When you’ve gone through the time and financial expense of recruiting and onboarding a new starter into your business, the last thing you want is for them to leave too soon.

In addition to the financial implications and wasted resource recruiting and onboarding them, new starter turnover is harmful to your people, customers and brand reputation.

Equally, securing a new role can be an intense experience for a candidate and a huge transition starting it, so departing a company after so little time would seem counter-productive for them too.

However, it’s been reported that around 30% of new hires either resign or are thinking about leaving a business within their first six months of employment.

So why the unwanted turnover for both businesses and employees?

Poor onboarding

Nothing’s going to set your new starters off on the wrong foot than a lackluster onboarding experience.

Many organisations still perceive this as a mandatory, checkbox exercise rather than an opportunity to maximise employee retention and morale.

Employee onboarding doesn’t start on the first day, it manifests throughout the recruitment process and during those weeks before the first day. How comfortable, familiar and well-informed your new hires feel on the first day will dictate how confident and settled they will be, catalysing their productivity and relationship-building.

Lack of training

It’s no secret that onboarding training often translates to a mundane, set of tasks that a company can send a new starter’s way to keep them “occupied” in the interim period of them finding their feet. Generic, impersonal onboarding can leave new starters feeling like they’re being kept out the way so as not be a nuisance, which hardly conveys “welcome to the company”.

Value-driven, personalised training designed to engage, educate and benefit new starters is guaranteed to ensure higher information retention and understanding of their role and company, providing a sense of purpose.

Mismanaged expectations

If the role advertised doesn’t align with the reality of its day-to-day, then new starters are going to be disgruntled from the get-go.

It’s crucial for businesses to be honest and transparent about their vacant roles, as if people feel misled it harms trust in an organisation and leaves them bitterly disappointed affecting productivity and retention.

Leadership failures

Whether it is insufferable micromanagement or unresponsiveness, poor management will make it incredibly difficult for new starters to settle into their roles and perform to the best of their ability.

A lack of training on the manager’s part or insufficient resources can create ineffective communication between teams, causing frustration and impacting relationships or productivity.

Cultural challenges

Successful onboarding isn’t just about orientation and outlining key objectives, it’s about immersing someone brand new into your company’s culture, ensuring they understand your history, values and business goals.

If an organisation’s culture does not align with a new hire, it’s going to create pitfalls, so it is always best to have this transparent during the recruitment process.

Why communication is key

Miscommunication often leads to premature turnover, whether it's due to mismanaged expectations during onboarding, fragmented relationships or a lack of understanding on key objectives.

PageTiger helps businesses manage expectations at every stage—engaging candidates, onboarding new hires, and supporting long-term employees through effective, interactive communication tools like personalised videos, mandatory training, and image galleries. This fosters better understanding and informed decision-making for both employers and recruits.