Retention Starts on Day One: Empowering New Hires in Onboarding

Onboarding programs have largely remained one-directional, with HR delivering information, managers assigning tasks, and new hires passively absorbing content, failing to empower new hires. This has contributed to new hires’ perceptions of disconnectedness and turnover intention (Hunkins, 2025). Yet onboarding can do more than deliver resources. Empowering new hires to take charge of their onboarding process fosters a greater sense of control (Farmiloe, 2023). This drives organizational commitment and reduces turnover (Peltokorpi et al., 2022), saving on hiring costs and fostering a stronger organizational culture. Organizations should therefore treat new hires as active agents, providing them with opportunities to exercise control over their onboarding.

Strategies for Building Active Onboarding Experiences:

 

1. Incorporating a Needs Assessment in New Hire Onboarding Surveys

Organizations usually employ standardized tactics to onboard employees. However, new hires vary in their proactivity and their comfort in taking control to seek peer connections and organizational information. Organizations should conduct a systematic needs assessment that measures initial levels of employee confidence and control in the onboarding process. Without diagnosing these differences, organizations risk applying the one-size-fits-all socialization approach. A well-designed assessment allows organizations to tailor onboarding experiences that scaffold learning and gradually shift control to the employee. Programs that empower new hires in exercising proactivity are twice as effective in retention as those that don’t (Liu et al., 2024).

 

2. Empower New Hires Toward Strategic Information Seeking

Many organizations often provide structured informational resources on topics such as benefits, company culture, and policies. However, this environment limits new hires’ ability to ask questions about their interpretation of the job and organization. An environment favorable for new hire information seeking has been related to increased job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and reduced turnover intention (Cooper-Thomas & Anderson, 2002). Leaders should foster intentional new hire information-seeking by empowering new hires to reflect on the knowledge gaps of their new role and organization. The process of reflecting about one’s knowledge and understanding is known as metacognition (Mitschelen & Kauffeld, 2025). Metacognition has been linked to increased internalization of one’s professional identity and, in turn, commitment to one’s organization and reduced turnover (Kato et al., 2025).

Leaders can encourage new hires to practice metacognition by reflecting on the following:

• What aspects of your role do you understand well?
• What knowledge gaps are you facing in terms of skills, resources, or understanding of job tasks or processes?
• What sources of information would be most effective in addressing these knowledge gaps based on your learning style (e.g., peers vs formal training vs applied workshops)?

3. Provide Cross-Functional Networking Opportunities

Most organizations are increasingly more cross-functional in nature, requiring employees to collaborate with employees across departments and teams. Therefore, a narrow buddy system may not align adequately with new hires’ needs, limiting their ability to proactively build their larger work networks. By providing new hires with access to networking cross-functionally, managers provide new hires with increased feelings of agency or control over their networking and work-relationship building. Research has found the importance of vertical (leadership) and horizontal (peers) networks for increased control and favorable socialization. Ultimately, new hires who feel more interconnected with their broader organization are likely to remain with their organization. Managers can promote cross-functional networking through stakeholder mapping by empowering new hires to connect with the following stakeholders:

• Decision-makers: who approves or prioritizes broader organizational goals
• Technical experts: employees who have specialized knowledge or institutional expertise
• Cross-functional partners: other teams one will work more closely with
• Developmental supporters: stakeholders responsible for providing career growth and planning

4. Goal-Setting

Leaders can encourage increased autonomy by encouraging new hires to set their own learning goals. These goals can be discussed during 30-60-90 check-ins. The progress toward these goals can further strengthen perceptions of competence in new hires early on. Organizational environments that empower new hires in setting development goals have observed increases in organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Maier & Brunstein, 2001), which are strong predictors of retention.

Conclusion:

The most effective onboarding programs don’t simply inform employees; they equip employees to actively participate in their own socialization. Onboarding is most effective when it also empowers employees to shape their own adjustment experience. By fostering internal control through information-seeking, broader work relationship building, and self-directed goal attainment, organizations create engaged employees who are more likely to thrive and stay for the long term. 

References:

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Fang, R., McAllister, D.J. & Duffy, M.K. (2017). Down but not out: Newcomers can compensate

for low vertical access with strong horizontal ties and favorable core self-evaluations. Personnel Psychology, 70: 517-555.

Farmiloe, B. (2023, January 3). Onboarding new hires? Try these tips to boost retention.

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Onboarding New Hires? Try These Tips to Boost Retention

Hunkins, A. (2025, March 19). Onboarding that sticks: How to help new employees stay and

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Kato, S., Nozue, A., & Yamashita, A. (2025). Relation between career development and

metacognition among new graduate nurses: A cross-sectional study. SAGE Open Nursing, 11, 23779608251391125.

Liu, S., Watts, D., Feng, J., Wu, Y., & Yin, J. (2024). Unpacking the effects of socialization

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Maier, G. W., & Brunstein, J. C. (2001). The role of personal work goals in newcomers’ job

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Mitschelen, A., & Kauffeld, S. (2025). Workplace learning during organizational onboarding:

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Peltokorpi, V., Feng, J., Pustovit, S., Allen, D. G., & Rubenstein, A. L. (2022). The interactive

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