Welcome to every HR leader and new hire’s biggest fear: The Great Regret. In case you haven’t heard, this new term defines the concept of an employee leaving their job for a new opportunity, only to start at that new opportunity and regret their decision to switch. With The Great Resignation leading to job jumping nationwide, employees are able to quickly find new jobs often offering higher compensation—but many are finding out that the additional compensation isn’t enough, and are regretting their decision to switch just after onboarding.

As we all know, first impressions are crucial. New hires often feel like the pressure is on to make a great first impression on their first day of work, but many of us forget that it’s our job as a business to make sure we make a good first impression on new hires as well. With such a back-and-forth job market, there’s nothing stopping employees from jumping ship if they regret their decision to join your company. So, HR leaders, what can you do to ensure a great first impression? Start with onboarding.

Onboarding: the ultimate first impression

When a new hire starts, their first day is typically an absolute whirlwind—and I’m speaking from experience, I myself just started at Nayya about 4 months back. Onboarding often feels like a blur, you’re meeting new people, learning your role, and having to make major life-changing decisions like picking your benefits, which is a stressful and time-consuming process just in itself. If, as a new hire, these first-week processes are clunky, out-dated, and stressful, it’s not going to make a great first impression for your business.

In fact, recent research from Eagle Hill Consulting published in HRE uncovered exactly what employees look for in onboarding, and what they feel is starting to fall short.

According to the Eagle Hill study, the top 3 things that employees want in the first month on the job are:

1. To know how performance is measured
2. Information about the health resources available to them
3. A chance to build personal connections with their team members

If a new hire doesn’t feel an understanding in these core aspects post-onboarding, they’re likely to feel a lack of engagement, unclear about job expectations, undervalued, and alone. This can lead to that new hire regretting their choices and wondering if there's another job out there that is better suited for them.

The report also highlighted that recent new hires said their onboarding fell short in adequately providing information about many of the basics that employees say they need to be successful, including benefits (46%).

And recent research from Nayya found that 65% of HR leaders across America said benefits have an extreme impact on retention.

For new hires (and existing employees during open enrollment) choosing benefits is a decision that has a direct impact on their health and financial wellness for the entire year. Choosing the right benefits means being able to go to the right doctors, get the right medication, and get the best care for themselves and their families. Employees know this, and that’s why 58% of them take between 1-3 hours to select their benefits when the time comes. It’s stressful and time consuming, and if done poorly, can result in a bad first impression from a business.

So, how to make benefits smoother? It’s time for technology to step up

With stiff competition for talent, many companies are starting to place a focus on employee benefits to ensure they’re offering the ultimate compensation package to prospective hires.

The problem is, this investment often goes unnoticed if it's not adequately communicated to employees. You can provide the best benefits in the world, but if your employees don’t know or understand their options, these benefits won’t provide value to employees and actually might lose you money as a business. This is all too common of a scenario—our recent research found that 63% of employees are unconfident when selecting their benefits.

This is where an intelligent decision support tool like Nayya can streamline the benefits selection process for new hires and existing employees alike. Nayya leverages AI and personal data to offer a simple, streamlined tool that enables employees to best understand and select the best possible benefits for their health and wellness.

After a simple getting-to-know-you questionnaire, Nayya cross references employee health and financial needs with the benefits your company is offering, and intelligently suggests: “Hey Employee X, based on your health background, retirement savings, family status, wellness goals, and more, you should pick X health plan, Y dental plan, and Z voluntary plans.” The voluntary plan being the real kicker here, as 61% of employees reported that they’re unlikely to select a voluntary plan without a tool educating them around what it is and why they need it.

On one of the most stressful days at a job (your first day), having to decide on the plans that will impact the health and finances of yourself and your family for the rest of the year is a lot of pressure. If this process is done poorly, it can create a poor first impression for new hires and become a major factor in leading your new employees to join The Great Regret. Streamlining onboarding and benefits selection with Nayya can ensure your new hires feel entirely supported, educated, and confident going into their new job at your company.

To access our research on the correlation between benefits and the great resignation, click here. And to learn more about how a tool like Nayya can help you combat The Great Regret, read more about our benefits selection tool, Choose.