Effective Onboarding Techniques and Strategies for Improved New Hire Retention

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - February 5, 2008) - In the new benchmark report, "All Aboard: Effective Onboarding Techniques and Strategies," Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), found that while 86% of all organizations surveyed agree that it takes up to six months for a new employee to make a firm decision to stay with the company, 61% of all organizations either don't offer a formal Onboarding program or end their Onboarding program within just one month. This benchmark report is a compilation of surveys and interviews from nearly 800 organizations globally and highlights how Best-in-Class performers are maximizing the value of their Onboarding process to improve new employee retention, reduce time to productivity and enhance employment brand.

"Onboarding is not a nice-to-have, it's a need-to-have," said Kevin Martin, Research Director, Human Capital Management at Aberdeen. "100% of organizations that achieved our Best-in-Class status improved year-over-year new hire retention as compared to a mere 4% of all other organizations. The need to retain new hires and enable them to more quickly perform productively in their new capacity and environment has never been more pressing and is forcing organizations to look beyond traditional new hire orientation programs and towards formalized Onboarding strategies."

The study also found that Best-in-Class organizations with respect to Onboarding are more likely to:

--  Begin Onboarding before the start date of employment
    
--  Ensure the Onboarding process is at least six months for select
    stakeholder groups
    
--  Extend Onboarding to all new employees, including those coming from
    mergers and acquisitions as well as those who have accepted internal job
    transfers
    
--  Make 'socialization' into the organization's culture a key focus of
    the Onboarding process
    

Furthermore, the report sheds light on the usage of technology to achieve Best-in-Class performance in new hire retention and productivity. "For the most part, Best-in-Class prowess lies in their organizational capabilities and supporting processes," said Jayson Saba, Research Associate at Aberdeen's Human Capital Management practice. "However, more than two thirds of our Best-in-Class are automating all or parts of their Onboarding process, compared to 45% of Laggard organizations."

This report examines how global enterprises are implementing Onboarding strategies, processes, and solutions to improve performance in critical new employee metrics, including: new hire retention, time-to-productivity, employment brand, and completion rates of Onboarding tasks. In addition to providing insight into what Best-in-Class companies are doing, this report also offers recommended actions that all companies can take to impact the perception and experience of prospective candidates and new employees via effective Onboarding.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: SAP, Enwisen, SilkRoad technology, Cornerstone OnDemand, SkillSoft, and Vurv. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4574

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2008 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
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www.aberdeen.com

Contact Information: Media Contact: Kevin Martin Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5314 kevin.martin@aberdeen.com