Onboarding Consultancy

Organisations that have a solid onboarding process create a strong employee experience right from the very start

A clear and organised onboarding process boosts engagement, creates trust, builds relationships with other employees and provides clarity on what the expectations of the employee are and increases retention. Keep in mind that onboarding should not be mistaken for induction. While inductions focus on helping someone adjust to their new role and team, onboarding represents the comprehensive process of transforming a new starter into a fully trained team member.

We will work with you and assess your current onboarding process to provide valuable insight into how it could be changed and improved to provide your new employees with a smooth and seamless transition into their new roles.

Clients who’ve utilised our onboarding services

Why it’s important to get onboarding right

At Let’s Talk Talent, our years of experience working with clients have helped us pinpoint the top mistakes to avoid as part of your new employee onboarding process.

Did you know that over 20% of employees leave within 90 days of starting a new role? That means a staggering one in five new hires will have left within less than three months of starting work with you.

Considering the high cost of recruitment, focusing on improving the effectiveness of the onboarding process should be a no-brainer for businesses everywhere. However, many organisations still struggle to design and implement onboarding initiatives that both attract and retain great people.

We spend a lot of time, money and effort attracting and selecting the right people for roles. We should spend the same amount in getting them set up right from the start. Onboarding is essential to ensure employees feel welcome, comfortable and can hit the ground running.

Onboarding is often overlooked or can be seen as ‘good enough’ but really isn’t something that should be ignored. A good onboarding process can impact retention, engagement, productivity and performance. Get it right from the start and employees can thrive. 

Catherine Wilson, Senior Consultant, Let’s Talk Talent
Book a quick meeting to discuss your Onboarding challenges

The 5 C’s

We like to put onboarding programmes through the acid test: the tried-and-tested 5Cs. The 5Cs are the guiding principles behind any great onboarding initiative.

They list the key elements that should form part of any employee’s pre- and early life experiences as they begin working with you. They are: Compliance, Culture, Clarification, Connection and finally, Care: the golden thread that must run through everything. 

We’ll take a look at your current onboarding process and see how the 5 C’s can work for your business.

Build an onboarding programme that delights your employees

Many companies still view induction with a production line attitude that just leads to really terrible experiences for new joiners, and to talented people (very understandably) leaving.

It’s often the small things that make the biggest difference, and our experience has consistently shown us the importance of not overthinking the onboarding process.

We think it’s best to make it about people and human feelings as much as you do about understanding process, policy, and the intricacies of the role and remember that it takes time for people to get up to speed. Knowing that also takes the pressure off hiring managers, as induction over a period of weeks or months (as opposed to days, or in some cases, hours) can then be realistically managed.

Ask us about our Onboarding support

We recently helped a global charity review and refresh their onboarding for all employees. Using the 5 C’s of onboarding we identified what employees needed and when, how to help them achieve from before they even started.

It’s hugely important that employees know what to expect and what is expected, where to find connection and information, how to fit into the culture and how to feel comfortable quickly. 

Catherine Wilson, Senior Consultant, Let’s Talk Talent

Our Onboarding experts

Yvette Janse van Rensburg

Senior Consultant

An accomplished HR, Talent, and People Development professional drawing on 15+ years’ experience working across SME, Corporate, global geographies and complex stakeholder environments in the Built Environment, Recruitment and Real Estate sectors.

Yvette has a passion for supercharging innovative Talent Management & People Development strategies for future focused organisations, creating moments that matter for people & businesses to thrive.

Catherine Wilson

Senior Consultant

Catherine has worked in Talent, HR and Learning and Development for over 20 years. The variety of industries she’s experienced include; retail, travel, manufacturing, utilities and media.

With a broad range of experience in managing HR, Talent and L&D departments, Catherine understands what it takes to drive change and implement talent initiatives. She’s adept at thinking of creative solutions that solve real problems.

Rebecca Longman

Senior Consultant

Rebecca has a MSc in Occupational Psychology, subsequently spent the last 14 years as both an in-house and external consultant in the manufacturing, food, healthcare, financial, and technology industries with organisations all over the world including Bupa, Comerica, BP, Mastercard, Zoetis, Vimeo, Ingredion and many more.

She is an ICF-certified coach and a self-published author of Let’s Love to Work a book about how people create careers they love.

Her specialist skills are employee engagement, skills and competency framework creation, organisational strategy, change management, training design, coaching, narrative creation, and leadership development.

Book a quick meeting to discuss your Onboarding challenges

Onboarding Consultants based in London

Let’s Talk Talent is a talent management and organisational development consultancy based in London, UK. We help our clients get, keep and grow brilliant people.

We work with a range of businesses from small SMEs to large multinational brands that operate globally.

Come and find out how Let’s Talk Talent can help you transform your performance management process into a modern performance experience.

Onboarding Services

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FAQs

What is onboarding?


Onboarding is more than just paperwork and policies. It’s your employee’s first taste of your company’s culture, values, and their role within it. It’s about ensuring they feel welcomed, supported, and prepared for success from day one. Proper onboarding is like a roadmap, guiding your new hires through their initial days and setting the tone for their entire journey with your organisation.

Who is onboarding for?


Onboarding is for both new employees and the companies that welcome them. It benefits new hires by providing the knowledge and resources they need to excel in their roles, feel engaged, and integrate into the company culture. On the flip side, it helps organisations reduce turnover, improve productivity, and protect their investment in recruiting and training. Whether you are a HR professional, team leader or head of department, everyone has a role to play with onboarding.

Why is onboarding important?


Quite simply,  it’s the foundation of a successful employee-employer relationship. It sets the stage for employee engagement, retention, and overall job satisfaction. A solid onboarding process ensures employees feel valued and confident in their roles, which translates to increased productivity and loyalty.

How does onboarding work?

At Let’s Talk Talent, our approach to Onboarding is all about creating an experience that is unique to you and your people. With this we ensure they understand your company’s culture, values, and expectations. It’s not just about paperwork; it’s about making your new employees feel at home.

How can I measure the success of my Onboarding?

Success in Onboarding can be measured through various factors. Look for signs of early engagement, like participation in company activities or social events. Track performance indicators such as time-to-productivity and employee retention rates. Ultimately, a successful Onboarding process will result in a higher level of job satisfaction and alignment with your company’s goals.

Got an Onboarding project in mind?

You’ve come this far, why turn back now?

If you have an Onboarding project or challenge you need help with, or just want to find out more about what we do, let’s talk.

Related Onboarding resources

Onboarding checklist

We’ve created our Ultimate Onboarding Checklist to help you build meaningful relationships with your people as you embark on a new journey together.

Onboarding at Oiltanking

Following a review, Oil Tanking wanted to improve the way that it onboards employees who are taking up positions in their head office. 

How to create a great oboarding experience

A client case study in welcoming new starters with positive, consistent, and effective onboarding tools.

The 5 Cs of onboarding

At Let’s Talk Talent, we have a foolproof approach to creating a kickass onboarding programme that works. Only five key elements are required: we call them the 5Cs.

Managing leadership change: how HRs can manage a new CEO

The amount of change to implement as new leadership settles in can be overwhelming. Some employees may experience high levels of stress and anxiety, and most people are likely to have questions or concerns about the future. So, what can HR do to smooth the transition?

11 employee onboarding mistakes to avoid

Organisations still struggle to design and implement onboarding initiatives that both attract and retain great people. Here’s our checklist of mistakes to avoid.

Creating an onboarding programme that generates staff retention

Here is a crash course on what a great EVP entails, and how it can make a huge difference to your business.

How to develop an onboarding and induction that rocks

At Let’s Talk Talent, we know bringing people up to speed is a key focus within the HR planning process. But before launching into a bulleted list of tips on how to ensure people feel at home in their new role, we like to do things right.

What makes a great new starter welcome pack guide

Our short guide to what to include in an Onboarding welcome pack, plus things to think about and some creative examples of packs we love.

The 5 Cs of onboarding

Join Jo as she discusses the five key elements are required for an amazing onboarding experience: we call them the 5Cs.

What should be in a new employee welcome pack? [remote onboarding tips]

What can you do to make a welcome pack something exciting and inspirational to truly celebrate your new starters. Find out and get inspired with Jo.

Top 5 mistakes you can make when onboarding new employees

Here’s some things to avoid in your onboarding process. Listen as Jo shares some HR horror stories.

Going the extra mile when you’re onboarding

Read about how going that extra mile during onboarding, making your new joiners feel special and valued helps retention in the long run.

Engaging your new joiners

Find out some of the best ways to engage with new joiners in your business. Jo shares some of her top tips.

Re-onboarding: how to bring your people back into your business

Jo covers some of the hot topics just after the pandemic. Although a lot of this still rings true in the hybrid and remote working era.

What else can we do?

Coaching

Uncertain times can bring unwanted challenges and stress. Investing in development for your employees during challenging times can support not only their wellbeing but their ability to overcome current and future challenges.

Discover more about our coaching services

Learning and Development (L&D)

Having collaborative, cohesive and effective teams can be one of the core drivers for success. However with the constant movement of people across your organisation means teams are constantly evolving and will need constant support through your L&D strategy to keep them at their best.

Discover more about our L&D services

Talent Management

You already understand that identifying talent and developing the people within your organisation is the principle cause of the overall success any company enjoys. It’s the ‘how’ that can often be challenging.

Discover more about our Talent Management services