The Link Between Early Engagement and Long-Term Employee Satisfaction

70% of employees who have exceptional onboarding experiences say they have “the best possible job.” They’re also 2.6x more likely to be extremely satisfied with their workplace.

On the flip side, 71% of employees are put off staying in a business if they have a poor onboarding experience.

The reason for these figures? Early engagement. Employees who engage with the organisation’s culture and mission right from the time they accept an offer feel enthusiasm for, and commitment to, their jobs.

For employers hoping to build a highly skilled workforce, creating engaging employee experiences during onboarding is therefore key. In this article, we’ll explore the impact of early engagement on long-term satisfaction and how you can get started.

Why Does Early Employee Engagement Increase Long-Term Satisfaction?

Practices that encourage early engagement increase long-term satisfaction by immediately integrating employees into the workplace culture. Proper inductions ensure new hires quickly become comfortable with their team members. 

In fact, research shows that creating “weak ties,” those with acquaintances and colleagues, are just as important to a person’s lifetime satisfaction as stronger family and friend ties. This helps employees build meaningful relationships that foster better long-term collaboration on work projects.

Integrating into the organisational culture early on also allows new hires to learn the company’s core values and mission. Working with colleagues to achieve this mission and smaller milestones along the way creates a sense of shared purpose and workplace belonging, which increases job performance by 56%!

Being part of this mission ensures employees feel valued and experience long-term fulfilment in their roles.

What Are the Benefits of Long-Term Employee Satisfaction?

Long-term employee satisfaction benefits businesses by helping them build committed, productive workforces, improving performance and reputation.

Employee engagement fell by two points to 21% last year, with lost productivity costing the global economy $438 billion. A fully engaged global workforce could add $9.6 billion to the economy.

But beyond improving your bottom line, engagement and long-term satisfaction offer other benefits:

Higher Retention Rates

Employees who feel satisfied in their job role and company culture have reasons to stay. Even in high-turnover organisations, departments with engaged employees experience 21% less turnover!  

Companies that build workforces who feel a good sense of belonging also see 75% fewer sick days, since employees are less likely to miss work due to work-related stress or burnout.

Higher retention rates mean less stress for existing employees, who are often left to pick up the slack. The result is a happier workforce that can deliver its best work.

Low turnover and high retention are great for your financial performance, too. Replacing employees who leave costs between 50% and 200% of their annual salary. Not to mention the cost of losing the valuable knowledge and skills they offer, plus the time invested in their training and development!

Improved Productivity

Unengaged employees are 18% less productive than their engaged co-workers. Conversely, organisations with high engagement and satisfied employees report 22% higher productivity. Why is this?

Engaged employees are motivated beyond monetary reasons. They also have a shared purpose that encourages them to achieve the company’s goals, with long-term connections that create more successful collaborative team efforts. 

Psychological research shows that employees perform better alongside people they feel more connected to due to higher group commitment and cooperation. This includes better:

• Decision-making
• Critical evaluation
• Task monitoring
• Communication

And the results of long-term satisfaction on your business’s reputation speak for themselves.

Better Reputation

Engaged, satisfied employees take pride in their work and deliver high-quality services. 

Employees who feel valued are more likely to go above and beyond to create positive customer experiences. That’s why companies with an employee engagement program enjoy 233% higher customer loyalty and 26% greater annual revenue growth.

Long-term satisfaction is also beneficial to your reputation as an employer.

72% of employees share their negative hiring experiences on websites like Indeed and Glassdoor today. But those who are satisfied leave positive reviews of your organisation, helping you build a reputation as an employer who genuinely cares about their employees. 

With 76% of Australian workers using social media platforms to search for career-related information, this can also make it easier to attract other quality candidates in the future and create an even stronger workforce. 

How to Boost Early Employee Engagement

Boosting early engagement involves crafting a journey that considers employee needs and aligns with their expectations of your organisation. Starting from day one, the onboarding experience should make employees feel valued and confident.

Here are three tips to set your workforce up for long-term satisfaction and success:

1. Think Beyond Pay

Employee well-being has declined since its 35% peak in 2022, falling to 33% in 2024. Simply offering a good pay rate is no longer enough to raise these levels. Two-thirds of employers and employees named employer-covered healthcare the most important employee benefit, for instance.

However, research shows no clear link between employee engagement and satisfaction, and the size of the benefits package. Instead, employee benefits are most effective when focused on “positive social exchange relationships” between employers and employees: when employees see the benefits as special gifts and respond with extra effort and loyalty.

79% of respondents to a Forbes survey see flexible work options as the key to these relationships. Organisations must offer flexible hours, locations, and working methods, like mobile-first workflows, that prioritise the employee experience, to boost well-being.

Other key approaches include:

• Social Events: Over 69% of employees would be happier having deeper connections with their work colleagues. And 77% consider workplace connection important to achieving a great company culture.
• Regular Feedback: Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to be empowered to perform their best work. 

2. Meet Employee Needs

Employers must ensure employees’ needs are met to encourage engagement, as explained by Maslow’s Hierarchy and motivational theory. Employees can’t move to the next tier of this human needs hierarchy until the current one is satisfied:

1. Physiological Needs: Basic pay, sanitation, food, and clean water access.
2. Safety Needs: Safe working conditions and job security. 
3. Love and Belonging: Strong working relationships and a positive workplace culture.
4. Esteem: Praise and feedback that helps employees develop healthy self-esteem
5. Self-Actualisation: Skill development and career advancement opportunities ensure employees achieve their greater purpose

Reaching tier five is the best way to encourage highly fulfilled and motivated employees. Motivation gives your workforce the drive to be both productive and creative, while working towards the organisation’s goals.

With organisations that have a strong learning culture achieving 30 to 50% higher engagement and retention rates, the key to employee self-actualisation is consistent training and development. Set out clear, personalised career paths with progression points and room for growth. Hold regular meetings to discuss how you can help employees meet these milestones.

3. Create a Streamlined Onboarding Process

To create true early engagement, employers must show that they can meet these needs from the beginning of the journey with a seamless onboarding experience.

Overly long or complex processes, poor communication, and piles of paperwork immediately create disengagement during onboarding. New hires feel lost and left in the dark or overwhelmed by the administrative tasks they must complete.

It’s therefore no surprise that only 12% of employees think their organisation does a good job of onboarding. And 43% leave within the first month.

Avoid this by streamlining the onboarding process with purpose-built software. Switch time-consuming manual tasks for automated workflows that save time and maintain compliance, while creating a personalised experience for each employee.

Infinite Aged Care automated onboarding with Onboard Express, reducing time-to-hire from 40 to 50 days to just 13. The aged care provider was also able to link onboarding with mandatory fortnightly training schedules for new hires. This improved time-to-productivity and showed new hires that Infinite Aged Care was fully committed to their development.

58% of organisations have onboarding programs consisting of just processes and paperwork. Automating these processes leaves more time for the fun side of onboarding, like team-building and social activities, to provide more engaging early experiences.

Build Engaging Onboarding Experiences with Onboard Express

Seamless onboarding that considers employees’ needs and prioritises their well-being is the key to encouraging early engagement. Lower turnover, higher productivity, a committed workforce, and satisfied customers are the results.

Onboard Express is dedicated to creating engaging onboarding experiences that truly build long-term satisfaction, not just quick hiring fixes. Our purpose-built platform offers:

• Personalised welcome portals and notifications
• Advanced contract creation and document assembly tools
• Automated review and approval workflows
• Secure e-signatures
• Instant compliance and work rights checks

Book a demo today to see how automated onboarding could improve your employee engagement and long-term satisfaction rates.