Dive Brief:
- To combat severe talent shortages in the industrial sector, employers may need to focus on making onboarding more about grounding new employees in the organization rather than just policy review, according to a March 24 report from Talogy, a talent management provider.
- Talogy surveyed 800 industrial sector experts, and close to one-third of respondents said onboarding was “the single, most critical factor” for a new hire’s success.
- “When nearly a third of a worker’s success is determined by their first few weeks on the job, an insubstantial onboarding process isn’t just an HR oversight, it’s an operational risk that impacts staff turnover, productivity and, ultimately, the bottom line,” Trevor McGlochlin, head of industrial solutions strategy at Talogy, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Onboarding is a key aspect of the employee lifecycle that is often overlooked, research has shown. Front-line industrial jobs, in particular, can be physically demanding and may repel new employees if they aren’t properly prepared for the expectations of the job, Talogy said in its report.
High-mobility jobs — or jobs that tend to be a “revolving door” of workers, as many front-line roles are — can be especially well-served by a solid onboarding program, an Indeed analysis from June 2025 said.
Poor onboarding programs can also actively push workers away, a TalentLMS and BambooHR report from July 2025 said. Close to 4 in 10 new hires said that they had second thoughts about taking the job during onboarding, and more than half said onboarding focused far too much on administrative tasks.
Mentorship is another key aspect to cultivating a sustainable work environment, the Talogy report said. Generation Z workers, in particular, may particularly benefit from career mentorship, a Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and The Harris Poll survey showed.