Why do new hires quit in the first week?
Employers lose good people by winging onboarding and throwing new hires in to swim on their own. When employees spend their first days trying to learn complex systems while getting yelled at by customers, they quickly bail.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Creating a detailed training plan before their first dayDid this help you?
- 2Assigning a specific person as their main trainer or point of contactDid this help you?
- 3Conducting daily check-ins with leadership to review progress and get feedbackDid this help you?
- 4Establishing self-serve onboarding paths paired with dedicated 1-on-1 mentoringDid this help you?
- 5Defining clear timelines for handing off work and setting immediate goalsDid this help you?
- 6Staying with relatives temporarily to avoid rentDid this help you?
- 7Searching for remote work to do in the interimDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I hated my last job and took a pay cut because I just needed a way out. And I’m definitely learning a lot in this new role. But I’m just so scared.”source ↗
“I keep thinking about how I’ll be off to grad school anyway so if it’s worth sticking out here. And if so, then how long.”source ↗
“I’ve taken a pay cut and on top of that my expenses are skyrocketing.”source ↗
“Spent the first two days trying to learn the system, getting yelled at by customers, and trying to search there complex systems. Said screw it and bailed the 3rd work day.”source ↗