Thousands of workers leave a job because of poor or embarrassing levels of induction research revealed today.

A survey of 5,700 employees showed that some found their manager didn't even know they had been recruited.

One new recruit was told to hop on one leg in front of 20 other new starters and sing "We all live in a yellow submarine".

Recruitment website reed.co.uk said its poll showed that one in 25 employees had quit because of a bad experience when being introduced to the post.

Workers in the media and public sector were most likely to leave after a poor induction.

One new starter was simply told: "Here are the keys, here is my mobile number, good luck."

Another was "given a five minute induction and then left to find out everything in my own time."

One new recruit said he was left alone in a room for four hours with a pile of videos, then someone came to ask if he was ready to start.

On average, it took over seven weeks for an employee to feel at ease in a new job where they had been subjected to a bad induction.

Martin Warnes, head of reed.co.uk said: "The war for talent is heating up, so it seems a shame to lose everything after a battle has been won.

"Many employers have realised just how important it is to attract the right people, and invest much time and money in recruiting them. Yet all that effort can be wasted if there is no structure in place to help a new starter make the transition and become fully productive.

"The best inductions are a process not an event, they combine ongoing support to bring people right into the culture of their new team."