Front-line employees, including retail associates, delivery drivers and health care aides, form the backbone of countless industries. Attracting and retaining these key team members, especially in a tight labor market, has never been more critical. However, high turnover and low engagement among front-line workforces are a consistent roadblock.

The solution isn’t just higher wages; it’s about supporting and connecting with employees from day one. Doing this well requires a structured onboarding process that engages and retains these essential team members, setting them up for success from their very first day.

Poor Onboarding Comes With a Price

Rushing onboarding leaves new hires feeling unsupported and disengaged. This dynamic often leads to rapid turnover, with as many as 20% of new employees quitting within their first 45 days. For any business, this is an expensive and disruptive problem.

Gallup estimates that replacing leaders and managers costs around 200% of their salary, while replacing professionals in technical roles costs about 80% and front-line employees about 40%. These figures account for expenses related to recruiting and training, as well as the costs of lost productivity when positions remain unfilled or companies are left understaffed. For organizations running on tight margins, this level of turnover quickly becomes unsustainable.

Why does poor onboarding have such a significant impact? Because those first few days shape the employee’s perception of the company. If onboarding feels disorganized, impersonal or rushed, new hires may conclude that the employer isn’t invested in their success. Once that impression takes hold, employees are more likely to disengage or even start looking for another role before they’ve given the job much of a chance.

Unfortunately, fewer than 12% of employees report having had a great onboarding experience, and 40% start questioning their decision to take the job during those first days. These numbers are abysmal, but what’s even more concerning is that more than 1 in 3 companies do not have structured onboarding at all, according to CareerBuilder. And, 49% of companies cut onboarding short, giving this important process two weeks or less.

Treating onboarding as a burdensome formality instead of a team-building, profit-driving exercise leaves front-line employees overwhelmed, disengaged and more likely to walk away.

Structured Onboarding: A Framework for Success

Creating a “structured” onboarding process means more than distributing badges, giving employees a training manual and a short motivational speech. The most effective retention and productivity-focused onboarding plans follow a journey where workers feel welcome, aligned with company culture and can see they have the necessary tools to succeed.

A successful program is a flexible plan that adapts based on the needs of the audience. It provides a support system for a new hire’s critical first weeks and months, where they feel welcomed, understand how to ask questions (and get timely answers) and gain the confidence and resources to contribute effectively to the team. Done well, these programs positively impact the bottom line. One study found that a structured process can reduce employee turnover by up to 69%.

What does an effective onboarding program look like in practice?

• A warm welcome: Use engaging orientation sessions to introduce the company’s mission and relate it to the worker’s position and opportunities for advancement. Develop a sense of belonging by providing an open and engaging discussion to boost morale and help retention, as 79% of front-line workers who feel they belong have no plans to leave.
• Clear training and goals: New employees perform best when they have clear expectations and can immediately understand what doing a “good job” looks like.  Add clarity to new workers’ jobs through detailed training and setting achievable and clear goals for the first 30, 60 and 90 days.
• Peer support: Implement a buddy or mentor program that gives the new front-line worker access to a dedicated experienced co-worker. This co-worker can answer process questions, offer thoughts on workflow, give advice on using technology tools and provide reassurance.

Organizations should strive to meet front-line workers where they operate. This could mean mobile-friendly training and flexible scheduling to streamline the new job transition, improve engagement and ultimately boost retention.

Beyond Onboarding: The Power of Staying Connected

A great onboarding experience sets the stage, but ongoing engagement determines whether employees stay and thrive for the long term. Front-line workers want to feel heard and respected throughout their entire career, not just during the initial — and often too short — onboarding period.

Check-ins, continuous feedback and pulse surveys are essential parts of an organization’s toolkit:

• Shifting from annual reviews to continuous conversations helps reduce turnover by fostering open discussions about goals and challenges.
• Regular check-ins show employees that their perspectives matter, especially for front-line workers who may feel disconnected from headquarters. When companies act on employee feedback, they often see stronger engagement and commitment.
• Pulse checks (short surveys or quick chats) give management a real-time view of the workforce.  Tailoring the frequency of these touchpoints to what employees prefer can strengthen trust and improve retention.

This kind of people-focused leadership, supported by tools that enable candid and even anonymous feedback, helps create a workplace where problems are addressed quickly and everyone feels valued.

Investing in Your Workforce for Long-Term Success

Onboarding and ongoing development showcase a company that cares about its people. Investing in onboarding creates a positive loop, where engaged employees provide better service and enable productivity gains, which in turn improve business outcomes. Better outcomes help grow the business, providing opportunities for wage growth and advancement, and in turn, more engaged employees, and the cycle goes on.

Employees often leave when they see no future path, so employers must connect onboarding to long-term career opportunities. Discussing growth from the start, by providing content about career pathways or offering cross-training, can show new hires how they can make a career at your company.

A structured onboarding process is part of an organization’s strategic planning for long-term business success. Leaders who plan beyond their workers’ first day, develop them into a thoughtful culture and support them as they grow will build a dynamic workforce that can enable and sustain growth.