Hiring the right employee matters. But making sure they’re equipped to do their job well arguably matters more.
According to research from Gallup, 70% of employees with “exceptional” onboarding experiences described their jobs as “the best possible.” Additionally, these employees were 2.6 times more likely to be “extremely satisfied in their workplace.”
Onboarding—the process of familiarizing a new employee with your business’s organizational structure, culture and their role—clearly plays a critical role in employee retention, engagement and productivity. But how do you develop a rigorous onboarding process, especially if you don’t have one currently?
Two words: onboarding checklist.
Why an Employee Onboarding Checklist Is Essential
An employee onboarding checklist is important for creating a smooth onboarding process. It helps new employees transition into their roles and helps trainers and managers know what to expect from day one.
For one, onboarding checklists can help the hiring manager or HR manager focus on giving proper attention to the new hire during their first few days, instead of trying to remember mundane details. By writing down everything that needs to be covered, more time can be spent building relationships and submerging the employee into the company’s culture drivers—its people. A checklist can also help the hiring manager remember everything that needs to be discussed during onboarding.
An onboarding checklist can also help a new team member clearly understand their tasks, priorities, role and boundaries. This sets them up for success and gives them clear and defined goals to work towards.
For companies that hire multiple employees at once, a checklist can act as a single source of truth for managers. This creates a consistent onboarding process for all employees that can help them feel equal and prevent treating someone differently, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Key Steps in the Employee Onboarding Process
Properly onboarding a new employee involves many steps. We’ve broken down the key steps into easy-to-understand processes, actionable details, points to be aware of, tools or resources you need and common challenges with their solutions. Each phase listed below also includes a checklist for you to see a snapshot of what needs to happen.
1. Preboarding (Before Day 1)
The preboarding process can feel daunting, as this stage typically involves processing a large number of legal documents and getting ready.
Gather Legal Documents
Make sure that the new employee has signed an offer letter or submitted a formal written acceptance email. Once you have that in hand, get the following documents ready:
- Form I-9 (verifies that an employee is eligible to work in the U.S.)
- State and local tax forms (e.g., W-4)
- Employee direct deposit form
- Employee handbook acknowledgement
- Employment agreement
You’ll also need permission from the employee to complete a background check and/or a drug test, when applicable.
Send Key Information
Once you’ve completed the legal steps, set aside time to communicate important dates, timelines, expectations and information the new employee needs to bring to their first day. For example, email the new employee a brief description of key company policies (e.g., where they should park, dress code, lunch breaks) and any information they need to feel prepared on Day 1. You’ll also want to let them know their key point of contact for any questions if it isn’t you personally.
Prepare the Workspace and the Team
Before this, you’ll want to ensure the new employee’s workspace is completely set up. Their computer needs to be fully functioning, and all their applicable accounts, IDs, access codes and other technical tools need to be fully operational.
Finally, remember to inform the new employee’s department and the rest of the company team that someone is joining the business. For onboarding to work well, the new employee must feel validated by other team members.
Challenge: It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the steps from various departments (e.g., legal, finance, HR) a manager has to deal with before the employee’s first day. How do you manage it all?
Solution: The short answer is you don’t. Preboarding is a very involved process. For it to be done right, multiple groups usually need to be involved. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, lean on other departments for support. For example, if you can’t remember all the legal forms that are part of your company’s onboarding process, don’t feel ashamed to check in with your legal team. Remember, successful onboarding requires input from multiple people and multiple departments.
Preboarding Checklist
- Check if the offer letter (or equivalent) has been signed by the new employee
- Round up necessary tax/legal documentation
- W-4
- I-9
- Employee handbook acknowledgement
- Direct deposit form
- Employment agreement
- State and local tax forms
- Ensure any benefits forms are filled out
- Make sure any formal requests/permissions regarding background checks or drug tests have been made
- Make sure the employee knows what is expected of them
- Communicate key company policies (e.g., lunch breaks, dress code)
- Lay out a simple plan for their first day
- Indicate who the employee’s key point of contact will be
- Ask them to bring any required documentation (e.g., ID)
- Communicate to the department/team/business that a new hire is incoming
- Ensure the employee’s workspace is fully functioning
- Set up their computer
- Set up all their accounts and logins
- Set up their work phone
- Make sure they have an office key set aside/made
- Make sure they have a keycard
- Make sure you have safety gear set aside for them, if required
2. First Day: Welcoming the New Hire
It is critical to show the new hires the ropes of your organization. They need to feel a part of the team and start to see its culture in action. When they arrive on-site, greet them with a friendly approach and introduce them to all the relevant departments.
As part of the initial tour, make sure to also put them in touch with the co-workers they will be working alongside the most. If applicable, setting them up with a senior employee as a trainer/mentor can be extremely beneficial. Make sure to also show them the safety exits, bathrooms, lunchrooms and other facilities they should know. It’s also important you take the time to review your employee handbook and other guidelines so the new employee knows exactly what is required of them.
After showing them around, take the hire to their workstation and make sure you or someone in their department instructs them on how they can use their current tech stack. You also need to provide them with a training plan that outlines their responsibilities for the first few days, who will train them, their hours of operation and what the company’s culture looks like. Remember that there’s no “right way” to do this. Some companies might use videos or other software to train a new hire, while others might use peer-to-peer learning.
That said, a great way to make a new hire feel welcome is to connect them with other employees through informal chats, bonding activities such as sports or even pay for the new hire to have lunch with the team. If the new hire is potentially going to work a remote/hybrid schedule, connecting with the team is even more important so they don’t feel isolated.
Challenge: How can I balance making the new hire feel welcome while also informing them of all the legal/financial and human resources information they need to know?
Solution: As the manager or executive helping the new hire onboard, your role in the employee feeling welcome will come and go, the more they fit and connect with their team and department manager. Your role is to introduce the new hire to their team and relevant connections in a friendly manner and then provide opportunities for the employee to bond with their team members. Having positive relationships with the people they see the most often at work will help them feel like a critical component of the company and not merely a number.
First Day Checklist
- Meet the new hire
- Introduce yourself and your role
- Collect any necessary legal paperwork
- Tour the building
- Introduce the new hire to various departments and areas
- Show the employee where they can find key facilities (e.g., lunch room, bathrooms, etc.)
- Show them their workstation
- Review the employee handbook
- Go over company expectations
- Go over job duties
- Go over the company culture
- Go over any safety policies
- Connect the employee with their team
- Introduce the employee to their department team and manager
- Connect them with their training partner/manager
- Create activities for the employee and the team to get to know one another
3. First Week: Initial Training and Integration
As the first onboarding day is behind you, it’s time to focus on initial training and integration of your new hire. Though you have likely already discussed expectations for the role, it’s important to get buy-in from the employee on what their role will look like within the company. One way of doing this is to have a 1:1 meeting with them to discuss the employee’s goals and desires for the role and how they fit into the job description. This can help them integrate into their role faster as they have intrinsic motivation to do so.
Bringing them up to speed on company policies throughout the week rather than going over all of them on the first day can also help them integrate more easily into the company’s culture.
It’s also necessary to lay out training procedures for both the employee, co-workers training them and their department manager. Everyone involved in onboarding the new hire needs to know what’s expected of them, what proper key performance indicators (KPIs) look like, what to focus on in training and how to work through and bumps in the process.
Proper training and integration take time and need to be evaluated by the new hire, peers and managers to succeed. A helpful way to keep track of how training is going in the first week is to create a training goals checklist that everyone agrees on. At the end of the first week, review that checklist to see where things went well, what could be improved and where things have gone off track. Set a check-in for the end of the week to review the new hire’s progress.
Finally, it is always a good idea to prepare a survey for the new hire to fill out regarding the onboarding process. This can give you valuable feedback on the pros and cons of your hiring process while their experience is still fresh.
Challenge: How do I keep momentum going after completing the first two days of onboarding?
Solution: Make sure the new hires’ expectations are well laid out, and their peers and respective managers are willing to hold them to those standards. Onboarding a new employee with the help of everyone in the appropriate department can help keep the training momentum and excitement of joining a new company through the first week.
First Week Checklist
- Create a set of goals and expectations for the new hire’s first week
- Describe KPIs and how they are measured
- Lay out expectations clearly
- Be flexible if training doesn’t go according to plan
- Share the checklist/cheat sheet with relevant co-workers and managers
- Go over any remaining company policies, where applicable
- Set a 1:1 meeting with the new hire at the end of the week
- Discuss how they felt their week went
- Discuss how integrated they feel in the company so far
- Discuss goals worksheet and outcome
- Ask the new hire to fill out a short onboarding feedback survey
4. First 30-90 Days: Ongoing Support and Engagement
The following 30 to 90 days are important in measuring the progress of the new employee’s training and whether their role’s expectations were clearly defined. At this stage of the onboarding process, it’s important to have regular meetings to discuss what’s working in their role and what isn’t—this allows you to adjust course as needed.
A good rule of thumb is to meet one month following their start date, two months after and then three months after. Make sure to bring the goals/expectations checklist you prepared earlier and a copy of their job description so you have a benchmark against which to review.
In addition to evaluating the employee, you also need to give them support and validation. During these evaluation meetings, ask them how they see their role evolving in the company and what ideas they might have to improve processes in their department. This can help them feel validated in their role.
Also, survey their co-workers and department manager for feedback. Has the new hire listened to their instructions? Are they melding with other team members well? Why or why not? Questions like these can help you nail down the new employee’s strengths and weaknesses, which can be discussed further.
Challenge: After 30 days, the new hire expressed feeling unsure about what’s expected of them in their role. How can I fix that?
Solution: If a new hire feels unsure of your expectations of them, this could be due to not setting clear goals in your onboarding documents. It’s best to set goals that use the SMART methodology: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. If you feel like the problem could be with your leadership as a manager or HR leader, our SUCCESS Coaching program could help. We bring world-class leaders and certified professionals to mentor you 1:1 and help bring your leadership game to the next level.
First 30–90 Days Checklist
- Schedule 30-, 60- and 90-day check-ins
- During check-ins, ask the employee how they feel their training has gone
- Do they feel satisfied in their role?
- Do they feel their expectations are clearly laid out?
- Do they feel supported?
- Do they feel inspired to learn and grow with the company?
- Do they feel connected to their co-workers?
- Take time to review the employee’s progress with their peers and managers
- Has the new hire listened to feedback well?
- Are they progressing in their daily duties?
- Are they fitting in well with the team?
Onboarding Best Practices for Success
We’ve covered a lot of onboarding advice, but you might still feel a bit overwhelmed or unsure about the next steps. That’s OK. Here are some additional tips and best practices to help you iron out your onboarding process.
- Prepare the new employee before they arrive.
- Get the legal paperwork out of the way first, then focus on connecting.
- Make sure the entire team is aware of the hire and willing to contribute to their success.
- Share stories and information that will make the new hire feel valued.
- Assign a mentor to the new hire in the first week.
- Share clear KPIs and SMART goals.
- Reinforce company guidelines and policies throughout the process.
- Continually seek feedback to optimize your onboarding process.
Level Up Your Hiring Experience With an Onboarding Checklist
An effective onboarding process is one that brings a new person into the fold of your company, lays out what is expected of them, gives them tools to accomplish those goals and regularly implements changes to grow with changes in society as a whole.
Onboarding in a way that fosters growth isn’t a nice thought, it’s a necessity. A survey of employees from Bamboo HR found that, “70% of new hires decide whether a job is the right fit within the first month—including 29% who know within the first week.” An onboarding checklist prepared correctly can make your hiring process a highlight of a new employee’s week. Don’t wait to implement our advice. Create your own onboarding checklist while the ideas are fresh.
Photo courtesy of insta_photos/Shutterstock
