Home > News > October 2004 > 19-Oct-2004

Induction nightmares cause 1 in 25 to walk out of a new job, says survey

1 in 25 employees have walked out after starting new jobs because of poor induction, according to new research from reed.co.uk.

Over 5,700 people were surveyed by recruitment site reed.co.uk in research that reveals too many employers forget just how important it is to help employees settle into a new job. Not only do they risk losing new employees altogether, nearly all workers - 93 per cent - believe that a poor induction has a continual effect on their productivity in the job.

Employees in the Media and Public Sector are most likely to leave a job after a poor induction with the figure rising to 1 in 17 compared to a national average of 1 in 25.

Across the regions those in the North East and Thames Valley were more likely to have walked out after a bad induction - 1 in 17 - compared to workers in Scotland, Wales and the South West, where only 1 in 50 have left jobs after a poor induction.

Problems with inductions included:

• Too short - One new starter was simply told, "Here are the keys, here is my mobile number, good luck"; another was "given a five minute induction and then left to find out everything in my own time".

• Too hasty - This was a common complaint. One person turned up for "A quick jaunt around the departments and then into the fray". Another new recruit's manager took them on "a ten minute brisk walk, showing me the toilets and a door, which was apparently a fire exit - nowhere near my office".

• Boring - It doesn't look good when the induction is given by "a team manager that was not engaging enough to keep the troops awake".

• Impersonal - As one person said "Finding induction meant teaching myself from a manual left on my desk." Another new starter was "left alone in a room for four hours with a pile of videos, then someone came to ask me if I was ready to start".

• Too personal - One irritated starter reported, "The HR officer who gave the induction was much more interested in the male inductees' private lives."

• Neglectful - Some employers leave out the most basic things - one woman started a new job only to find "The manager didn't know I had been recruited."

• Isolated - Far from integrating people into the organisation new recruits were left out, one cited that the induction "Left me feeling separate from the rest of the Employees."

• Embarrassing - Inductions can be uncomfortable - one starter was "Told to hop on one leg and sing ‘we all live in a yellow submarine' on my own in front of 20 other new starters".

On average it took over seven weeks for an employee to feel at ease in a role where they had been subjected to a bad induction.
Over a third of inductions (35 per cent) only last for a day, a further one in five (18 per cent) lasted for a week and 14 per cent of job induction periods lasted for two or more weeks.

When asked how long the induction period should be, almost one in three (30 per cent) said it should last for a week and over one in four (26 per cent) felt that the ideal induction period was two weeks.
However, the good news is that employers are getting better. Over half (55 per cent) of those surveyed felt that inductions were better now than they were three years ago. Significantly 95 per cent of those surveyed felt that a good induction is a vital part of starting a new job.

Martin Warnes, Head of reed.co.uk commented: "The war for talent is heating up, so it seems a shame to lose everything after a battle has been won.

"Many employers have realised just how important it is to attract the right people, and invest much time and money in recruiting them. Yet all that effort can be wasted if there is no structure in place to help a new starter make the transition and become fully productive. The best inductions are a process not an event, they combine ongoing support to bring people right into the culture of their new team."

Training and development books

Discover books on a variety of training and development topics at the Training Reference Bookshop

Source suppliers

Visit the Training Reference Directory to view supplier details for a wide range of courses, products and services.

Sponsored links

Back to top