Onboarding sets the stage for an employee’s thoughts and feelings about an organization. In fact, many employees decide to leave an organization within the first 6 months (Maurer, 2015), making onboarding vital for retention. In addition, employees today are more mobile than before, so onboarding has become a common occurrence (Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo, & Tucker, 2007). According to Bauer et al. (2007), new hires want to reduce uncertainty when starting a new role. To do so, they seek out information and the knowledge they need for the role and about the organization by engaging in organizational socialization tactics, so they can shift from outsider to insider (Bauer et al., 2007). In Bauer’s et al.’s (2007) meta-analysis, three aspects: role clarity (understanding one’s role and responsibilities), self-efficacy (believing in oneself to complete tasks and goals), and social acceptance (being incorporated into the social fabric of the organization) were associated with seeking information and organizational socialization. Ensuring that employees have role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance results in positive work outcomes such as increased performance, job satisfaction, commitment, and less turnover, due to a successful adjustment. So, how can we increase role clarity, self-efficacy and social acceptance to ensure an effective onboarding experience and subsequent positive on-the-job behaviours?
Successful Onboarding
