TalentCards Research
Onboarding Deskless Employees 2022
Companies with deskless employees have been experiencing historic quit rates along with labor shortages since the beginning of 2020, with little indication that the trend is slowing. While the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with rising inflation rates, has exacerbated the issue, there is another factor that remains overlooked, particularly among deskless employees: onboarding.
The onboarding process is the first impression an employer makes once a new hire has officially joined the company. But do onboarding managers have the resources and support necessary to provide an experience that not only equips new hires with the skills they need but also makes them want to stay?
TalentCards and When I Work surveyed 900 onboarding managers to uncover the answer. Survey respondents identified themselves as responsible for onboarding newly hired deskless employees in their company, either on their own or with the help of a team. Respondents are all located in the U.S. and are employed in one of the following industries:
Construction
Manufacturing
Shipping/Distribution
Transportation/Warehousing
Energy/Utilities
Key findings
The most common challenge onboarding managers face—48%—is that new hires lack the necessary skills for the job and require a lot of training to be brought up to speed.
72% of surveyed companies have unfilled positions due to their inability to find qualified workers to fill them.
40% of onboarding managers say that access to smartphones or tablets would help speed up the onboarding process, but only 17% currently use them.
32% of surveyed companies have experienced an accident due to improper employee training.
Onboarding managers report that at least 35% of new hires quit within the first 12 months.
To fight high employee turnover, 54% of companies have offered higher pay, 47% flexing working shifts, and 32% better benefits.
Finding and keeping the right talent in the wake of a labor shortage and skills gap
A staggering 72% of onboarding managers reported that their company is having difficulty in finding deskless employees who possess the necessary skills to fill open positions. In an attempt to mitigate this challenge, 57% of these respondents reported that they are trying to train existing employees to fill these roles. However, the other 43% stated that these positions simply remain unfilled.
Even when companies do manage to find the skilled labor they are looking for, the challenges don’t end there. Keeping these new hires with the company is critical both because they are in such short supply and because the cost of onboarding them is far from negligible.
We asked onboarding managers what cost their company would incur if a deskless employee were to quit one week after being fully onboarded. Twenty-three percent of respondents stated that the cost is over $5,000 per employee.
How much does it cost to onboard a deskless employee?
Employee turnover is a significant challenge for companies in the surveyed industries to deal with due to how difficult it is to find employees with the right skills to fill open positions, and the cost associated with onboarding them.
Graph data
- Between $1,000 and $5,000: 39%
- Less that $1,000: 32%
- Between $5,000 and $10,000: 12%
- More than $10,000: 11%
- Unsure: 6%
What have employers offered to prevent deskless workers from quitting?
Despite these efforts, onboarding managers report that 59% of deskless employees end up leaving the company in under 3 years. It’s worth noting that the majority of these employees are not switching to desk jobs. In another TalentCards report, which surveyed deskless employees directly, 64% stated that they would not switch to a desk job even if they were given the same pay and benefits.
How long do deskless employees stay in the company?
These numbers show that while higher pay and other monetary incentives are certainly effective at attracting employees to join a company, actually keeping them there may require a different approach. Sixty-three percent of deskless employees stated that access to additional training would help them feel more connected to their company’s value and mission. Providing opportunities to learn and develop new skills, be promoted with the company, and feeling connected to a team play a significant role in employee satisfaction, and ultimately retention.”
16%
Quit in less than six months
19%
Quit in less than one year
24%
Quit in less than three years
Onboarding deskless employees – processes, challenges, and missing tech
When asked how important the onboarding process is for a new deskless employee, 69% of respondents chose “very important”, stating that without proper onboarding, new hires would most likely fail to execute their roles correctly.
It’s no surprise that proper onboarding is particularly important in industries like construction, manufacturing, shipping/distribution, transportation/warehousing, and energy/utilities. In contrast to office work, there is a much higher risk involved in executing these jobs in these industries. While the COVID-19 pandemic pushed millions of deskbound employees to transition to online working and training, there is simply no replacement for the face-to-face, in-person training that is most common in deskless industries.
What does onboarding a deskless employee look like?
How long does it take to onboard a deskless new hire?
46%
2 weeks or less
31%
1 month
22%
2 months or more
What are the biggest challenges that onboarding managers face when training deskless new hires?
48%
Said that new hires don’t have the necessary skills for the job when they’re hired, so they need a lot of training.
32%
Report that they don’t have enough time to devote to training each new hire.
31%
Report it is difficult to evaluate how well new hires completed their training.
27%
Have difficulty sharing training materials that new hires can easily access on the job.
19%
Have difficulty communicating new hires’ work schedules to them.
18%
Are lacking proper tech tools, including training software, communication devices or apps, and equipment.
What are the biggest challenges that onboarding managers face when training deskless new hires?
“What’s interesting about the challenges that onboarding managers most commonly face when training new deskless employees is that they can almost all be solved by finding and implementing the right tech solution. Distributing training materials, evaluating how well knowledge has been retained, providing access to materials even on the go, sharing employee schedules—all of these tasks can be accomplished much faster and more efficiently through the use of training software and mobile applications.”
While companies in deskless industries have invested in modern machinery and equipment for carrying out the actual work, onboarding managers are still missing essential tech tools that would help facilitate employee training. When asked which tech tools would help speed up the onboarding process, here’s what they had to say:
Which of the following tech tools would help speed up the onboarding process?
While these tools have become commonplace in companies with office employees, they remain largely absent from those with deskless workers, despite the fact that these employees vastly outnumber office workers across the world. What’s more, there are plenty of existing software options that cover these needs for an affordable cost.
Post-onboarding—effectiveness, accidents, and additional training
Just because onboarding is finished, it doesn’t mean that deskless employees are done with training. Only 2% of onboarding managers reported that their employees never again receive training after completing the onboarding process. And that’s a good thing because research has shown that without follow-up training, employees will forget nearly 100% of what they learned after 30 days. This phenomenon is called the forgetting curve. Thirty-two percent of deskless employees admitted that they remembered less than half of their training after one month had gone by.
How frequently do deskless employees receive training after they have completed onboarding?
Despite continued training, 32% of onboarding managers reported that their company has experienced an accident that was caused by employees being improperly trained.
While companies in the surveyed industries are naturally more prone to accidents, there is still room for improvement in how training is delivered and how employees can access it.
When asked if employees can still access their training materials even after completing onboarding, here’s what respondents had to say:
Graph data
- At least once a month: 32%
- At least once every 6 months: 32%
- At least once a year: 11%
- Only on an as needed basis: 23%
- Never: 2%
Do deskless employees have access to their training materials even after onboarding?
The presence of seasonal and other temporary workers should also not be overlooked in these industries. Eighty-seven percent of surveyed companies reported that they hire temporary workers throughout the year, and 30% of these respondents stated that these employees receive less training than permanent ones.
The choice that employers are faced with may seem binary: either spend lots of money and time to onboard and train deskless employees correctly, or save time and money by cutting corners on training. But this is a false dichotomy—companies are simply missing the tech tools that can deliver the necessary training to every employee that is both effective and time and cost-efficient.
58%
Can access their materials online
28%
Have paper copies of their training material
14%
Have no training material to access after being onboarded
TalentCards gives deskless employees access to their training no matter where the job takes them, even offline.
Findings by industry—the cost of onboarding, workplace accidents, and employee turnover
58%
Of onboarding managers say new hires lack the necessary skills for the job when they’re hired
69%
Of companies have experienced difficulty in filling open positions
58%
Have offered higher pay as a means of keeping their current employees
37%
Say smartphones or tablets would help speed up the onboarding process, but only 16% of companies are using them now
21%
Report that the cost of onboarding each new hire is over $5,000
36%
Of new hires quit within the first 12 months
18%
Of companies report that employees do not have access to training materials after being onboarded
27%
Have experienced an accident due to improper training
51%
Of onboarding managers say new hires lack the necessary skills for the job when they’re hired
74%
Of companies have experienced difficulty in filling open positions, and
51%
Have offered higher pay as a means of keeping their current employees
44%
Say smartphones or tablets would help speed up the onboarding process, but only 19% of companies are using them now.
25%
Report that the cost of onboarding each new hire is over $5,000
36%
Of new hires quit within the first 12 months
10%
Of companies report that employees do not have access to training materials after being onboarded, and
41%
Have experienced an accident due to improper training
38%
Of onboarding managers say new hires lack the necessary skills for the job when they’re hired
73%
Of companies have experienced difficulty in filling open positions, and
49%
Have offered higher pay as a means of keeping their current employees
47%
Say smartphones or tablets would help speed up the onboarding process, but only 20% of companies are using them now.
22%
Report that the cost of onboarding each new hire is over $5,000
36%
Of new hires quit within the first 12 months
7%
Of companies report that employees do not have access to training materials after being onboarded, and
33%
Have experienced an accident due to improper training
45%
Of onboarding managers say new hires lack the necessary skills for the job when they’re hired
77%
Of companies have experienced difficulty in filling open positions, and
49%
Have offered higher pay as a means of keeping their current employees
42%
Say smartphones or tablets would help speed up the onboarding process, but only 20% of companies are using them now.
21%
Report that the cost of onboarding each new hire is over $5,000
32%
Of new hires quit within the first 12 months
14%
Of companies report that employees do not have access to training materials after being onboarded, and
27%
Have experienced an accident due to improper training
46%
Of onboarding managers say new hires lack the necessary skills for the job when they’re hired
71%
Of companies have experienced difficulty in filling open positions, and
54%
Have offered higher pay as a means of keeping their current employees
33%
Say smartphones or tablets would help speed up the onboarding process, but only 20% of companies are using them now.
46%
Report that the cost of onboarding each new hire is over $5,000
29%
Of new hires quit within the first 12 months
21%
Of companies report that employees do not have access to training materials after being onboarded, and
33%
Have experienced an accident due to improper training
“This survey shows that industries like manufacturing and construction continue to face challenges filling open positions. Thorough onboarding and on-the-job training are more crucial than ever to make sure new and existing employees are able to keep operations running smoothly.”
Conclusion
Employers and onboarding managers in deskless industries have seemingly found themselves in an impossible position: not only are employees quitting in droves, but they are also becoming increasingly difficult to replace. Despite offers of higher pay, better benefits, flexible work schedules, and more, companies are struggling to find and keep the skilled employees they are searching for.
Perhaps the differentiating factor here is not what companies are offering, but rather how they bring new hires into the company. By providing onboarding managers with the tech tools and resources they need to improve new hire training, they can not only teach employees the skills they need but also increase the likelihood that they will remain in the company.
About this survey
This survey was conducted online in April 2022 by the mobile learning platform, TalentCards, and employee scheduling software, When I Work. Responses were collected from 900 onboarding managers who identified themselves as responsible for onboarding newly hired deskless employees in their companies. All respondents are aged 25-54+, employed for wages, and are based in the U.S. Each respondent is employed in one of the following industries:
Graph data
- Construction, 397 respondents: 44%
- Manufacturing, 290 respondents: 32%
- Transportation / Warehousing, 144 respondents: 16%
- Shipping / Distribution, 45 respondents: 5%
- Energy / Utilities, 24 respondents: 5%
Athena Marousis
With degrees in both English and Economics, Athena strives to combine the power of words with the precision of numbers. She is passionate about creating quality content that not only reads well but is also data-driven and evidence-based.