Companies often have a going-away party when an employee leaves, says Doris M. Sims, founder of Talent Benchstrength Solutions LLC in San Diego. But they seldom do enough to welcome a new person to the job.

ORGANIZATION MATTERS

“It’s almost like they celebrate more when people leave than when they start,” says Sims, who is author of Creative OnBoarding Programs: Tools for Energizing Your Orientation Program.

That’s a mistake, says Sims, because the onboarding process is an important opportunity to integrate a new employee into the company, making it more likely that the person will fit into the culture ...