{"id":3951,"date":"2025-04-23T18:56:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T18:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3951"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:37:49","slug":"managers-crucial-role-in-onboarding-and-retention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/managers-crucial-role-in-onboarding-and-retention\/","title":{"rendered":"Managers\u2019 Crucial Role in Onboarding and Retention"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\r\n

As a greater number of managers take on more responsibilities that organizations used to assign to human-resources staff, many could benefit from training so that they can improve the experience of candidates and new hires during the interviewing and onboarding processes.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Carol Kulik<\/a> of the University of South Australia said that managers make a difference in virtually every stage of an employee\u2019s life, from recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding to day-to-day work and performance management.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAs a result of the COVID pandemic, we moved so much of the recruiting process\u2014interviewing, hiring, and onboarding\u2014online, and we\u2019re never going back because online is cheaper and easier,\u201d Kulik said. \u201cBut as a result, employees aren\u2019t getting the kind of onboarding experience that they used to get where they were in a cohort with other new employees and had a chance to ask questions face-to-face.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSo now that\u2019s the responsibility of the line manager, to fill in the gaps to help the new employee form relationships and encourage them to be proactive,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody\u2019s thinking about how that line manager is going to develop those skills.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Another example Kulik points to is at the other end of employees\u2019 careers, when they are considering leaving the organization for another opportunity or retiring. Line managers\u2019 actions at this point can make or break an organization\u2019s retention efforts.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe know from research that the final interaction that you have with your manager, that one event is more important in determining how you feel about the company than anything else that\u2019s happened in your entire career history,\u201d Kulik said. \u201cAnd yet, line managers aren\u2019t prepared for that moment when an employee says, \u2018I’ve got another job opportunity; I’m leaving.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s taught them how to respond when an employee comes in and says they\u2019re leaving, and we really depend on line managers to make sure that employees leave their jobs with a good attitude toward the company,\u201d she said. \u201cWe count on them to be ambassadors or alumni.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Another example Kulik gives is managers\u2019 role in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She has conducted research focusing on age and gender and how leaders make workplaces to be inclusive for a wide range of people.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou can have the best DEI practices in the world, but it\u2019s the individual line manager who has to enact those practices,\u201d Kulik said. \u201cMature-age employees tell us that they come to their line managers when they need a very small accommodation, for example, changing their shift or changing the size of the packages that they\u2019re loading.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd they tell us again and again that their line managers aren\u2019t very receptive,” she said. “Line managers are used to treating all the employees exactly the same way.<\/p>\r\n

“There\u2019s a whole range of activities where we can point to the line manager as the key variable.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Kulik\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n