The critical window for new starters employers can’t afford to miss
In a labour market where good people are hard to find – and even harder to keep – employers are rethinking how they bring in new hires.
Often the focus has been on recruitment, with comparatively little attention paid to what happens after the contract is signed.
But there’s a growing acknowledgement and supporting research that the first 90 days in a new role are not just a bedding-in period.
They’re make or break.
And how new employees are treated in those early weeks – particularly whether they feel valued – can have a lasting impact on engagement, performance and retention.
Recognition plays a critical role during this period, according to research from employee engagement strategy company BI WORLDWIDE.
Yet in many UK organisations, it’s still missing from the onboarding agenda.
The retention risk hiding in plain sight
Staff turnover comes at a high cost – especially in the first year.
Early attrition (within the first 12 months) accounts for a significant proportion of voluntary leavers across many sectors.
These are often employees who felt disengaged or unsupported, and who left before fully embedding in the organisation.
The financial and cultural impact of this can be considerable.
Replacing a single employee often involves recruitment spend, onboarding time and lost productivity – all of which can quietly add up to tens of thousands of pounds.
And those costs rise even further in specialist or customer-facing roles.
What’s often overlooked is the emotional and psychological journey that new starters go through, particularly in their first few weeks.
They’re forming impressions, testing expectations, and evaluating whether they’ve made the right move.
If they’re met with silence, indifference, or a lack of meaningful feedback, it can seriously dent confidence and connection.
Recognition builds early belonging
Recognition – when timely, specific, and sincere – helps signal to new employees that they matter.
It helps them see where they fit in the bigger picture and reinforces the behaviours and values the organisation expects.
BI WORLDWIDE highlight that new starters who are recognised early are significantly more likely to stay engaged and feel part of the team.
It isn’t about offering rewards or over-praising, and instead, it’s about making people feel seen from the start.
In practical terms, this can mean:
- A welcome message or video from leadership before day one
- A public shout-out after a successful first task or milestone
- Manager-led feedback within the first few weeks, focused on behaviours and effort
- A team-led introduction to company culture, not just systems and policies
This approach to early recognition must be consistent.
It shouldn’t depend on whether a manager remembers to say thank you or if a colleague happens to offer encouragement. When it’s embedded into onboarding and supported by systems that make it easy, the results are more reliable.
Making it part of the strategy
Recognition is often framed as something informal – a cultural bonus rather than a business imperative.
But that’s quickly changing, and more HR teams are now treating it as a structured part of the employee experience, particularly in the context of hybrid working and dispersed teams.
Companies that take early recognition seriously are already seeing the difference.
One BI WORLDWIDE client in the financial services sector implemented a formal early recognition initiative as part of a broader onboarding refresh. Within six months, early attrition had fallen by double digits, and feedback from new joiners reflected higher levels of engagement and clarity around expectations.
The common thread across successful programmes is intention.
Recognition isn’t left to chance.
It’s tied to clear values, it’s measured, and it’s made visible.
And when it starts from day one – or even before – it sets the tone for the rest of the employee journey.
Start as you mean to go on
Every employer wants new hires to hit the ground running. But too few think seriously about what those first few weeks actually feel like – especially in hybrid or remote environments, where informal feedback loops are weaker.
Recognition, in this context, is a simple but powerful way to build trust early.
It helps people feel psychologically safe, speeds up cultural integration, and reinforces positive behaviour.
It tells employees: “You belong here, and your efforts are valued.”
That’s not something that can be achieved with a single welcome lunch or a company-branded hoodie. It requires thought, structure and buy-in from across the business.
The payoff in loyalty, performance, and retention is worth it.
As more UK employers look to build resilient workforces in a shifting economy, they’d do well to remember: employee engagement doesn’t start at the first performance review. It starts the moment someone says yes.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, BI WORLDWIDE
BI WORLDWIDE is a global engagement agency delivering measurable results for clients through inspirational employee and channel reward and recognition solutions.
