You Get One Chance to Make a Lasting Impression with New Hires
As an L&D professional, you understand the connection between strong onboarding and engagement, productivity, and retention. The statistics back this up:
- According to Gallup, 70% of employees who had an exceptional onboarding experience say they have the "best possible job"
- They are also 2.6 times as likely to be "extremely satisfied" with their workplace—which translates to staying power
The challenge? Ensuring successful onboarding outcomes without overwhelming yourself or new hires. The solution? Atana's Training + Insights + Action friction-free approach to onboarding.
Despite Its Importance, Onboarding is Often Rushed
While recognizing the importance of onboarding, many organizations succumb to the pressures of time and the urgency to get someone up to speed as quickly as possible. With the best intentions, organizations shuffle new hires through the "must dos" of paperwork and operational training, while unintentionally sidelining the critical elements of effective onboarding that are necessary for long-term success.
When onboarding simply focuses on systems, procedures, and products/services, employees are left alone to learn about their new organization, their role, expectations, and how they can contribute and fit in.
With the best intentions, organizations shuffle new hires through the "must dos" of paperwork and operational training, while unintentionally sidelining the critical elements of effective onboarding that are necessary for long-term success.
With the best intentions, organizations shuffle new hires through the "must dos" of paperwork and operational training, while unintentionally sidelining the critical elements of effective onboarding that are necessary for long-term success.
Gallup's findings support this trend: only 12% of U.S. employees believe their organization provides a good onboarding experience, and 1 in 5 new hires report experiencing a poor onboarding experience or no onboarding at all.
While recognizing the importance of onboarding, many organizations succumb to the pressures of time and the urgency to get someone up to speed as quickly as possible.
With the best intentions, organizations shuffle new hires through the "must dos" of paperwork and operational training, while unintentionally sidelining the critical elements of effective onboarding that are necessary for long-term success.
With the best intentions, organizations shuffle new hires through the "must dos" of paperwork and operational training, while unintentionally sidelining the critical elements of effective onboarding that are necessary for long-term success.
When onboarding simply focuses on systems, procedures, and products/services, employees are left alone to learn about their new organization, their role, expectations, and how they can contribute and fit in.
Gallup's findings support this trend: only 12% of U.S. employees believe their organization provides a good onboarding experience, and 1 in 5 new hires report experiencing a poor onboarding experience or no onboarding at all.
Emphasize and Amplify Onboarding for Improved ROI
1. Reinforce Culture
L&D professionals are in a unique position to broaden the scope of onboarding while reinforcing organizational culture.
By augmenting operational onboarding with behavior-based respectful workplace training, new hires receive a clear message about organizational values and commitment to an environment where everyone feels safe, respected, and appreciated—factors that directly impact engagement and retention.
Atana's behavioral respectful workplace training sets expectations for desired workplace behaviors around preventing harassment, building inclusion, and maintaining a workplace in which employees are free to share ideas, opinions and concerns.
2. Optimize for Learning Application
Engaging behavior-based content can connect with learners in ways check-the-box approaches can’t.
- Highly relatable course scenarios enable learners to see themselves in a variety of workplace situations
- Embedded behavioral questions asked in the context of the scenarios provide learners with the opportunity to consider what they would likely do in a similar situation
- Desired workplace behaviors are reinforced across several of Atana's courses, further influencing new hires' application of what they’ve learned
For example: the video clips below illustrate how a key principle, "Being an Upstander," is reinforced through different respectful workplace courses.
Harassment
Clip from Once & For All © 2018-2025 Atana
Bullying
Clip from How Was Your Day? © 2017-2025 Atana
Overcoming Bias
Clip from Unintentional Still Hurts © 2021-2025 Atana
3. Act on Strategic Insights
Training delivery is just the starting point with Atana. Behavioral insights derived from data collected during the training reveal perceptions and attitudes that determine whether new employees will apply what they've learned; what they expect from your organization's culture; and gaps that might exist between those expectations and reality.
Your dashboard highlights trends and potential issues and provides targeted intervention tools to address them.
4. Watch Culture Evolve as New Behaviors Catch On
The learning impact from Atana's onboarding courses extends far beyond new employees and their first few weeks. Many clients report that, when fresh employees exhibit positive workplace behaviors they learned during onboarding training, something unexpected happens: seasoned employees take notice. Even those who've grown cynical or comfortable with "how things are" often begin exhibiting these same behaviors when they see new hires consistently demonstrating them.
Your onboarding investment creates a ripple effect that elevates workplace culture across the entire organization.
Ready to turn onboarding angst into a strategic onboarding approach without the extra work? Atana's respectful workplace training and compliance courses transform your onboarding into a culture-building engine. You'll boost retention, increase engagement, and gain the behavioral insights you need to set up every new hire for success.
About the Author
Michele Chiarella — Director of Learning, Atana
Michele leads Atana's Learning Development, overseeing a team that develops engaging video-based eLearning that imparts knowledge and teaches skills while assessing desired workplace behaviors. Working closely with our Behavioral Data Science group, she and her team create courses that combine highly-relatable vicarious learning experiences with built-in behavioral assessments to ensure the training drives business outcomes.
Michele Chiarella — Director of Learning, Atana
Michele leads Atana's Learning Development, overseeing a team that develops engaging video-based eLearning that imparts knowledge and teaches skills while assessing desired workplace behaviors. Working closely with our Behavioral Data Science group, she and her team create courses that combine highly-relatable vicarious learning experiences with built-in behavioral assessments to ensure the training drives business outcomes.
