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Most organisations talk about employee retention only after people leave. Exit interviews are conducted, salary benchmarks are reviewed, and new perks are discussed. Yet turnover continues.
By the time an employee resigns, the decision was often made weeks—or months—earlier.
The Real Cost of Weak Onboarding
Research consistently shows that disengagement is widespread. Gallup’s latest findings indicate that only around 21% of employees are actively engaged, with the majority either quietly disengaged or actively detached.
This creates a dangerous gap between what employees expected when they joined and what they experience once inside.
If the answer is unclear, retention will always be reactive.
Why?
Because in many cases, employees do not leave because of pay, workload, or even management. They leave because their first 30–90 days failed to anchor them properly.
Retention problems usually start much earlier than we are willing to admit during onboarding.
Employee Retention Is Not an HR Metric. It Is a Systems Outcome.
Employee retention is often defined as the percentage of employees who remain with an organisation over a given period. But this definition hides a more important truth:
Retention is not a policy. It is the outcome of systems working,or failing, together.
Strong onboarding systems create:
• Role clarity
• Cultural alignment
• Psychological safety
• Early competence and confidence
Weak onboarding systems create:
• Uncertainty
• Silent disengagement
• “I’m not sure this is for me” thinking
• Early attrition masked as performance issues
By the time an employee resigns, the decision was often made weeks—or months—earlier.
The Real Cost of Weak Onboarding
High turnover is usually discussed in financial terms: recruitment costs, training costs, lost productivity. These are real, but incomplete.
The deeper costs include:
• Knowledge leakage before it is ever embedded
• Managers repeatedly “starting from zero”
• Teams operating permanently in transition mode
• Customers experiencing inconsistency and reduced service quality
Research consistently shows that disengagement is widespread. Gallup’s latest findings indicate that only around 21% of employees are actively engaged, with the majority either quietly disengaged or actively detached.
That disengagement rarely starts in year three. It starts in week one.
Why Onboarding Is the Missing Link in Retention Strategies
Most retention initiatives focus on what happens after employees have settled:
• Performance reviews
• Career pathways
• Leadership training
• Engagement surveys
All important - but they assume the foundation is solid.
In reality, many onboarding processes are:
• Document-heavy but guidance-light
• Compliance-focused but context-poor
• One-off events rather than structured journeys
• Dependent on managers’ availability and memory
This creates a dangerous gap between what employees expected when they joined and what they experience once inside.
That gap is where attrition grows.
Employee Experience and Retention Are Structurally Linked
Employee retention and employee experience are inseparable. But employee experience is not defined by perks—it is defined by how supported employees feel when navigating uncertainty.
Early-stage questions are predictable:
• What does “good” look like in this role?
• Who do I go to when I am unsure?
• Looks like success here?
• How do decisions actually get made?
If onboarding does not answer these clearly and consistently, employees self-fill the gaps, often incorrectly.
The result is disengagement that looks like:
• Quiet quitting
• Low discretionary effort
• Minimal emotional commitment
• Early job searching
Why High-Retention Organisations Obsess Over Onboarding
Companies known for strong retention such as Google, Salesforce, and Wegmans Food Markets, share a common trait:
They treat onboarding as a system, not an event.
Their onboarding:
• Extends beyond week one
• Is role-specific, not generic
• Reinforces culture through behaviour, not slides
• Builds confidence before performance pressure peaks
This is not accidental. It is designed.
The Strategic Reframe: Retention Starts Before Engagement
A useful reframing is this:
You cannot “engage” employees who were never properly onboarded.
Before surveys, incentives, and leadership programmes, organisations must ask:
• Do new employees clearly understand how they create value?
• Do they know what success looks like in the first 90 days?
• Are expectations explicit—or assumed?
• Is onboarding consistent, or manager-dependent?
If the answer is unclear, retention will always be reactive.
Final Thought
Most organisations do not have a retention problem.
They have an onboarding systems problem that shows up as attrition six months later.
Fix the system, and retention improves as a by-product.
If this resonates with what you are seeing in your organisation, feel free to comment or send a DM.
Looking to have a chat about this or continue the conversation? Find me on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefangauciscicluna/
Looking to have a chat about this or continue the conversation? Find me on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefangauciscicluna/
Stefan Gauci Scicluna
Auren Institute helps businesses, NGOs, and public organisations upskill their people through high-quality, practical CPD training.
We design performance-driven learning that meets regulatory standards, delivers real workplace impact, and scales through technology. Our programmes include eLearning courses, onboarding solutions, and expert-led workshops.
From compliance and digital skills to management and sector-specific training, we support organisations to strengthen performance, culture, and long-term growth, while remaining committed to widening access to learning and positive social impact.
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