Actively Preparing for High Churn: Are You Building Loyalty or a Revolving Door?

August 15, 2025

prevent employee churn in onboarding - birthday cake in the brecon beaconsWe’ve been speaking with individuals who’ve recently joined entry-level roles in new sectors, and a pattern is emerging. It’s one that might make leaders feel uncomfortable, because while companies talk about retention, some onboarding processes seem to scream, “We know you won’t stay, so let’s just get you up to speed and ready for replacement.”. We’re missing opportunities to prevent employee churn in onboarding.

The onboarding reality

Picture this:
You’ve just landed your first corporate job. Or perhaps it’s your first time working in a completely new sector. You log in for an intensive 4-6 week online training programme. You don’t meet anyone in person. You don’t visit an office. You have no idea what the coffee tastes like, what the breakout spaces look like, or what kind of energy hums through the building.

You’re told what the company values are.
You’re told what’s expected of you.
You’re told the business looks after its people.

And then… you’re left to it.

From training room to kitchen table

For many of the people we spoke to, this is their first ever taste of Microsoft Teams. For most, it’s the first time they’ve worked in this sector.

Yet, after the training ends, they find themselves at home, alone, dealing with customers and expected to live the values they’ve only been told about. If they’re lucky, they have a home office. More often, they’re at the kitchen table, laptop balanced between last night’s dishes and the family’s breakfast cereal.

One new starter described the “utter loneliness” she felt just eight weeks into the job.
She hadn’t met a single colleague in person. She’d spent every working day in isolation. And she was expected to handle frustrated customers with a level of confidence she simply didn’t feel she had.

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Why this matters

This isn’t about remote or hybrid work being “bad.” There are countless benefits to flexible working. But the tools and tech we have should help people thrive, not just get through the day.

When onboarding becomes a conveyor belt of online modules followed by immediate frontline work, the message is clear: We expect you to leave, so we’re making it easy to replace you.

That’s not onboarding. That’s high-churn preparation.

Shifting from replacement mindset to retention mindset

Retention doesn’t just happen because you tell people they’re valued. It happens when they feel it. When they experience it. When it’s evident in every interaction, whether in-person or online.

If you want new recruits to stay, here are some questions worth asking:

  • How can we help new hires experience our values, not just hear about them?

  • What moments of human connection can we build into the first weeks?

  • Do new hires feel part of a team, or just part of a process?

  • Are managers actively checking in beyond task lists and KPIs?

Because while training is essential, connection is what makes people want to stick around.

The bottom line

You can’t talk your way into retention. You have to design for it. That means rethinking onboarding so it’s not just about getting people job-ready, but culture-ready. Not just telling them they matter, but showing it in ways they can see, hear, and feel, even through a screen.

If you’re building an onboarding programme today, ask yourself:
Are you preparing people for a career with you, or preparing them to leave?

Want to find out more about building your onboarding programme or putting your culture at the centre of your programme get in touch:

Call us: 01639 700 388 | Email us: info@callofthewild.co.uk | Contact us

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