5 Common Employee Onboarding Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

What is Employee Onboarding and Why Does it Matter (Benefits)?

Employee onboarding is a structured process for smoothly integrating a new employee into your organization. It involves orientation and other opportunities for the new hire to learn about the organization’s culture, vision, mission, values, and expectations.

Here’s why delivering a great employee onboarding experience is crucial:

• Improves Employee Retention: According to SHRM, an effective onboarding framework improves employee retention by 52% and overall satisfaction by 53%.

• Reduces Employee Turnover: 89% of employees report being engaged at work after an effective onboarding experience. And engaged employees are 50% less likely to leave the organization, says Gallup.

• Promotes Cost Savings: Data shows that replacing an employee costs about 6–9 months of their salary. By reducing turnover through better onboarding, you can retain valuable resources and avoid these steep replacement costs.

Avoid These 5 Employee Onboarding Mistakes at All Costs

Here are some common mistakes companies make when onboarding employees that strip them of the above benefits:

1. Lack of Preboarding and Delayed Asset Delivery

For many organizations, onboarding starts on the first day. Preboarding activities either fall short or don’t exist. In fact, 64% of employees report not having any preboarding: Talentech.

Result? The official joining day is pure chaos. Asset deliveries get delayed, and employees are unable to log in or access critical apps. 

Here’s proof:  StrongDM found that 43% of new hires waited longer than a week for logistics and the required tools to be in place. 

In fact, a Reddit user (managing a team of engineers) faced similar onboarding challenges: delayed devices, stalled approvals, and new hires left waiting around with nothing to do.

Source: Reddit

When new hires face issues like these they start to feel undervalued and question the company’s competence.

How to avoid this Mistake?

Create a preboarding, or a T-minus 30-day plan, that outlines everything you need to do before the new hire’s first day. This may include: 

• Sending a personalized welcome email with the next steps
• Collecting signed paperwork (NDAs, compliance docs, tax forms)
• Ordering and pre-configuring their laptop and accessories
• Setting up IDP accounts, SSO groups, and MFA enrollment
• Assigning licenses for core apps (CRM, design, or dev tools)
• Scheduling intro calls with their manager and buddy

Use our T-Minus 30-Day Preboarding Plan Checklist to ensure:

• You have a set process in place
• You don’t miss crucial steps like shipping devices or legal documentation
• A seamless first-day onboarding experience for the new hire.
• Your new hire has everything they need before or on the final day.

• Lack of Coordination Between Cross-functional Teams (HR and IT)

Another common employee onboarding mistake is the lack of coordination between departments, such as IT and HR. When this happens, the new hire feels the impact first.

Don’t take our word for it. Many IT experts on Reddit admit lack of collaboration derails onboarding:

Source: Reddit

Imagine a new hire is set to join on 1st July, but the HR fails to notify the IT department until the final week. The IT team scrambles to source that specific device within a week, HR argues that 1 week is enough, and the result is predictable: delayed asset delivery and poor employee experience.

How to Avoid This Mistake?

The fix is to improve cross-team collaboration by replacing manual back-and-forth with a centralized, and automated workflow.

Thats where Workwize comes in:

• Centralized dashboard for collaboration: Workwize gives HR and IT a single source of truth for onboarding, enabling both teams to see tasks, ownership, and progress in real time.

• HRIS + IT integration: The moment HR adds a new hire into the HRIS (like BambooHR), Workwize automatically generates an onboarding ticket.

• Trigger zero-touch provisioning: That ticket instantly alerts IT, kicking off the workflow—devices are ordered, pre-configured, and shipped.

• Out-of-the-box (OOTB) readiness: By Day 1, the laptop arrives fully set up with apps, credentials, and compliance checks done. The employee can log in and start working immediately.

For a deeper dive on how to set up this partnership, check our dedicated guide on: How HR and IT Can Collaborate to Create a Better First Day for New Employees. 

• Surface-Level or No New Hire Training

Several organizations expect the best from their employees, yet fail to provide adequate training.

Source: Reddit

And some of those who do provide some training make it about basic DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) or company policies. This gap in training leaves new hires unprepared for their roles.

 Here’s a Reddit user talking about the same error:

Source: Reddit

But how does it matter? 

Well, 41% employees would consider leaving if their employer doesn’t offer training, according to BenefitsPro. That means every missed training opportunity risks higher turnover and wasted hiring spend.

How to Avoid this Mistake

Some employees are hired precisely because they have the required skillset and experience. They may need little to no role-specific training. 

But that’s not the case with everyone you hire. Some individuals may require initial training for a couple of months before they can operate according to the company’s standards.

Here’s what you can do:

• Identify the skill level of the new hire and where they need support
• Dedicate a fixed number of hours/days based on their role or seniority
• Don’t limit training to just company policies and culture
• Include training relevant to their roles and responsibilities
• Include assessment tests or a shadowing task to track  progress
• Assign mentors or a buddy to guide them through the first few months 

Pro Tip: Continuously update the training materials for new and existing employees as tools, policies, or goals change. After all, there’s always some room to upskill your entire team

• Information Overload

Right from the first day, you’re buzzing to get your new hire up to speed. It might be tempting to pack their first day with back-to-back presentations so they can settle in and learn quickly. In reality, that approach does the opposite. 

Flooding your hires with too much information (one presentation after the other)  might lead to information or cognitive overload . And they’ll eventually stop absorbing the content, defying the whole purpose.

How to Avoid this Mistake

According to a survey conducted by BambooHR, 56% of new employees prefer onboarding to take one to two days. This tells us that employees want a digestible learning experience, not a marathon of meetings. 

Here’s how you can structure it:

• Prioritize essentials on Day 1: Access, introductions, and immediate role requirements.
• Spread deeper sessions across Day 2 (or even the first week): Tools, policies, and department-specific knowledge.
• Mix formats: Blend live sessions with recorded modules or self-paced guides so employees can revisit material later.
• Built-in breaks: Give space for questions, reflection, and hands-on practice.

When you pace onboarding, new hires retain more, feel less overwhelmed, and hit productivity milestones faster.

• Ignoring Company Culture

You cannot just share the required paperwork, training material, and employee handbook and call it a day. Company culture and core beliefs should also be a dedicated part of your onboarding process.

After all, employees deserve to know what their employer is invested in and the causes that matter to them.

In fact, around 96% of new hires expect an introduction to the company’s mission and values during their onboarding experience, according to BambooHR.

And not sharing this information or misleading new hires can impact retention, as 88% of employees say culture is key when choosing where to work.

How to Avoid This

Don’t limit culture to just a quick mention during orientation or in the company handbook. Instead, make culture-building a structured part of onboarding:

• Walk new hires through the company’s mission, vision, and values. Show them why these matter, not just what they are.

• Culture sticks when people see it. For example, if collaboration is a core value, let new hires join meetings where open discussion and knowledge-sharing happen naturally.

• Every workplace has informal expectations—like whether people are encouraged to log off on time or take flexible lunch breaks. Assign a buddy who can guide new hires through these unwritten norms.

• While it’s important to highlight the formal values (like integrity or innovation), ensure new hires also feel the culture through day-to-day interactions and real examples.

• No Clear Point of Contact

One of the biggest frustrations for new hires is not knowing who to turn to for questions.

No wonder, 65% employees consider not getting a POC for questions as one of their biggest frustrations as a new hire.

As a result, they hesitate to ask questions and feel lonely and eventually disengaged. And disengaged employees cost the world around $8.8 trillion in lost productivity each year: Gallup. That’s something you’d want to fix fast.

How to Avoid This

• Don’t wait until the last moment to assign a point of contact to the new hire. 
• Designate a POC during preboarding and introduce them in the welcome email.
• Share the contact information of an IT support member (for technical issues) and the HR department (for general queries). 
• Re-share these contacts in your Day-1 checklist or induction email so new hires know exactly where to go.
• Pair each new hire with a peer buddy who can answer informal questions and help them integrate socially.

• Lack of a Clear Goal

Companies often fail to set clear goals or KPIs for the new hire onboarding process. 

Without structure, employees spend their first weeks guessing what’s expected of them. 

Even data show that 22% of employees were confused about how to proceed during the new hire onboarding process. You have only so much time before the confusion turns into disengagement and the employee eventually leaves.

How to Avoid This

As stated in the first pointer, create a T-Minus 30-Day Preboarding Plan, to prepare well for day 1. It gives your new employees a roadmap that spells out what success looks like. 

But don’t just stop there. Here’s what you can do

Set goals for the first 30, 60, and 90 days. Here’s an example:

• 30 Days: Complete core training modules and shadow team members.
• 60 Days: Contribute to 2–3 small projects with clear outcomes.
• 90 Days: Take full ownership of a client account, workflow, or internal process.

Pro Tip: You can always break these into weekly or even daily goals as per your comfort.

• Make the goals measurable: Instead of “learn CRM,” say: “Log 50% of assigned customer interactions in CRM by day 30.”

• Track progress regularly: Hold weekly or biweekly reviews to track progress, clear blockers, and adjust goals if needed.

• Use technology: HRIS (like BambooHR) or onboarding platforms can assign tasks, track KPIs, and send reminders so nothing slips through.

Creating a goal-driven onboarding process portrays your company as more professional and competent. And of course, it brings more clarity and confidence to the new hire.

Employee Onboarding Mistakes to Avoid: At a Glance View

Here’s a visual preview of the onboarding mistakes you must avoid:

Employee Onboarding Best Practices

Here are some employee onboarding best practices every employer needs to implement:

• Assess Cultural Fit Early: It’s important to assess whether candidates fit the organisation’s unique structure before hiring; mismatches discovered months later lead to costly turnover.

• Avoid Misleading Job Descriptions: Describe the job role and responsibilities accurately in the job posting. Otherwise, the new hire will walk in expecting one thing and experiencing another. This mismatch can lead to frustration and the employee might feel cheated.

• Tailor Onboarding to Individual Backgrounds: If possible, identify different learning styles, languages, time zones. and generational expectations and deliver a customized onboarding experience. For instance, some might prefer a visual approach and others may want to read everything.
  
  
• Provide Cross‑Team Exposure: Encouraging cross‑department knowledge sharing helps new hires understand how their role fits into the bigger picture. Plus, this increases familiarity, creating a safe and collaborative space.

• Re‑Onboard Veterans When Needed: If metrics show disengagement or performance issues, consider re‑onboarding long‑tenured employees to reset expectations and offer upskilling opportunities

• Adapt to Remote/Hybrid Work: Include tips on virtual preboarding, shipping equipment early, and hosting virtual coffee chats to foster connections

• Use Technology Wisely: Try tools like Workwize to automate asset management (from procurement to deployment) and enable zero-touch onboarding and offboarding, particularly useful in a remote or hybrid setup.

Download our more comprehensive onboarding checklist here: IT Onboarding Checklist

Conclusion

Onboarding isn’t just about integrating a new employee into an organization. It’s about boosting employee morale, making them feel safe, included, and important, and delivering a positive onboarding experience.

And the result is better employee retention and productivity, reduced turnover, and massive financial savings.

But avoiding onboarding mistakes requires more than just good intentions—you also need the right systems in place.

That’s where Workwize comes in. 

Workwize automates asset logistics and gives HR and IT a centralized onboarding dashboard. This ensures your new hires get their devices, access, and tools on Day 1—no delays, no confusion, no wasted spend.

Try Workwize now and start streamlining your onboarding process.

Pro Tip: To not miss any crucial onboarding step, check out this: Ensure Success From Day 1 With This IT Onboarding Checklist.

FAQs

What is an example of bad onboarding?

Bad onboarding is when a new hire shows up without the right tools, access, or guidance. 

For instance, starting Day 1 without a working laptop or login credentials leaves employees idle, frustrated, and disengaged. Such poor preparation signals disorganization, lowers morale, and can drive early turnover.

How long should onboarding last?

According to Talmundo, 48% HR professionals believe onboarding should last at least 90 days.

What role does IT automation play in seamless onboarding?

The biggest benefit of IT automation is giving new hires a frictionless first day—devices arrive pre-configured, accounts are live, and work starts immediately. 

For instance, using tools like Workwize, HR can trigger zero-touch workflows directly from the HRIS. IT is notified, devices are shipped globally, apps are provisioned automatically, and everyone tracks progress in one dashboard.