What is employee onboarding?
Employee onboarding describes the processes of integrating new hires into a company and its culture, including training, tools and documentation
There is no single, standardised process used by companies across every industry and market. Instead, businesses are tasked with developing an onboarding process that addresses their specific needs and the needs of their new hires. That said, the process often follows a generalised path. This path includes the following stages:
Offer Acceptance
The onboarding process picks up precisely where the hiring process ends, with the prospective hire formally accepting your offer of employment. With the new employee committed to joining your team, it is now the responsibility of the hiring manager to notify the HR department of the hire, work with the employee to set a start date and secure an offer letter for the employee to sign and return.
HR is then responsible for ensuring that the new employee receives all relevant forms and documentation explaining the terms of their employment.
Pre-boarding: Preparation for onboarding
Organisations often face a number of hurdles when onboarding new employees. Specifically, the desire for employees to feel welcomed and confident, and to quickly get up to speed in terms of productivity, may be hampered by an inconsistent onboarding experience. To ensure effective onboarding, HR should work with Learning & Development teams, department heads and other stakeholders to create role-based templates. Managers can then use these templates to build employee-specific onboarding plans.
1st day: new employee welcome & orientation
As the employee arrives for their first day, it’s your responsibility to ensure that they have access to the equipment, tools and resources to begin performing their job. Prepare a workspace for them, requisition any necessary hardware and authorise them to use essential company software. Likewise, remote workers who are not expected to show up in person to any physical workplace will need to have access and software availability before they can begin.
The employee’s direct supervisor or manager should send out an organisation-wide email publicly introducing and welcoming the new employee, and someone should be assigned to meet the employee as they arrive at the office, give them a tour of the facilities and introduce them to their team members and organisational leaders. Greeting and introducing the new employee to facilities, team members and resources is important, even in hybrid and remote-work environments. A video training, online guided tutorial or even a simple remote getting-to-know-you video call can go a long way towards helping remote workers feel welcome and included.
Human resources should hold an orientation meeting, outlining company values and goals and covering important policies. Enrol the hire in any necessary training programmes and add them to recurring meetings. Schedule a time for the employee’s three-month check-in.
1st week: introduction to company, people and role
With most of the important housekeeping tasks squared away within the first day or two, management can focus most of the rest of the first week on helping the new hire acclimatise to their role and the company. After approximately one week of employment, the employee’s manager should schedule a meeting with the hire, asking for any thoughts, feedback or questions.
At this point, HR should verify that the employee has received and completed all necessary forms and documentation, and that they have access to all resources they need to perform productively.
1st month: ongoing education and trainings
With the employee now settling into their role within the company and developing a working routine, management should now be able to assess the quality of the hire’s work. Set up a meeting with the employee to address relevant performance metrics, provide feedback, workshop any issues and respond to any concerns the employee may have.
It’s important at this stage to set a habit of continual improvement. Rather than allow the employee to become too comfortable with their now-familiar task, push them towards further growth. Enrol them in more advanced training courses where possible and appropriate, and support them as they pursue job-relevant education options.
3rd month: check-in and feedback
After three months, the employee should be relatively comfortable with their tasks, understand their performance metrics, be familiar with the company culture and values, and know how to work with their managers and immediate team members. At this point, many organisations feel that the onboarding process has come to a close.
To mark this milestone, schedule a meeting with the employee to check in on their progress and gather further feedback. After going through the onboarding process, these employees will likely have valuable insights that may help you refine and improve the process for future hires. Some organisations may instead wish to schedule a six-month recap and review as the conclusion to the onboarding process.
Working from Home
It’s also worth noting that onboarding is just as important for remote workers as it is for in-house employees. When bringing on hires who might not be working in the office, ensure that these employees have been sent any necessary hardware and set up video conferences to cover important policies, align on goals and hold introductions with leadership and team members. During the hire’s first days with the company, make sure that someone is online and available to answer new-employee questions as they arise.
Remote work creates a number of potential hurdles, particularly where the social, interpersonal aspects of company culture are concerned. Leadership, HR and team members will likely have to put in extra effort to ensure that the new hire feels like they are part of the team.
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