Onboarding and Retention Courses: Employee Experience and Talent Retention
Onboarding and retention training to develop effective new hire onboarding programs, employee experience strategies and talent retention. Learn structured onboarding, stay interviews, engagement and offboarding techniques to reduce turnover.
What you'll learn in Onboarding and Retention courses
Effective onboarding is critical investment: employees with structured onboarding have 58% probability to stay 3+ years and reach full productivity 50% faster. Gallup shows that only 12% employees consider their onboarding excellent, huge gap to fill. Our programs cover structured onboarding programs, employee experience design, engagement strategies, stay interviews, offboarding and retention analytics.
You'll learn to design structured 90-day onboarding: pre-boarding (before day 1), welcome day, 30-60-90 training plan, buddy/mentor assignment, frequent manager check-ins, build excellent employee experience: map employee journey (recruitment → onboarding → development → offboarding), identify critical moments ("moments that matter"), reduce friction points, use proactive stay interviews: periodic retention conversations with top performers to understand motivations, flight risks, preventive interventions before they look elsewhere, implement engagement strategies: autonomy, purpose, professional growth, recognition, work-life balance to increase emotional commitment, manage professional offboarding: structured exit interviews, knowledge transfer, alumni network, protect employer brand even with leavers, optimize retention metrics: turnover rate (voluntary vs involuntary), retention rate by tenure/role, time-to-productivity, employee net promoter score (eNPS) for data-driven decisions.
Who this training is for
- HR Managers and People Operations: onboarding and retention leaders who want to reduce costly turnover and improve employee experience
- Talent Development Specialists: professionals designing employee growth and engagement paths
- Managers and Team Leaders: responsible for new hire onboarding and key employee retention
- Founders and startup entrepreneurs: building strong company culture and talent retention with limited resources
- HR Business Partners: supporting business units on engagement, retention and employee experience themes
Benefits of Onboarding and Retention training
Reduced turnover and costs
Effective onboarding reduces first 12-month turnover by 50%, avoiding replacement costs (150-200% annual salary) and productivity loss.
Accelerated time-to-productivity
Structured onboarding programs reduce time-to-productivity by 40%, allowing new hires to contribute business value faster.
Engagement and employer branding
Positive employee experience increases engagement by 30%, improves employer brand and attracts better talent via referrals and reviews.
How to choose the right format for your team
Each format is designed to adapt to different onboarding and retention skill development needs and business contexts.
In-person course → ideal for:
- Intensive employee experience design workshops with journey mapping, personas, moments that matter identification
- Team managers: stay interview techniques, retention conversations, managing difficult conversations on motivation and career
- HR teams: co-design 90-day onboarding programs customized for different company roles and seniority
- Leadership: company culture strategies, purpose-driven organization, autonomy-mastery-purpose retention framework
Online course → ideal for:
- Onboarding and retention fundamentals: best practices, checklists, templates flexibly accessible for distributed HR
- Geographically dispersed managers needing scalable training on new hire onboarding and engagement
- Microlearning specific techniques: buddy programs, 30-60-90 check-ins, stay interviews, structured exit interviews
- HR certifications (e.g. SHRM Talent Acquisition, Employee Experience) with self-assessment exercises and case studies
Blended course → ideal for:
- Employee experience and onboarding theory online + in-person workshop co-designing company-specific onboarding program
- E-learning retention strategies and analytics + live sessions analyzing company turnover data and personalized action plan
- Tools platform (onboarding templates, stay interview scripts) + 1-to-1 HR coaching on specific retention challenges
- 3-month path: on-demand content + action learning (implement onboarding, measure impact, iterate improvements)
Frequently asked questions about Onboarding and Retention
What is an effective onboarding program and how long does it last?
Effective onboarding integrates new hires facilitating cultural and operational adaptation over 90 days. Includes pre-boarding with welcome pack, first week with welcome day and team presentation, first month with training and weekly check-ins, months 2-3 with growing autonomy. Essential: buddy/mentor, continuous feedback and socialization.
What are stay interviews and how to conduct them?
Stay interviews are proactive conversations with key employees to understand motivations to stay and flight risks before they look elsewhere. Meet semi-annually with top performers and critical roles in informal setting. Ask questions like: what gets you excited Monday morning, what would make you consider other opportunities. Crucial: act on the feedback received.
What are the main retention drivers?
Critical drivers are: professional growth and development with individual plans and mentoring, manager quality with support and constructive feedback, purpose and meaningful work aligned with values, competitive compensation, work-life balance and flexibility, recognition and appreciation. Compensation is important but growth and manager are more powerful motivators.
How to measure onboarding and retention effectiveness?
Onboarding metrics: time-to-productivity, 90-day retention rate, new hire satisfaction. Retention metrics: turnover rate distinguishing voluntary vs involuntary, retention by tenure, turnover cost, Employee Net Promoter Score. Segment data by department and manager to identify critical areas.
Which retention strategies for millennials and Gen Z?
Effective strategies: accelerated growth with job rotation and continuous learning, purpose-driven work with clear mission and social impact, flexibility with remote/hybrid and autonomy, continuous feedback and recognition, transparency and inclusion, well-being and mental health support. Key: authenticity, Gen Z detects BS quickly.
How to manage offboarding and exit interviews?
Professional offboarding protects employer brand. Includes: structured exit interview by HR with questions on exit reason and honest feedback, knowledge transfer documenting processes and projects, smooth logistics with final paycheck and equipment return, maintaining alumni network. Analyze exit data to identify patterns and create action plan.