Building productivity from the start

Troubles with employee engagement are causing plenty of issues for businesses, particularly when it comes to getting the most out of fresh hires. New staff members that don’t feel vested in a job could lead to higher turnover, leaving before companies have made the most of the investment.

Comprehensive productivity solutions can take the burden off of hiring managers and give them more time to focus on crucial onboarding processes that can help to improve employee retention.

Disengagement and employee turnover

Companies that don’t engage workers may run into a number of issues with retention rates. Australian companies are particularly susceptible to disengagement. An Engaged Marketing survey found that while 20 per cent of employees are happy and engaged at work, 37 per cent are passive about their roles and 43 per cent are vocal about disengagement at their company.

This disengagement problem could translate to high turnover, as demonstrated by a Gallup poll asking if employees would leave their current job for one with a pay raise of 20 per cent or less. Of those surveyed, only 37 per cent of engaged workers would take such an offer as opposed to 54 per cent of disengaged ones.

Company loyalty could go a long way toward retaining workers, but the picture does not look good in this measurement either. The Engaged Marketing report only found a stated loyalty rate of 55 per cent.

Onboarding is the key to engagement

Effective onboarding procedures can go a long way towards improving turnover rates through increased engagement, according to data reported in Training magazine from the 2014 State of Talent Acquisition Study by Brandon Hall Group. Organisations with an effective onboarding system saw employee engagement measurements improve by 54 per cent.

This higher engagement is sure to pay dividends as new hires are able to further develop skills and reach full productivity within the company.

Successful onboarding can improve employee engagement.

Boosting engagement can ensure that employees remain happy, content and in their current positions. This saves companies the costs in time and money associated with having to replace an employee before seeing a return on training investment.

When hiring managers are bogged down with organisational tasks, it detracts from their ability to effectively develop and hone onboarding processes. Improving productivity with technological solutions allows for a prioritisation of the human aspect of human resources, resulting in higher engagement, retention and profitability.