Here are 10 ways businesses can retain their new employees beyond 90 days without a pay incentive

We've all heard of the 90-day rule.

Chip Cutter of the Wall Street Journal once said: "Hold on to an employee for three months ... and that person is more likely to remain employed longer-term."

Perhaps one of the most daunting realities of onboarding, especially in volatile labour markets like hospitality and manufacturing, is that we as managers are unequipped to deal with the competition of external factors or simply internal factors such as lack of employee engagement, which leads to high turnover. High turnover reflects negatively on your company, and on yourself as a leader, especially in a digital age where both former and current employees turn to Glassdoor, LinkedIn and TikTok to leave reviews about their experience.

Not to mention the extra costs that are incurred and wasted through extra recruitment and training.

So how do we provide a rigorous and supportive onboarding experience that ensures we retain our talent beyond 90 days?

In my experience, I have supported team members right from the beginning of their induction in my company, which has led to 90 per cent of them being retained for the long term, to the point where I received an award for being their "rockstar" of support through onboarding and beyond.

I've even had team members tell me they feel like they're part of a family and even when offered roles with higher pay elsewhere, have chosen to stay within my company because they felt supported.

The ten steps I have outlined below will ensure you can experience the same results with your team:

1. Initiate contact before they start day one
2. Create a clearly outlined induction schedule for their first two weeks
3. Communicate (constantly)
4. Set up weekly catchups in their calendar
5. Arrange for the newbie to meet their team from day one
6. Leverage shadowing and peer-to-peer mentorship
7. Create clearly outlined goals and expectations
8. Study your team member
9. Coach them in their performance reviews
10. Develop their career

Initiate contact before they start day one

One of the things I was intentional about was that as soon as I was notified by HR that a new employee was joining my team, I would obtain their contact details and drop them a line for an informal chat before their start date.

This would help to clear the air a bit, reduce their nerves about meeting their new boss, and would allow me to build some rapport with them and gauge a bit of their personality before meeting them at work.

It would only be five minutes on the phone, but I made it clear when I called that it would just be a quick call to catch up with them and see how they were doing. I would use this time to check that they were mentally prepared and excited for their first day, congratulate them on landing the job, and double-check that they had their IT equipment ready or on the way (this was a remote role). This rapport-building time should never be underestimated. Those five minutes are invaluable.

Create a clearly outlined induction schedule for their first two weeks

New hires appreciate order, consistency, and structure. If they arrive for their first day and are greeted by confusion, schedules mixed up, or worse yet, you are clearly unprepared for their arrival and do not have anything for them to do/learn, then they will not only be bored but will quickly lose interest, and you will lose their engagement and loyalty.

I created a clear schedule that I emailed out to my newbies before their first day, so they would know what to expect when they start, and where they need to be at certain times. I would then check first thing in the morning that they understood everything in the schedule and there was no confusion. They appreciated this sense of order, and it gave them a feeling of purpose and something to look forward to.

Communicate (constantly)

The worst thing you can do as a manager is to leave your newbie hanging. If you think leaving them to the L&D team for training is sufficient, you couldn't be more wrong. Allowing them to fall off your radar will communicate to them that they are not important.

Yes, we have busy schedules and tons of other things to deal with, but the occasional check-in to ask, "How are you doing?", won't hurt. The consequences of not doing so far outweigh the minor inconvenience of doing so. Especially is this engagement vital in a remote work environment.

Communicate with your newbie utilising every channel possible, i.e. I didn't just email or message my employee on Teams, I would call them on Teams for an impromptu catchup. That way, any questions they had which were unanswered in their training or work that day, I could answer right away. Also, I could nip any performance issues in the bud, instead of waiting for our next monthly or weekly review.

Set up weekly catchups in their calendar

Beyond catching up with your newbie daily, set up weekly performance reviews to set expectations (more on that later) and check on expectations already achieved. Monitor their progress, use this time to answer any questions you were unable to deal with in your daily check-ins and reiterate what is expected and where their focus should be for the week ahead. This keeps them engaged and looking forward to the next week as they will be constantly learning and developing.

Arrange for the newbie to meet their team from day one

We all know that babies latch onto their mother's milk from birth, thus creating an impenetrable bond between parent and child. I believe the same is true with team building. If you want your newbie to integrate well into their team, get them to "latch on" and form that bond from their first day, or as close to their first day as possible.

Even if they won't be working with their team just yet, it's good for them to get to know everyone so they can start to feel a sense of belonging, which is one of the first needs we seek to address as managers. Smiling, welcoming faces who are their peers, will help to set them at ease and reduce their "first-week" nerves.

Leverage shadowing and peer-to-peer mentorship

Following on from their introductory meeting, you'll need to continue to strengthen the team bond by encouraging and setting in place shadowing and peer-to-peer mentorship. When you have so much on your plate already, why make life harder for yourself when you can leverage the power of peer support?

Buddy up your newbie with a team member who is more experienced and can do their role with their eyes closed. They can show them the ropes, build rapport with them, and teach them the more technical aspects of the job which you may not be as competent or familiar with because you are the boss and not working on the frontline. I have used this method for every employee I have onboarded and I have effectively halved my work, as by the time I check in with them before the day is done, they have already accelerated their learning and development in the role and are far more competent than if I left them to their induction training alone.

It makes my work easier and they are up to speed and able to perform their role even before training has been completed. In addition, I always ensure that I get my newbie to shadow every person on the team in their roles, not just their peer mentor, as everyone in the team has a valuable perspective or slightly different way of doing things. I want them to use these perspectives to develop their own work style that works for them.

Create clearly outlined goals and expectations

Your new team member needs a compass. We already know that without a strong set of objectives and a strategy to achieve them, our departments and companies will not survive in business. Individually, at a team level, your newbie needs well-defined expectations so that they know what their performance metrics (KPIs) are and won't need to operate in the dark, unsure of what to do.

These performance standards should not only be communicated verbally, but also reiterated on paper (via email) so that there is proof you have discussed it with them, and also they can refer to something concrete from time to time as they need it. In addition, partner with your employee and coach them in your weekly conversations, to set mini-performance goals to achieve those expectations, using the SMART goal method.

Study your team member

One of the most important skills we should develop and refine as leaders and managers is the art of being curious. Get curious about your newbie. Ask coaching questions in your interactions with them, that will empower them to perform at optimal levels.

Study their personality type (this will take some time and can't be done overnight) and I would encourage you to explore this using OCEAN (The Big Five Personality Traits). This way you can tailor your management style to them so that they deliver the best results in performance.

Coach them in their performance reviews

One of the things I really appreciated about one of my last roles is that my manager turned every performance review into a conversation in which I took the lead, beginning with: "Rachel, what's important for us to focus on today? What would you like to see accomplished by the end of our time together? How can we make this conversation fruitful?"

Every time I sought his advice, he threw back the question with: "What are your options, Rachel? How can we resolve this issue? What do you think is best?"

He was coaching me. It enabled me to progress faster in my role and perform at an optimal level.

I looked forward to our conversations and the day I left that role, I cried so hard because it felt like I was leaving my family. It's easy to walk into a performance review with a checklist mentality of: "OK, this is what you've been doing so far really well, these are the areas you need to work on, and this is what you need to do next month. Any questions?"

However, beyond that, if you want your newbie to remain loyal, take time to coach them. Ask thought-provoking questions that will help them build self-awareness, and they will tell you what they need to work on if you do this right. You want them to maximise the time and lead the conversation. Your role is to simply facilitate the process of their development.

Develop their career

One surefire way to retain an employee's loyalty is to focus on their career development. Make it an active part of your performance reviews and team strategy. Begin by asking them what their goals are and how they would like to progress in the company a couple of years from now.

Then work with them (coaching) to set an action plan to achieve that goal. That could involve more peer mentorship, them taking the lead on a new project, or assigning them a new CPE course each month. Employees will really appreciate this and will stay with you for the long term because you have contributed to them in a meaningful way.

By Rachel Wells rachelwellscareerexpert

Rachel Wells is a Corporate Career Coach, Corporate Trainer, Christian Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur and public sector Contract Manager. Her passion is in helping people discover and live their purpose, and equipping the next generation of leaders. When not coaching or speaking, Rachel enjoys traveling, vegan baking, and long-distance running. You can learn more about management training for newly appointed and aspiring managers, by visiting her  website: https://www.rachelwellscoaching.org/.