Onboarding

Onboarding or organizational socialization is the American term for the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders. In other than American English, such as in British and Australasian dialects, this is referred to as "induction". In the United States, up to 25% of workers are organizational newcomers engaged in onboarding process.

Tactics used in this process include formal meetings, lectures, videos, printed materials, or computer-based orientations that outline the operations and culture of the organization that the employee is entering into. This process is known in other parts of the world as an 'induction' or training.

Studies have documented that onboarding process is important to enhancing employee retention, improving productivity, and fostering a positive organizational culture. Socialization techniques such as onboarding lead to positive outcomes for new employees. These include higher job satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment, and reduction in occupational stress and intent to quit.

The term "onboarding" is management jargon coined in the 1970s.

Researchers separate the process of onboarding into three parts: new employee characteristics, new employee behaviors, and organizational efforts.

New employee characteristics attempt to identify key personality traits in onboarding employees that the business views as beneficial:

Finally, employees are segmented based on Employee experience levels as it has a material effect on understanding and ability to assimilate into a new role.

New employee behaviors refer to the process of encouraging and identifying behaviors that are viewed as beneficial to company culture and the onboarding process.