It's hard to avoid mishaps during the first days and weeks ofa new job, and it's partially the boss'fault.

A survey by OfficeTeam, a staffing firm, found that more thanhalf of employees report that their employers failed to providethem one or more basic things to help them work effectively. Manyencountered technological problems, such as phones and computersnot being set up, while many reported that their superiors didn'tintroduce them to coworkers or provide them basic education oncompany policies.

• 33% say that a critical technological service wasn'tproperly set up

• 22% say that necessary supplies were missing

• 16% did not receive an overview of the company and itspolicies

• 15% weren't introduced to fellow coworkers

• 14% did not receive a tour of the office

Less than half of respondents — 46% — reported experiencing noneof the above issues in their workplaces. HR professionals appear to be aware of theshortcomings of their companies in getting workers set up, sinceonly 50% of those surveyed said they believed their company had a“very effective” onboarding process for new employees.

But very few HR pros believe their company is atrocious in thatregard; 42% say the company onboarding process is “somewhat”effective, while only 6% say it is not very effective and only 2%say it is not at all effective.

“Many companies focus so much on information-sharing during anonboarding process that they may overlook basic practical needs,such as making sure that a workstation is up and running for theemployee,” Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, said.“Every touchpoint during those first days adds to the new staffmember's perception of the organization, so the more you can do toensure everything runs smoothly, the more positive that impressionwill be.”