Inefficiencies found in the onboarding process are costing UK businesses £200 million a year, according to new research by webonboarding, part of the webexpenses suite of cloud software solutions.
The research, which uncovered the costly findings, found that 15 percent of employees who leave in their first year, leave within the induction period. With a typical spend of £804 (in-house and externally) on recruitment costs per candidate and with nearly a quarter (24 percent) of HR decision makers’ time allocated to the onboarding process, losing candidates within the initial stages can lead to significant financial implications to the business.
The research also found grave inefficiencies through the sector in regards to manually chasing and processing information. Issuing offer letters in a timely way was cited as a problem for the majority (69 percent) of HR professionals surveyed. More than two thirds (69 percent) also said chasing up successful candidates to return completed or missing documentation was a drain on their time, while accuracy or completeness of information provided by the prospective employee was cited as the most common problem of holding up the process (63 percent).
Despite inaccuracy clearly being a key issue in the onboarding process, nearly three in five (58 percent) still rely on manually entering information onto their HR and payroll systems. This can have a significant impact on the success of the hiring process, with nearly half (47 percent) of those asked saying delays in issuing an offer has meant losing their preferred candidate to a counter offer. Not only are organisations missing out on top talent, but with a typical spend of £804 (in-house and externally) on recruitment costs per candidate, losing onboardees in initial stages has further financial implications to the business.
To tackle these problems and help streamline processes for HR managers, webonboarding is the very latest in onboarding technology designed and developed as part of the webexpenses suite of cloud based solutions. Using cloud technology, the software automates the whole onboarding process to bring greater efficiency and reduce time and money, and the number of dropouts in the crucial first stages as well as other benefits including standardising the process.
Melanie Guy, HR Manager of webexpenses, said: “Our research shows that there are clear inefficiencies throughout the onboarding process that HR managers and the wider business need to address, in order to attract and retain talent. If businesses are to succeed, particularly in the current unpredictable climate, they need to ensure their processes are as accurate and efficient as possible.”
“The webonboarding technology enables businesses to expedite the process and reduce the number of inaccuracies which can often lead to costly issues later down the line. There is also a greater expectation by today’s job seeker that technology will be used to streamline the information exchange. The instant reporting enables both the business and the onboardee to track each stage of the process. Importantly, it helps to engage and introduce them to the company culture in the very early stages.”
