Onboarding Mistakes That Make Employees Regret Their Decision (And How to Avoid Them)

When someone joins your business, they’re not just starting a job they’re making a bet on you.

And those first few days and weeks? That’s when they decide whether the bet was the right one... or not.

Good onboarding doesn’t have to be complicated. But get it wrong, and even the best-fit hire can begin to second-guess their decision. It’s may not always be obvious, and they might not actually say anything. They’ll just quietly start to detach and disengage.

In our latest blog in the series, we’re some of the onboarding mistakes that set the wrong tone and wrong signals with some ideas for what to do instead.

1. The basics aren’t ready

This one’s simple, and surprisingly common. Your new hire arrives… and nothing’s set up. No email account. No kit. No schedule. The person meant to welcome them is off sick. The line managers stuck in a meeting.

Even if you’ve had a warm and thoughtful recruitment process, this first impression can undo it all. It’s saying load and clear “We weren’t quite ready for you.”

What to do instead:

Get the basics sorted before Day One. Their email, laptop, passwords. A schedule that includes time with their manager, a peer, and someone who can show them how things actually work. It doesn’t have to be something incredibly formal at all, you just make it feel intentional.

2. Too much, too soon

You want them to hit the ground running and be productive as soon as possible so you give them the handbook, five systems to log into, 12 induction videos, and a ton of acronyms. It can be too much, it’s well-meaning, but it’s too much.

People don’t absorb information when they’re anxious, unfamiliar with the team, or unsure of the culture. Bombarding them can leave them feeling like they’re already behind and overwhelmed.

What to do instead:

Think of onboarding as a gradual build, not a download. Prioritise what they need to feel informed and connected first. We would argue that this piece is the most important and should be the area of focus initially. Then plan to spread the rest out across the first 30–60 days. Pair them with someone who can help fill in any other gaps informally.

3. The role doesn’t match the brief

This is where new hires start to really worry. If the day-to-day tasks, pace, or expectations feel very different from what was discussed, people start asking themselves:

“Was this mis-sold?”

It might not be intentional, sometimes hiring managers evolve the role without communicating it. But the impact is the same: disappointment, or worse, mistrust.

What to do instead:

Make sure your internal handover from hiring to line manager is crystal clear. Talk openly in week one about how the role may evolve, what success looks like, and what’s still being shaped. If something has changed, acknowledge it, and communicate it clearly.

4. No cultural grounding

You might know that everyone talks over each other in meetings and it’s not rude, it’s just how the team works. Or that Friday pub lunches are the unspoken normality. But your new starter doesn’t.

If they don’t get a sense of “how things are done around here,” they’ll second-guess every interaction. They may also feel isolated or unsure of how to belong.

What to do instead:

Give them cultural cues not just values statements. Let them sit in on different meetings. Pair them with a “buddy” outside their team. Encourage others to share stories about how they found their feet. This gives people permission to find theirs.

5. No follow-up after Week One

This is one of the biggest mistakes we see. The welcome pack was lovely. The first few days were great. Then… nothing. No feedback. No one checks in. They don’t know if they’re doing well or not.

That silence leaves space for doubt. It makes people feel like they’ve dropped off your radar.

What to do instead:

Plan follow-ups at the 2-week, 30-day, and 60-day mark. Don’t leave it until the probation review. Use those moments to ask what’s working, what’s confusing, and what support they need. This gives them confidence and assurance that you’re still invested.

6. Forgetting the human stuff

If you ask anyone in your team what they remember from when they joined the business, they will remember how they felt in those early weeks, not just what they learned. Being left out of lunch invites, not introduced properly, or left sitting alone in Teams can add up quickly.

What to do instead:

Build in small moments of connection. Introduce them properly to the team. Give them a few “starter conversations” even a list of people to meet, and a steer on things to ask. Let them know who’s the go-to for the awkward questions. All of this helps build trust early.

7. Ignoring the onboarding / security crossover

It’s not just about team fit and systems access. New starters are also prime targets for phishing scams. Research shows that attackers specifically look for new employees, who are more likely to click links, open fake emails or forward on information without knowing any different.

What to do instead:

Make security part of your onboarding from the start. This isn’t intended to be scary or blame-driven, they just need to be made aware very early on with clear, and practical advice. Everyone at some point in their career will have clicked on something they shouldn’t have, just let them know that mistakes happen, but safe reporting is what matters.

Final Thought

A strong onboarding process doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to be human. Most of these mistakes happen because businesses are stretched, distracted, or focused elsewhere. But the cost of poor onboarding shows up later: disengagement, low productivity, early exits.

Getting the first few weeks right creates trust. And it makes people feel like joining you was the right bet after all!