By Tessa Robertson, Talent Acquisition Manager, Tessa@ambitionstravelrecruitment.com
Creating the Right Environment Is What Makes People Thrive
We often talk about employee performance, productivity and staff retention, yet one of the most overlooked drivers of all three is the workplace environment.
I was reminded of this recently through my youngest daughter.
She struggled in a traditional school setting, her marks were poor and she lacked confidence in her ability to keep up. My husband and I decided to move her to a smaller school as she needed more focused attention, structure and encouragement to learn and grow.
Recently, she brought home her report card. Four A’s.
The difference wasn’t intelligence or effort – it was environment.
Her previous school cared deeply, but with larger class sizes it was simply harder to provide the level of individual support she needed. In the right setting, with guidance and encouragement, she didn’t just cope — she flourished.
Why Workplace Environment Impacts Employee Performance
The same principle applies directly to the workplace.
Research shows that businesses with effective onboarding can improve new-hire retention by up to 82% and productivity by over 70%.
(Source: HiBob – State of Employee Onboarding)
Despite this, many organisations still expect new employees to “hit the ground running” with minimal onboarding, limited training and little ongoing support.
From a recruitment and leadership culture perspective, this approach creates risk — not resilience.
What Employees Need to Perform and Stay
Even the strongest hires need:
- Clear onboarding processes
- Coaching and mentoring
- A safe space to ask questions
- Time to learn systems, culture and expectations
- Confidence built through guidance, not pressure
When these elements are missing, employee performance often suffers — not because of a lack of capability, but because the environment hasn’t been set up for success. In fact, only 12% of employees strongly agree their organisation does a great job onboarding new hires, highlighting a significant gap between best practice and reality. (Source: Gallup)
Employee Engagement, Retention and Early Attrition
As part of Ambitions Travel Recruitment, a leading global recruitment company working with travel businesses worldwide, I see this pattern repeatedly.
Organisations invest heavily in hiring exceptional people, yet the difference between long-term success and early resignation is often what happens after the hire.
Performance, engagement and staff retention are shaped early, by the onboarding experience and the workplace culture people are placed into.
This matters because highly engaged teams can experience up to 59% lower turnover, directly linking environment and leadership culture to retention outcomes. (Source: Build Empire)
Globally, only 21% of employees are engaged at work, and disengagement is estimated to cost the global economy hundreds of billions in lost productivity each year. (Source: Gallup – State of the Global Workplace)
Creating the Right Environment for New Hire Success
Just like children, professionals thrive when they feel:
- Supported
- Guided
- Encouraged
- Safe to learn
- Invested in
The real opportunity for employers isn’t just in hiring great people, it’s in creating the conditions that allow people to grow, perform and stay.
What kind of environment are you creating for your new hires?
Supporting Onboarding Beyond Recruitment
At Ambitions Travel Recruitment, we actively support our clients beyond hiring.
We offer a number of free training and development resources, including a downloadable onboarding guide designed to help businesses create structured, supportive onboarding experiences that improve employee performance and retention.
👉 You can access our Mastering Pre-Boarding & Onboarding guide here.
