pay the price. According to Maertz and Campion's International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, organizational culture, job realities relative to expectations, and individual characteristics that clash with perceptions of the organization are among a number of factors that cause employees to leave an organization. Such factors are catalyzed and exacerbated neither by unfavorable economic conditions, nor by poor organizational performance, but by the gap in understanding between the individual and the organization. These are a particular concern regarding new hires, who are filled with expectations for their new role, yet lack proper knowledge of how things "really work".

Mentoring: Bridging the Gap of New Hire Understanding

Structured mentoring programs that support individuals in the onboarding process provide organizations with the opportunity to give new employees a better understanding of its workplace and culture - faster. Sooner rather than later, new hires need to know how their own positions and careers fit into the overall organizational structure, and conversely, how their envisioned role links with their own career goals and personal preferences. There is no better way to gain an understanding of an organization than to learn directly from someone who has lived the experience – i.e., a mentor. In the context of onboarding, mentors play several roles in helping new hires. Each role accelerates the onboarding process and reduces the likelihood of turnover early in the employee lifecycle.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle facing new hires is adjusting to and fitting into a new organizational culture. According to Nancy Rothbard, Professor of Management at Wharton, an experienced new hire often carries “employment baggage” – a set of attitudes, norms and experiences that apply only to his/her previous workplace. This “baggage” can actually cause work experience to have a negative effect on performance at a new workplace with a divergent culture. Having a mentor with considerable experience at the organization enables new hires to quickly learn the "way things are done”, so that they are as productive as possible when first starting their new jobs. Max Messmer, author of Motivate Your Employees for Dummies, particularly stresses the importance of having a mentoring program for graduate hires, who may have very little understanding of workplace culture in general:

"The benefits of having a mentor shouldn't be underestimated, particularly for those who are just starting their careers. An experienced adviser can provide insight into office protocol and how to handle sensitive situations—areas that aren't necessarily taught in school but are essential to career success."

Having a mentor during the onboarding process also helps new hires align their expectations with the realities of the job. New hires benefit from mentoring partnerships with mentors who have experienced being new to the organization, have been "in their shoes" at their current role, or mentors who currently inhabit the roles that they will take on in the future, given their existing career path. Well-selected and well-matched mentors can paint an honest picture of the new hires’ roles, answer their questions and concerns about the roles, and offer advice on how they can make the most of the roles, given their realities. Such dialogue creates a culture of honesty and understanding, which not only garners appreciation but improves employee engagement and retention from the start.

Finally, whether an organization successfully addresses an employee’s career and personal preferences from the get-go can make or break his/her desire to stay. While a number of new hires may enter at identical positions, their motivations and career path goals will vary considerably. Through an onboarding mentoring program with well-matched mentoring partnerships geared specifically toward career development, organizations instantly brand themselves as employers who truly care about their employees. Mentoring partnerships should not be the most convenient, proximate or conventional; rather, they should be strategic relationships that take both organizational and individual goals into account. This may mean pairing a new hire with a mentor who has the ideal skills or experience for the mentee’s development, but who may work in an entirely different team, office, or department. It’s well worth the effort: employees who are valuable investments should indeed be treated as such.

Ultimately, organizations that provide a structured, formal onboarding process avoid losing their greatest assets from the start. According to the Wynhurst Group, new employees who went through a structured onboarding program were 58% more likely to be with the organization after 3 years. Conversely, a study conducted by Egon Zehnder International found that organizations who leave onboarding up to chance experience failure rates of over 50% when it comes to retaining executive talent. By incorporating a structured mentoring program within the onboarding process, organizations can address the early catalysts of turnover - by signalling to new hires immediately that they are committed to mutual understanding. After all, there is only one chance to make a first impression - and no time to lose.

Further Information

Be sure to register for our next complimentary webinar, Mentoring to Accelerate Onboarding: Cutting Costs and Improving Productivity that will cover the following:

• How real organizations have used mentoring to achieve optimal onboarding results


• Characteristics of the most successful onboarding programs
• Characteristics of successful mentoring programs for onboarding
• Determining whether your onboarding program will benefit by adding a mentoring component

Comprehensive Mentoring Solutions to Support Effective Onboarding

Insala’s mentoring solutions enable organizations to launch and deliver effective and sustainable mentoring programs to support employees in the onboarding process. Insala provides a wide array of mentoring solutions including program implementation, program evaluation, mentoring readiness consulting, mentor training, mentoring technology, and more. In particular, our consultants work to help organizations identify key business objectives and metrics, leverage core competencies, and develop mentoring programs that align with overall talent and business goals. Our interactive mentoring software features certified psychometric assessments, advanced matching and pairing tools, robust reporting capabilities, the ability to manage multiple programs from a single portal, mentor-mentee communication tools, and more - enhancing both administrative efficiency and participant experience.

To learn more about our mentoring solutions or request a demo of our online mentoring software, please visit www.mentoringtalent.com, or email us at info@insala.com.