20 Key Employee Onboarding Statistics to Know in 2025

An effective employee onboarding ensures your processes comply with local laws and new employees have all the information they need to get started. It is a crucial step to hire any employee, but are companies currently doing this step effectively? Discover key insights into employee onboarding across industries with a comprehensive list of statistics.

By exploring these statistics, you can better understand the various facets of employee onboarding and create a more effective onboarding process for your company. These numbers will also reveal essential trends and help you optimize onboarding programs for better retention, satisfaction, and productivity.

The current state of employee onboarding: Key statistics

Firstly, let’s see how companies are currently conducting their onboarding:

1. The average onboarding time for companies is just one week

Recent data reveals that the most common onboarding time among companies was just one week in the US, i.e.26%. 25% of companies still spend less than a day on onboarding. 21% spend a month, and only 11% invest several months into onboarding.

Most companies are currently not investing enough time in the onboarding process. (Time spent onboarding new employees in the United States, Statista)

2. One out of six new hires found the onboarding systems not user-friendly

The onboarding systems for many companies need a major upgrade. One out of six new hires found the systems not user-friendly, and 22% of employees were even confused about how to proceed during the new hire onboarding process. (Super CIO, Digitate)

3. 70% of new hires decide whether a job is the right fit within the first month

70% of new hires decide whether a job is the right fit within the first month, and 29% decide in as little as a week. On average, companies have only 44 days to influence a new hire’s long-term retention. Hence, companies need a solid onboarding process to retain employees. (First Impressions Are Everything, BambooHR)

4. 63% of remote workers feel undertrained during onboarding

Remote employees need special attention when it comes to onboarding. 63% of remote workers feel undertrained by the onboarding process. In fact, 60% said they felt disoriented after their latest remote onboarding experience, and 36% found the process confusing.

No wonder 72% of remote workers do not feel strongly tied to the mission and purpose of their organizations. A lot of work is needed to align them, and gaps start right from onboarding. (Are Remote Workers and Their Organizations Drifting Apart, Gallup and The Effect of Poor Onboarding on New Hires, Paychex)

4. 20% of new hires say their company doesn’t help them find support among their coworkers

78% of employees find it important to build workplace connections. Having an onboarding buddy is a great way to build that connection for new hires. But companies aren’t actively working towards it. 20% of new hires also say their company doesn’t take any steps to help them find support among their coworkers. (The State Of Workplace Connection, Nectar, Learning at work survey, CIPD, Onboarding statistics, BambooHR)

5. 64% of employees do not have preboarding

Candidates may get second thoughts until they have not joined the company. Your competitors are also trying to poach the best talent in this phase. Preboarding is one way to keep candidates engaged before their start date. Yet, 64% of employees say they did not have preboarding at all. In fact, 40% of employees did not even get the absolute minimum required for starting a new job. Preboarding is an area in which most companies lag behind. (Expectations VS Reality of Onboarding, Talmundo)

6. 97% of HR leaders find a need for continuous upskilling in new hires

The learning doesn’t stop with onboarding. Even after onboarding, 97% of HR leaders see the need for continuous upskilling in new hires. This stat proves the need for regular learning and development programs in organizations. (The State of Tech Talent, General Assembly)

Benefits of employee onboarding: Key statistics

Why should you invest your time in optimizing employee onboarding? Here are the top reasons:

7. 50% of selected candidates have doubts, and preboarding can keep them engaged

Gartner surveyed 3500 job searchers and found that 50% of respondents accepted a job offer but backed out before starting. They kept looking for more options open despite getting the offer. In fact, 35% of candidates landed at least four job offers during their search. These statistics show the uncertainty in the post-acceptance phase and prove again why preboarding is required to keep these potential new hires engaged. (Gartner HR Survey, Gartner)

8. Onboarding reduces time to productivity by 50%

Onboarding provides employees with the right assistance and all the information they need to get started. 87% of employees with great onboarding experiences clearly understand what their job entails. (Onboarding Statistics, BambooHR)

9. A strong onboarding approach improves revenue by 2.5x and profit by 1.5x

As onboarding makes new hires productive faster, it directly impacts the revenue and profit of businesses. Companies with effective onboarding observed 2.5 times increased revenue and 1.5 times increased profit. (Effectiveness of formal onboarding for facilitating organizational socialization, PMC)

10. 89% of employees say effective onboarding keeps employees engaged

89% of employees say a great onboarding process helped them feel engaged at work and 18 times more committed to their employer. These employees are 30 times more likely to feel overall job satisfaction compared to employees who face poor onboarding processes.(Onboarding Statistics, BambooHR)

Negative impacts of poor employee onboarding: Key statistics

11. 21% of new hires who quit expected better onboarding

BambooHR surveyed new employees who quit and found

• 23% wanted clear guidelines about their responsibilities
• 21% expected more effective training
• 17% said a friendly smile or a helpful coworker could have persuaded them to stay

All of these problems can be solved by effective onboarding, where you clarify responsibilities, train on tasks, and assign onboarding buddies. (The Definitive Guide To Onboarding, Bamboo HR)

12. Poor onboarding increases manager fatigue by 42%

35% of managers now have more direct reports, and 49% say the complexity of their responsibilities has increased. Managers are constantly struggling to keep up with their task lists. And in all this, poor onboarding becomes one more hurdle that makes their task of managing new hires difficult. Outdated onboarding processes are said to increase levels of manager fatigue by up to 42%. (Gartner Manager Survey, Gartner)

13. Employees with a poor onboarding experience are twice as likely to quit

New hire remorse is real, and poor onboarding is the nail in that coffin. Employees who did not have a positive onboarding experience are two times more likely to seek a different opportunity in the near future. (Super CIO, Digitate)

Costs of employee onboarding: Key statistics

How much are companies currently spending on onboarding? Here’s what studies say.

14. $4,700 per employee is the fixed cost of hiring

According to new benchmarking from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average cost per hire is nearly $4,700 (USD). 30-40% of these costs are hard costs like infrastructure/technology, and the other 60% are soft costs like time invested by different employees to support hiring. A company spends this amount only to shortlist a candidate in the basic hiring process, even before detailed training. (The Real Costs of Recruitment, SHRM)

15. Companies are spending $1100 per new hire for training

Small companies invest $1100 in new hire training. On the other hand, large companies are running such programs at scale, reducing training costs per hire. They spent approximately $500 per new hire in training. (Average training cost per employee in the United States, Statista)

16. 26% of the learning budget is allocated to onboarding

Onboarding takes a major chunk of the learning budget, almost over one-fourth of the entire budget. A training industry report found that companies allocate 26% of their learning budget to onboarding. (Training industry report, Training Magazine)

Use of technology and AI in onboarding: Key statistics

Companies are systemizing their onboarding process for better efficiency, and technology is playing a major part. Here are some trends that show the usage of tech and AI in onboarding.

17. The onboarding software market is estimated to reach $1.34 billion by 2025

More companies are tilting towards onboarding software rather than conducting the entire process manually. Increased demand for onboarding software shows in numbers. The global market for employee onboarding software is forecasted to reach $1.34 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2020 to 2025. (Employee onboarding software market overview, IndustryArc)

18. 65% of onboarding is happening online

Onboarding training is no longer limited to in-person training. It is tough to block timings on existing employees’ calendars to train every new hire added to the team. Companies are now creating more online training for better scalability and flexibility. This training can be recorded one time and reused later. It gives the ease of conducting training anytime without disturbing the schedule of the rest of the team members. (Training industry report, Training Magazine)

19. 41% of talent teams plan to invest in onboarding tech

Technology investment is a top priority for talent teams. One of the major investments they plan is AI-powered recruiting tools, job boards, applicant tracking systems, and onboarding tech. 41% of talent teams plan to invest in onboarding software. (Employ Recruiter Nation Report, Jobvite)

20. 28% of HR leaders have started using AI in onboarding

Companies are also adopting AI in HR and learning. According to Deel data commissioned with YouGov in June 2024, 38% of HR decision-makers currently employ AI in their practices and workflows. When further asked which process they are using AI for, 28% used AI for employee onboarding.

Take your onboarding program to the next level with Deel

Deel provides a suite of features designed to streamline your onboarding process, whether remote or in-office. Here’s how Deel can help:

1. Customizable onboarding workflows: Build custom onboarding workflows for different roles with training modules and checklists—new hires get a personalized experience that helps them excel in their role rather than a generalized onboarding done by HR for all employees
2. Seamless Slack integration: Run onboarding directly with Slack for simplicity—new hires will get Slack notifications on onboarding materials and group activities
3. AI-powered LMS: Develop customized courses for different roles with LMS—create interactive onboarding materials, including video tutorials and quizzes, making onboarding more engaging. Additionally, our LMS also provides AI support to fasten course creation
4. Automated device provisioning: Use Deel to get IT equipment to every new hire and track your device fleet worldwide
5. Continuous feedback: Gather feedback from new hires on their onboarding experience and continuously improve the process
6. New hire performance evaluations: Assess new hires’ performance and provide constructive feedback to support their growth and integration into your organization
7. Global compliance support: Ensure your onboarding processes adhere to local regulations across multiple countries with Deel’s global compliance solutions

The Deel platform also comes with built-in HRIS features, helping organizations manage global talent with unified reporting, automated people admin, and more from a single location.

Book a demo to see how our solutions can help you deliver a highly engaging onboarding program for your new hires.

Sources

• Time spent onboarding new employees in the United States, Statista
• Super CIO, Digitate
• First Impressions Are Everything, BambooHR
• Are Remote Workers and Their Organizations Drifting Apart, Gallup
• The Effect of Poor Onboarding on New Hires, Paychex
• The State Of Workplace Connection, Nectar
• Learning at work survey, CIPD
• Expectations VS Reality of Onboarding, Talmundo
• The State of Tech Talent, General Assembly
• Gartner HR Survey, Gartner
• Effectiveness of formal onboarding for facilitating organizational socialization, PMC
• Onboarding Statistics, BambooHR
• The Definitive Guide To Onboarding, Bamboo HR
• Gartner Manager Survey, Gartner
• Super CIO, Digitate
• The Real Costs of Recruitment, SHRM
• Average training cost per employee in the United States, Statista
• Training industry report, Training Magazine
• Employee onboarding software market overview, IndustryArc
• Employ Recruiter Nation Report, Jobvite