What is employee onboarding?

People say that the first impression lasts the longest.
This is true even for the workplace. It may make or break a new hire's expectations of what hopefully will be their next few years.

Regardless of title and seniority, the first day (or even the first few weeks/months!) of work is always nerve-wracking.

More senior hires may hide it or manage it better than junior ones, but those feelings remain all the same.

It is up to the organization to smoothen the process as much as possible.

One of the main objectives is to make an employee feel welcomed and supported from day 1.

For organizations, it means approaching onboarding with intention and purpose, as highlighted by workplace strategist Erica Keswin.

This article will cover all you need to know and do to deliver a great, effective, and purposeful onboarding experience.

Who is this content for?

If you are an HR practitioner, a leader, or a manager looking to improve your onboarding experience, this content is for you.

Our recommendations are most suitable for organizations with a hybrid workforce - with a mix of employees working remotely and on-site.

That being said, we also provide recommendations for fully on-site or fully remote arrangements where suitable.

Why it's important to optimize new employee onboarding

The importance of onboarding is evident both from the employers’ and employees’ lenses. Setting the right first impression will set you up for long-term employee satisfaction.

A study surveying employers’ perceptions of onboarding found that 41% of employers feel that a lack of structured onboarding would have a negative impact on the organization.

The negative consequences include (and are not limited to):
• Lower productivity
• Lower efficiency
• Higher employee turnover
• Lower employee morale
• Lower employee engagement
• Lower employee confidence
• Lack of trust within the organization
• Missed revenue targets

According to a study done by Gallup, only 12% of new hires strongly agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new employees. This leaves a lot of room for improvement.

The good news is that you don't need to overhaul the whole process in one night. Especially for larger companies, you may already have systems and processes in place.

If you're looking to drive change, start small and test it out with experiments. Any successful experiment can be scaled to cover more hires and teams.

Ownership & accountability in onboarding a new employee

Before we dive into the how to do employee onboarding with purpose, it's important to address the who and what.

There are many tasks involved to deliver an effective onboarding process. Hence, there would be different people responsible for each task.

Different organizations may have varying degrees of onboarding processes or reasons for hiring new employees, and the responsibilities may vary as a result. The list below would serve as a good general guideline of who should be in-charge of common tasks in onboarding a new employee.

HR department’s role

• Preparing necessary onboarding documents and paperwork for the new employee
• Arranging for company-wide training sessions
• Giving an orientation to get the new hire adjusted
• Providing necessary office supplies, equipments, and access to the company • network
• Answering questions about policies and procedures
• Sharing details about employee assistance programs, mentoring, or networking opportunities
• Tracking and monitoring the effectiveness of onboarding
• Providing an onboarding platform for teams to use

Leadership team's role

• Making new hires feel welcomed
• Sharing the organization's vision, mission, culture, and values
• Helping new hires see how their role contributes to the organization's goals

Best practices in new employee onboarding

Based on the employee onboarding best practices from companies across industries, we lay out what different stakeholders should take ownership of for each milestone in the journey.

Various stakeholders should come together to prepare before new hires join officially, so they can have a seamless onboarding experience.

Here are the following items:

1. HR and managers should come together to review the new employee onboarding plan

41% of employers believed the lack of a structured employee onboarding process had negative impact on their organizations.

These negative consequences include: lower productivity, higher employee turnover, lower employee morale, lower employee engagement, lower employee confidence, etc.

It's important to have a streamlined onboarding plan with clear tasks and responsibilities.

DOs:

✓ Lay out milestones for the new hire (e.g: Day 1, Day 14, Day 30 like outlined in this content)

✓ Determine specific goals to achieve at each milestone

✓ Identify the stakeholders to be involved for each milestone and goal

DON'Ts:

❌ Rely solely on templates (not even this one!). It's important to consider your organization's structure and processes, and tailor your onboarding accordingly

❌ Use the same approach for all new hires. For example, a new hire in Sales would require a different training than a new hire in the Engineering team. Leaders, managers, and HR should discuss how to better personalize onboarding plans for different roles

2. HR and IT department to set up all the necessary access

Prior to a new hire's joining date, HR and IT department should enable their access to office, hardware and software. This step is important to avoid confusion and frustrations on the first day at work.

Send out or prepare welcome packages for new hires would during this period.

You also need to set up necessary software and digital tools (e.g., communication platforms). Provide employee handbooks, onboarding guides, etc. to detail required tools and installation process. Logins and access codes can be included as well.

💼 For on-site employees:

• Remember to share physical building access to them, along with instructions if required

• They should either find physical equipment (e.g., laptops) and/or welcome packages at their desks or be given clear instructions on how to collect them

👩‍💻 For remote employees:

• Physical equipment and/or welcome packages should be sent to their doorstep in advance of the first day

3. HR to prepare for employee onboarding survey and/or data collection

Onboarding survey helps to capture new hires’ sentiments across onboarding milestones starting from Day 1.

Schedule surveys to be sent out automatically when each new hire hits a new milestone. This ensures efficiency and punctual survey delivery without missing any milestones.

“An onboarding survey allows you to identify each new hire’s needs and address them. The personalized attention will help you hold on to top talent."

- Reuben Yonatan, founder and CEO of GetVoIP. Source: Business News Daily

4. Manager to schedule welcome (and introduction) team meetings for new hire

1. HR and/or manager should reach out to say hello.

Send an email to make new hires feel welcomed, even a simple “Hi!” would do. 

This is especially critical considering as some (if not most) employees join for weeks or months after their last interview.

Harris Fanaroff shared some purposeful ways that managers can reach out to new hires before their first day:

2. HR and/or manager can share onboarding plan/platform and working arrangements with the new hire

This step is important so that they know what to expect and not be left confused on the first day.

DOs:

✓ If not already done, operational details that are needed for the first day (mentioned in point 2 of the Preboarding phase), should be included in the email

✓ Key information about the organization can also be sent ahead of time, such as the organization's history, organization structure, department directory, as well as values

DON'T:

❌ Share too much information. There is a lot that new hires need to go through and it might be overwhelming too soon

This is the day that we want to leave a positive first impression on the new hire and make them feel warmly welcomed.

1. Manager to arrange for an enthusiastic team or organization-wide greeting to the new hire

They can also plan for a welcome lunch on the first day - otherwise lunch any time within the first week should also be fine. These gestures set the tone for positive work connections and culture.

💼 For on-site employees:

They may also get an office tour and be shown to their desks with their physical equipment.

2. HR and/or manager to walk new hires through the onboarding plan

Try and point them to specific documents for them to read up on, such as:

• Background (e.g., history, mission, vision, values and strategy)
• Policies (e.g., anti-harassment policy)
• Procedures (e.g., how to make expenses claims)
• Expectations (e.g., code of conduct)
• Compensation and benefits (e.g., paid time off)
• Common terminology and jargon used
• Other documents that new hire has yet to sign off (e.g., non-disclosure agreement)

Some people may mix up employee onboarding with orientation and think that they're interchangeable, but they're not.

1. HR and/or manager to introduce new hire to other teams and stakeholders.

Introductions should go beyond the direct team and deeper with stakeholders outside the team.

For some organizations, HR may create opportunities for new hires to meet the senior leaders so that they know who the senior leaders are and build connections with them.

As such, many stakeholders need to be involved here to formally socialize the new hires and connect with others.

2. HR to set-up orientation sessions

This may be done either in-person or remotely, to go through all the important information that every employee should know (e.g., going deeper into the details of items 1 to 5 mentioned in the previous phase).

3. HR and/or manager to schedule trainings/workshops for new hires

Set aside time for new hires to attend and acquire the necessary knowledge (e.g., industry-specific knowledge) for their jobs.

💼 For on-site employees:

• Training and workshop venues should be clearly stated. If possible, maps should be provided in case new hires don’t know how to get to the venues

• Provide sufficient travel time and bio breaks between activities

👩‍💻 For remote employees:

• Be cautious of “zoom fatigue”

• Enable self-paced learning so new hires don't get overwhelmed with the trainings and workshops they have to attend

4. HR and/or the manager to arrange for onboarding buddies for new hires.

Depending on your organization's onboarding policies, buddies can help new hires adjust to the new environment by providing information and guidance.

If your organization doesn't have a buddy system in place, this data point might persuade you to have one: 74% of new hires consider their peers to be the most helpful pillar of support during onboarding according to Gartner.

5. Manager and peers can invite new hires to join and shadow them for some meetings.

This will help them become familiarized with how different people and teams work in the organization.

DOs:

✓ Pace out the meetings that are good for the new hires to attend, e.g., 1 or 2 (spread across morning and afternoon) per day

✓ Prepare the new hires for the meeting by giving sufficient background context of why the meeting is held, and what role they are expected to play in similar meetings moving forward

DON'T:

❌ Invite the new hires to ALL the meetings at once. It may be overwhelming and negatively impacts their experience

6. Manager to check-in with the new hire on a 1-on-1 basis regularly

This is to ensure that the new hires are not overwhelmed during this period, especially since they have a lot of new information to take in.

72% of new hires say that 1-1s with direct manager is the most important during onboarding.

Source: LinkedIn

If you work in a hybrid arrangement, it will be best to have at least 1 in-person check-in per week.

In-person meetings allow for the development of personal connections and relationships, which is especially important in this phase for building trust and understanding.

Depending on how experienced the new hire is, and the complexity of the role, it may take different lengths of time for them to internalize the information that has been provided so far.

1. New hire should be equipped with information about the role, people and organization

DO:

✓ HR and manager to check whether the new hire has understood their role, the team and the organization well

DON'Ts:

❌ Expect all new hires to start performing on tasks independently at the beginning of this phase.

❌ Some experienced hires may be able to work on certain tasks at this stage, but it is not a healthy expectation. They may lack the confidence and feel overwhelmed.

With the right resources and information, new hires would be able to consolidate, synthesize, and apply information gathered.

They will have a clearer idea of how to perform in the role and work together with the team as well as with other teams.

2. Manager and colleagues should give opportunities to observe how work is done

For example, a new customer success manager can join their colleague who would be doing a kick-off with a customer.

3. Manager and colleagues should enable opportunities for the new hire to ask questions and engage in productive conversations.

As such, two-way communication channels are critical for this phase.

Technological tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack would be helpful as it allows for asynchronous conversations - whether for remote, hybrid, or on-site teams.

For those who go to the office at least once in awhile, a two-way open-door approach should be encouraged. This means that new hires are welcome to drop by anyone’s desk if they have questions and anyone can pop by the new hires’ desk to check on how they are doing.

4. Manager to continue their regular check-ins with the new hire

This phase is to optimize the new hire’s ramp-up so they can start contributing to the team and organization.

Managers can discuss with new hires about projects and tasks to embark on.

However, keep in mind that managers should observe and do this only once the new hires have the confidence and necessary knowledge.

For example, a new social media manager can start with the planning for the next social media campaign. Clear goals and success metrics should be created for these tasks, no matter how small they are.

These should be simple and achievable at this stage, but can be stretched later to push the new hire to accomplish more.

1. Manager to monitor, track, and coach the new hire

These can be done through the 1:1 check-ins, and from regular communications with new hire.

DOs:

✓ Set smaller, achievable milestones if needed

✓ Ask new hires if they require any support and feedback to succeed in the tasks

DON'Ts:

❌ Micromanage. There is a fine balance between being supportive vs controlling. The key is to avoid jumping in as soon as there's an obstacle

❌ Manager should communicate openly that support is available anytime. This way, the new hire will be more receptive of help if they need it

2. Peers, direct reports, other teams should provide support and collaborative opportunities

Two-way communication channels are also useful here, whether for fully remote, hybrid, or on-site employees.

If these virtual communication channels are not set up properly, collaboration between the new hires and other stakeholders will fall through. As a result, the new hires may find it difficult to contribute productively.

The length of this phase depends on the length of probation period as there should be preparation work to set up new hires for success for their probation review.

1. Manager to review the probation criteria

In case the information is not clear or not yet aligned, manager can approach HR for clarification

2. Manager to communicate the criteria clearly to the new hire

It will be ideal if there is an explanation on why these criteria are important for the role.

3. Manager to discuss current opportunities and gaps with the new hire

If not, there should be effort put in to find or create new opportunities.

If yes, there should also be further discussions on whether the new hire is confident to fulfil the criteria.

DOs:

✓ Find out if there are gaps that will prevent the new hire from meeting the probation criteria

✓ Determine if there are training and development resources to help the new hire close these gaps

DON'T:

❌ Push opportunities to new hires without addressing the gaps they have. New hires may get overloaded and burnt out without being able to grow in competence.

4. Manager to work closely with HR for the probation review process

This process can start a few days before Day 90 and may include:

• Ensure that the latest probation review form is in hand

• Collect feedback from other stakeholders about the performance and competence of the new hire

• Prepare for the probation conversation

• Schedule the probation review conversation with new hire

• Have the appropriate probation review conversation

• Fill up the probation form thoroughly and send it back to HR for proper administrative closure

5. Plan follow-up actions depending on probation review decision.

If the new hire is deemed competent and passes probation successfully, there should be further discussion on goals and development plans for the longer term.

If the new hire needs improvement and requires extended probation, manager should clearly communicate what the new hire should do to close those gaps.

Either way, these conversations are important, and should be approached with honesty and transparency.

It's also a good time to better understand the new hire's sentiments about their career path in the organization.

Many would think that the employee onboarding process ends at the probation review.

However, only 25% of companies feel that new hires become fully productive in 3 months or less.

It means that the onboarding process often needs to stretch beyond the probation period, until the new hires become fully productive.

This takes 8 months on average. In fact, 27% of companies feel that this can extend up to a year or more.

"Many employees hit a lull after 6-9 months. When they ‘know enough’ but are still far from their productivity peak. This is a key inflection point for companies to capture the next level of development and mentoring. Without this, many employees start to feel abandoned, lose motivation and seek alternative opportunities."

- Paul Wittich, Director of Global Virtual Sales at Cisco ANZ, Japan and Korea. Source: Cisco

The end of this phase is marked by the one year work anniversary of the new hires, which people typically celebrate, sometimes with gifts or other rewards.

Established organizations with structured processes usually conduct a performance appraisal within this period.

For example, even though the new hires’ work anniversary may be in April, performance appraisal review could happen in December as it aligns with the end of the calendar year.

Activities in this phase depends on other employee journey milestones that will coincide within this time period.

Here are some general guidelines:

Weekly

Managers to check-in with new hires on a 1-on-1 basis to find out how they are doing, and it can touch on both work and personal aspects.

This weekly check-in practice is seen in Deloitte, which is based on the fundamental belief that team members’ priorities may become vague and leader is seen as less helpful if the check-in is less frequent. In addition, when employees feel that managers genuinely care for them, they are more likely to be engaged at work.

Monthly

Managers to go through with new hires on their progress on their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). If new hires are struggling in specific areas, then managers should find ways to support them further.

This can be done by either providing more tools and resources, or more training and development opportunities. If new hires are excelling in all areas, then managers can adjust the KPIs/OKRs to stretch them further.

Quarterly

Managers and/or HR should review the new hire's growth and how they are progressing along their career path.

Continuous employee development is important not only to enhance employee morale, but also to improve company outcomes like efficiency and productivity. Hence, new opportunities for development should be identified regularly for the new hires.

Top 5 employee onboarding softwares you could use

HiBob

HiBob helps organizations welcome new hires with a positive onboarding experience. It allows for streamlined onboarding processes with a personal touch.

They automate the collection of information from new hires, and allow for the set-up and task tracking for various stakeholders (i.e., new hires, managers, IT, etc) to ensure that the new hire has everything they need.

At the same time, they provide the flexibility to tailor and personalize aspects of the onboarding process to suit the new hire. This includes custom preboarding messages, templated task lists (for different functions) and personalized introduction to the organization.

BambooHR

BambooHR lightens the administrative load of onboarding by enabling electronic signatures on documents.

It also allows for tailored onboarding templates based on their jobs, departments, locations, etc.

Organizations can also track the onboarding progress of each new hire.

Once tasks are set up, they are automatically sent to the respective stakeholders, and reminders for the tasks are triggered closer to the due dates.

Based on the form that new hires fill up about themselves, BambooHR helps them create connections by highlighting common interests the new hire has with the team.

Enboarder

Enboarder humanizes the onboarding process by creating virtual spaces for connection between the new hires and their teams where they can send introductory videos, set up coffee chats, etc.

As a mobile-first onboarding solution, Enboarder reaches out to new hires, managers and team members via text messages so it is more convenient for these stakeholders to fill up forms with the required information.

Managers are guided through the onboarding, and coached on how to conduct onboarding more efficiently. 

HR Cloud

HR Cloud tailors the onboarding experience by having customized employee onboarding checklists and workflows. Such a personalized experience helps the new hires feel welcomed.

Automation of these processes also provides the new hires a smooth onboarding experience. 

With the Employee Self-Service Portal, organizations can provide new hires with all the information they need to hit the ground running.

Lessonly

Lessonly helps to improve the time-to-productivity for new hires through training and coaching.

In addition to virtual courses, new hires receive on-demand practice exercises to help them hone their skills and learn faster.

A personalized virtual coach assists new hires in their journey by highlighting knowledge gaps to focus on in the future.

Managers can create coaching plans for individuals and assign trainings for new hires to complete.

With the use of the software, organizations can provide consistent training for all new hires regardless of how busy managers are to train the new hires.