37.5 per cent of respondents in a new survey of 1000 full-time office workers carried out by HR software solutions provider, Cezanne HR, admitted that they had changed their minds on at least one occasion in the past and not even started a new role despite having accepted the initial job offer.
Although 48.67 per cent admitted their heads had been turned by an offer of more money somewhere else, a significant 30.58 per cent said it was because of poor or no follow up or a bad experience of the organisation following the job offer.
And the story doesn’t end if and when an employer gets the successful candidate over the line on day one. 41.1 per cent said that they had quit a job within the first six months with 37.23 per cent claiming it was due to not feeling welcome (15.57 per cent), not liking the culture (11.44 per cent) or not getting on with their boss (10.22 per cent). 50.61 per cent said the job was simply not what they were expecting.
Sue Lingard, a director at Cezanne HR said:
“These sorts of statistics make for sobering reading and support the long-held belief that poor selection and onboarding practices are costing UK businesses millions in recruitment and employer brand value terms,” explained”
“It’s clear that companies need to take a long hard look at their approach and, whilst ensuring cultural fit and a clear understanding of job roles is essential as part of the recruitment process, effective onboarding has a huge role to play. If companies can engage and enthuse employees before they start, they are much more likely to fit in faster and a lot less likely to be tempted by a higher offer elsewhere – money is rarely the only motivator. However, we found that even in their current roles, a shocking 45.6 per cent said that they had heard absolutely nothing from their present employer between being offered the job and their actual start date – 45.1 per cent said they would have liked more contact.
It’s not enough to simply make the offer and wait for them to turn up on day one. Chances are they might not and then you are back to an expensive square one.”
While some companies do get it right – if only once the new employee has started – the research identified that 20 per cent felt frustrated or ignored on their first day, 32.4 per cent said they would have got up to speed faster if they’d had clearer goals/knew what was expected of them, 24.6 per cent would have appreciated more regular check ins with their managers and, a common bugbear, 38.1 per cent were looking for more training.
The survey found that an uncomfortably high percentage reported that not everything was in place for their arrival. For example, 23 per cent said they had no desk and 28.6 per cent were missing a computer, suggesting that even relatively simple logistics is proving challenging for some organisations. Significantly, while more than 77 per cent reported that health and safety was covered early on, only 55.5 per cent were given data security training. Given the more stringent data security requirements associated with GDPR, it’s an area that employers will want to ensure is addressed from day one.
“We can clearly see from the data in the survey that when they get it right it can pay significant dividends in terms of employee engagement and retention,” Lingard concluded. “And there really is no excuse nowadays. Effective technology can make all the difference and there are plenty of cost-effective HR systems available that can help organisations get their recruitment and onboarding processes right whilst saving huge amounts of HR and resourcing time and money.”
The survey of 1000 adults in full time employment was conducted in the UK in April 2018. 55 per cent of the respondents were female, 33.6 per cent aged between 18-34 and 55.2 per cent aged between 35-54. 19.9 per cent worked in organisations with less than 50 employees, 20.4 per cent between 51-249, 25.9 per cent between 250-1000 and 33.8 per cent larger than 1000. 77.5 per cent earn up to £30,000 a year.
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
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