Onboarding New Employees in 8 Simple Steps [+ Checklist]

“Onboarding” is the process of transforming a new employee into an effective contributor in their first few months on the job. In recent years, companies have become more focused on onboarding than ever before as attrition rates have skyrocketed and employers lose millions each year to turnover.

The process of incorporating a new team member into your company’s culture, ethos, procedures, and teams is known as onboarding. The objective is to provide the new employee with the tools and knowledge they need to get started and to make them feel welcome. Prepare your new hire for success by doing the following:

• Confirming new recruit information before the first day of work
• Providing greeting cards
• Introducing new hires to the rest of the team
• Having a formal orientation is a good idea.
• Identifying and defining job duties
• Discussions on strategic expansion
• Providing training for the firm
• Having frequent performance evaluations is a good idea.

Our new recruit onboarding checklist is meant to show you the best practices for onboarding new hires.

Step 1: Get Ready for Your New Employee

We recommend laying out your onboarding strategy before your new employee starts their first day at your organization. Make sure you have all of the necessary pre-hire papers.

• Confirmed that all documentation from the employment process, including the offer letter, had been signed and validated.
• Double-checked the pay and start date.
• Set up all IT systems and train the new recruit on how to operate office equipment, such as a computer, printer, building keys, and corporate software.
• Prepared a new hire package that included paperwork, payroll information, an overview of benefits, and the employee handbook, among other things.

Prepare the new employee’s schedule as well, particularly if they are an hourly employee who may work several shifts throughout the week. Consider utilizing scheduling templates and tools to help you manage your employees’ schedules more efficiently. We advise you to:

• Homebase: For brick-and-mortar enterprises (such as shops and restaurants), this is the best option; it’s free for a single location.
• When I Work: It’s best for shift-based jobs (like medical and professional services); a 14-day trial is available.

We’ve discovered that working with outside providers, such as a professional employer organization (PEO), may considerably assist with managing your team members, given the specific obstacles of building a strong onboarding program.

Step 2: Make Welcome Materials Available

Your new recruit should get welcoming materials, including documentation and a broad overview of their new position, on their first day on the job. Allow time for your new recruit to process the new employee applications and complete the necessary paperwork.

The first portion of any package should include all of the personnel information you need (even if it is an electronically shared packet).

Step 3: Organize an Official Company Orientation

A new employee orientation should be provided to the new recruit, which will familiarize them with the corporate culture. While the onboarding process may (and probably should) last up to a year, new recruit orientation (including the presentation) should begin during the first week of work. This might be a video or PowerPoint presentation, or just a meeting with HR.

The following topics should be discussed during the orientation:

• History and culture of the company
• Values and vision are enshrined in the mission statement.
• Benefits

Step 4: Define Job Responsibilities Clearly

Your new recruit may have prior expertise in their given function, but they may not have prior experience in your sector or with your unique product or service. Make time to sit down with them and go through the job description and responsibilities. When explaining what the new team member’s work entails as the corporation attempts to fulfill its strategic objectives, we suggest using both the employee’s job description and a corporate organizational chart.

The purpose of properly conveying an employee’s function is to go through the specifics of their work (using the job description) and who their role will affect inside the firm (using the organizational chart). The organizational chart identifies all team members, and it is the supervisor’s responsibility to link the new employee’s duty to the organization’s many other jobs. It’s critical to demonstrate how their position affects other jobs and initiatives within the firm, whether directly or indirectly.

Step 5: Talk about their long-term growth strategy.

Each person in your company should have a well-defined strategic development plan that lays out their objectives and duties. The employee’s development plan should be detailed and focused on their continuous progress in their current role.

When creating a development strategy for a certain position, keep the following in mind:

• Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, and Attainable) objectives
• Include a training and development educational strategy.
• Put in place successful tactics.
• Analyze the outcomes with the help of performance management.

Your new employee should have a clear grasp of their job and duties in relation to the development strategy, as well as how to accomplish those objectives.

Step 6: Introducing the New Team Member

Within the first week of work, the new team member should be presented to their immediate team as well as the rest of the firm. This helps the employee adjust to their new surroundings and introduces them to the people they’ll be working with on a daily basis.

Consider holding an all-company meeting where new team members may be introduced to the rest of the business through video conferencing if your organization employs remote workers (such as Skype or Zoom).

Step 7: Provide specialized training for each role.

The new employee should be exposed to education and training programs appropriate to their function throughout their initial months on the job. This includes more extensive training sessions in addition to the basic training provided at orientation (during which the employee learns their position).

Employees get the essential information and may keep track of their progress through personalized training. Training management software makes it simple to offer courses and monitor progress.

Step 8: Hold regular performance reviews.

It is critical to plan performance assessments within the first year of work and while your new employee settles into their new job. This guarantees that the individual is sticking to their development plan and meets the company’s success benchmarks.

Your new employee should be informed of performance expectations at the end of the first month on the job. Check-in with them now to make sure they have the tools and resources they need to succeed. Allow the supervisor to meet with the new recruit one-on-one for a casual talk and to address any queries the new hire may have.

• Inquire about their training progress. What areas do they need more training in?
• Find out how well they get along with their coworkers. Are there any concerns that need to be addressed right away?
• Inquire about the company’s rules, processes, and work practices. Is there anything that they don’t understand?
• Examine if they are aware of and have completed their medical and other benefits enrollments.
• Check to see whether they have the contacts they need. Do you need to introduce yourself?
• Find out what they’re having trouble with. Who can assist them in reaching a decision or learning more?
• Inquire whether they need any additional tools or resources in order to be more productive.
• Examine your performance management system. If you haven’t done so before, this is a good moment to define early performance targets so that everyone is on the same page.
• Consider adjusting your expectations in the first few months to place a greater emphasis on learning and mastering rather than attaining numerical performance targets.

The first 90 days on the job (also known as the employment probation phase) are a period during which the employee and your company assess whether the person is a suitable match. If the employee is getting follow-ups from job applications they submitted before taking the position with your organization, don’t stop selling them on the advantages of working for you.

Here are some ideas for motivating and engaging employees:

• Additional training and instruction should be provided: New workers benefit the most from on-the-job training since it allows them to understand their jobs. Employee skills may be developed in a variety of methods, including off-site and online training. Think about software, writing, safety, presentation skills, and leadership training.
• Conduct performance reviews: A 90-day feedback session is a fantastic approach to communicate what you’ve seen about an employee’s performance that you like. Inquire about what they need from the firm or from you. This is the moment to set performance goals and determine what the employee needs to succeed. What might you or your firm do to improve things? How can procedures be made more efficient?
• Provide chances for team building: Great firms provide employees the chance to form strong bonds with their coworkers. Consider arranging an after-hours event or a team lunch to assist the team to create trust and gratitude.
• Ask them to help with other projects: Once your employee has a good understanding of their task, think about how they can help with other initiatives. Projects allow them to meet and interact with other workers at the organization.

After your new recruit has completed their first 90 days, onboarding should continue. You’ll have a far higher chance of retaining employees motivated, engaged, and productive if you maintain onboarding during their first year.

Discuss the following topics with your employee:

• Tasks that will continue to be completed throughout your new hire’s first year.
• The most effective method of HR operations includes offering employees two-way continuous feedback, providing new training and development opportunities, and arranging monthly sit-down talks with their manager or HR to “check in.”
• Discuss the work obligations of the employee. Are they having fun at work? Do the new recruit and the supervisor have any personality clashes?
• Maintain open channels of communication. As part of that first year’s onboarding, schedule monthly talks.

Celebrate your new hire’s onboarding success with a company-wide statement and possibly a first anniversary present at the conclusion of the first year. At the conclusion of the first year, you will have progressed from a new recruit to a seasoned employee. That’s something worth noting.

Onboarding’s Objectives

Because of the value it offers to both the new recruit and the business, it’s important to make sure you have a good onboarding process for new team members. It leads to ideal organizational performance, which may be used to calculate your ROI (ROI). Onboarding success also entails:

• Ensures legal compliance: A thorough onboarding process entails a slew of requirements and legal responsibilities.
• Maintains a consistent experience: Having an onboarding procedure for all new workers guarantees that everyone receives a comprehensive welcome and orientation.
• Makes new recruits feel “at home”: The goal of an onboarding program that provides a full experience is to embrace new hires and make them feel welcome from the start.
• Improves employee retention: When you recruit someone, you’re making an investment in their future. To successfully onboard new team members, you’ll need money, people, and time. To compete in company, it’s vital to protect your investment by keeping your best staff.

Rippling’s complete program is created to handle all human resource-related requirements, including benefits administration, time tracking, scheduling, and payroll, so it’s a big help when it comes to creating good onboarding procedures.

Onboarding for Remote or Transitioning Employees

Although most people think of new workers when they think about onboarding, there are a few employee groups who need a refresher on sections (or all) of the company’s operations. Large changes may be more readily adopted with onboarding methods, whether it’s a prolonged vacation away from work or a move to another location of the firm.

Conclusion

One of HR’s (or a supervisor’s) most important responsibilities is onboarding new team members. The initial impressions of new team members have an impact on how long they stay with your organization and how they feel about leadership. If you nail the onboarding game, you’ll have a leg up on the competitors. The good news is that establishing and maintaining a thorough, polished onboarding program does not have to cost a lot.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you create an onboarding checklist for new employees?

There are many ways to do this. You could create a list of all the key tasks you want employees to accomplish over their first few months and rank them in order of importance, how much time they take up, or both. Then you would present each task on an individual sheet with instructions for completing it successfully and the time allotted for completion.

What is an employee onboarding checklist?

An onboarding checklist is a document that summarizes all the steps needed to bring someone onto your team. It also includes things like essential information about the company and policies for interacting with staff.