Measuring the ROI of Onboarding & Offboarding: Key Metrics & Best Practices

When a new employee joins, the hope is they’ll bring energy, skills, and value to the business. But what often gets overlooked is just how much that journey — starting from their very first touchpoint to their final day — impacts your bottom line.

Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of onboarding and offboarding isn’t just an HR exercise — it’s a business necessity. Whether you're hiring rapidly or dealing with turnover, understanding what works (and what doesn’t) in these key transitions can lead to major cost savings, higher productivity, and a more resilient culture.

In this post, we’ll explore how to calculate ROI, which metrics matter most, and how organizations can build people-first processes that drive long-term results.

Chapters

• Why ROI matters in onboarding and offboarding
  
• Metrics that matter
• Employee onboarding best practices that drive ROI
•  Offboarding done right: Best practices for a respectful exit
• Bringing it all together

A People-First Automated Onboarding Experience
Make onboarding a meaningful experience for remote and hybrid employees. With tasks, notifications and content ideas.
Download Now.

Why ROI Matters in Onboarding & Offboarding

Onboarding and offboarding may sit on opposite ends of the employee lifecycle, but they both involve serious investment — whether it's time, money, or effort. Here's what that investment can look like:

For Onboarding:

• Recruitment costs: advertising, sourcing, and time spent by hiring managers.
• Training and ramp-up: learning curves vary, but productivity losses in the first 30–90 days are common.
• Engagement tools: software platforms, welcome kits, onboarding checklists.
• Team impact: existing employees often take time away from their tasks to support new hires.

According to Brandon Hall Group, more than 61% of companies say they will invest heavily in improving onboarding this year. (Source)

For Offboarding:

• Knowledge loss: without a proper handover, critical info can disappear with the employee.
• Security risks: access that isn’t revoked properly can lead to compliance issues.
• Payroll and benefits leakage: delayed updates can result in continued pay or benefits to departed employees.
• Brand reputation: poor exit experiences can lead to negative Glassdoor reviews or worse.

86% of job seekers are likely to research company reviews and ratings when deciding to apply for a job. (Source)

The good news? With the right systems in place, you can reduce waste, improve outcomes, and deliver an experience that makes a lasting (positive) impression.

Metrics That Matter

To evaluate onboarding and offboarding ROI, look at these key categories:

1. Time to Productivity

How long does it take for a new hire to contribute effectively?

• A faster time to productivity usually signals a strong onboarding process.
• Tools like employee onboarding questionnaires and regular onboarding surveys can help identify what's working and where new hires are getting stuck.

Example metric: Average days from start date to first independent project or goal completion.

2. New Hire Retention

If you’re seeing high turnover within the first 6–12 months, onboarding could be the culprit.

• 20% of new hires leave within 45 days, often due to poor orientation for new hires or unmet expectations.
• A structured onboarding process for new employees with clear goals and feedback loops can dramatically improve retention.

Gallup reports that employee turnover can be as much as 50% in the first 18 months of employment.(Source)

Deloitte found that 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they had a positive onboarding experience.(Source)

3. Employee Engagement & Sentiment 

Happy, connected employees stay longer and do better work.

• Track onboarding survey scores at key milestones (Week 1, Month 1, Month 3).
• Use these insights to refine the journey and identify pain points early.

4. Compliance & Policy Completion

Have new employees completed all required training and policy documentation?

• Delays here can lead to compliance risks.
• Automating the onboarding process can ensure tasks aren't missed and managers are nudged when something is overdue.

Metrics to track: % completion rate of required documents/tasks within the first 30 days.

5. Offboarding Accuracy & Timeliness

How smooth is your exit process?

• Delayed revocation of system access, missed handovers, and unresolved payroll items are common issues.
• Offboarding ROI shows up when these errors are reduced or eliminated.

One of our customers recently realized they were routinely overpaying employees who had already left — sometimes for weeks — because their old system didn’t alert Payroll in time. Not only did this lead to financial loss, but it also created unnecessary admin and awkward conversations. After implementing a more connected offboarding process, they saw an immediate reduction in overpayments and a much smoother transition for leavers.

It’s a small example, but a powerful one — offboarding isn’t just about checklists; it’s about closing the chapter cleanly and respectfully.

If this sounds familiar, and you're curious how others have tackled it, we’ve shared more examples on our website.

The HR Perception Gap: A Problem You Might Not Even Know You Have
Ivan Harding explores the disconnect between how HR leaders perceive their organization's employee experience and how employees actually feel about it. Read Now

Employee Onboarding Best Practices That Drive ROI

If you're looking to improve ROI from onboarding, here are some tried-and-tested best practices:

• Send welcome emails or videos.
• Share pre-start checklists, policy documents, or intro to company culture.

• First-time managers, interns, remote employees — all have unique needs.
• Use journey-based onboarding tailored to role or location.

• Automate repetitive tasks like document collection or tool provisioning.
• But don’t lose the personal warmth—human moments matter.

If you’re exploring how to automate onboarding process components without compromising experience, look for platforms like Applaud Journeys that balance flexibility with ease-of-use.

• Great onboarding can’t be owned by HR alone.
• Provide managers with structured timelines, templates, and expectations.

• Regular onboarding surveys give early signals of trouble.
• Use insights to iterate and continuously improve the process.

Offboarding Done Right: Best Practices for a Respectful Exit

Employees may leave, but how they leave matters just as much as how they joined. A well-run offboarding process isn’t just about compliance — it protects your reputation and can even become a boomerang talent pipeline.

• Ensure system access, benefits, and handovers are handled consistently.

• Not just to collect data, but to identify trends that can reduce future attrition.

• IT, Payroll, Legal, and HR should have coordinated roles with timely alerts.

• Don’t burn bridges — some of your best future hires may be past employees.
• Reboarding can be especially useful for returning employees or those reskilled into new roles.

Harvard Business Review reports that 28% of new hires are boomerang employees.(Source)

Bringing It All Together

Measuring the ROI of onboarding and offboarding isn’t just about hard numbers — it’s about understanding what kind of experience you’re delivering and how it affects your people and performance.

When you look at these transition points as opportunities — not just tasks — you unlock potential that ripples through the entire organization. Better retention. Lower costs. Stronger culture.

Whether you're just getting started or refining a mature process, keep asking:

• Are we setting people up to succeed?
• Are we helping them leave with dignity and respect?
• Are we learning and improving with every cycle?

If you’re curious to see how other organizations are solving this at scale, especially through personalized, automated journeys — we’ve shared some helpful resources and stories on our website.

Ready to see how Applaud can transform your HR experience? Let’s talk.

About the Author

Anji is a Senior Product Owner with eight years of experience in delivering HR technology solutions, from on-premise to cloud-based systems. With a solid background in software implementation and system integrations, he helps shape practical products that align with business needs to support organizations and their people.