Tom Sorensen - 1 of 4 new employees cried within first week of joining new company

Industry Focus

18 Sep 2026

Managing Partner of Tom Sorensen | NPAworldwide Recruitment
Email: tom.s@tomsorensen.in.th
Web: www.tomsorensen.in.th

It’s bad. Almost half of new employees say they have had regrets or second thoughts about starting their job within the first week.

Shockingly, new hires will decide whether they will commit to your company or leave during the first seven weeks on the job.

70% of new hires decide whether a job is the right fit within the first month—including 29% who know within the first week.
On average, companies have 44 days to influence a new hire's long-term retention.
23% of employees admit they've cried within a week of joining their new company.
1 in 5 workers (20%) say their company doesn’t do anything specific to help new employees make friends and find support among their coworkers.

New employees say it's important for onboarding to include training on the tools and software the company uses—and consider it crucial to onboarding.

Nearly all new hires also want onboarding to include an introduction to employee guidelines and the company's mission statement and values.

New Hires Value Workplace Friendships More Than Meeting the CEO. These hard facts come from BambooHR in their research “Key Takeaways About Onboarding”.

YOU’RE HALFWAY WHEN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT SIGNED
The pre-boarding that leads into onboarding starts the day when you and the candidate sign the employment agreement.

Not and never ever on the first working day. That’s way too late and too risky.

Don’t even think that you are home and dry and that you can leave your new employee “alone” during their notice-to-resign period. Believe me, you are only halfway.

You need to fill the time from the signing of the contract to the first day of employment; in fact even weeks into the new job.

A well-thought-out introduction programme can play a crucial role in motivating and retaining new employees.

A new study suggests that—despite extensive and expensive onboarding efforts by many companies, people are deciding to leave pretty fast.

Managers commonly overestimate new hires by assuming these new employees, who are often veterans of other companies and corporate cultures, will figure things out for themselves and thrive. This is not necessarily the case.

ONLINE ASSESSMENT TO LEARN CANDIDATE’S PERSONALITY
Advanced pre-boarding and onboarding programmes go as far as using AI analysis to determine the new employee’s motivation and work style.

The value of knowing someone’s personality and cognitive profile will provide tremendous insight into the needs and motivational factors of the candidates or even your current employees.

But also understanding your own personality profile - and your coworkers’ profiles - can be a massive advantage before you decide who to hire. Or who gets a promotion in your team?

Being the Team Manager, Project Leader, or just a colleague, you can work with them more effectively and what kind of traps and pitfalls they tend to fall into.

LIST OF PRE-BOARDING ACTIVITIES
The pre-boarding period runs from the day you and the candidate sign the employment agreement and through (perhaps many months) to the first working day.

Offer a show-up bonus. But include in the employment contract that the show-up bonus must be repaid if the candidate leaves within 12 months.
Include a preventive clause in the employment contract that cancelling the contract will result in a charge of two months’ salary.
Have frequent telephone calls with the person.
Invite for lunch or dinner with the new colleagues.
Ask the candidate to call you immediately after giving notice.
Set up their new email and give them access.
Print the new business cards and send them to the home address.
Send a fruit basket to your new employee's home. Envision the surprised family members to bring the basket inside, opening the card and saying "It's from your new company.
Include the person in your WhatsApp or Line group.