Onboarding
What is onboarding?
Onboarding is the process of inducting new hires into the organization. It includes helping them get settled, paperwork, and introducing them to company policies, the work culture, and their job responsibilities to ensure a smooth transition.
What are some key activities associated with onboarding?
Here's a quick checklist of every onboarding activity to keep new hires engaged and productive from day one:
- Sending offer letters
- Collecting documents
- Coordinating with the IT team and getting a workstation ready
- Welcoming new hires
- Explaining the company culture
- Clarifying different HR policies
- Assigning a buddy
- Completing any remaining paperwork
- Organizing a role-specific training program
- Setting clear and reasonable expectations
- Conducting surveys to understand the program's effectiveness
What is the role of HR in onboarding?
Onboarding is one of the key responsibilities of the HR team, ensuring that new hires seamlessly integrate into the organization and are set up for success from day one. From pre-onboarding to ongoing support, HR plays a vital role in shaping the employee experience. They're responsible for organizing pre-onboarding, completing the necessary paperwork, welcoming new hires on their first day, conducting training programs, setting clear performance expectations for new hires, and providing ongoing guidance to keep new hires going.
What are the four phases of onboarding?
By breaking down onboarding into clear phases, your HR team can create a fail-proof strategy that improves engagement and productivity.
Phase 1: Pre-onboarding
This begins once a candidate accepts the offer and continues until their first day. It involves gathering the necessary documents and helping them start their new role.
Phase 2: First day of new hires
The first day is all about making a great impression. It usually involves detailed orientation that introduces new hires to the company culture, job responsibilities, team members, and HR policies.
Phase 3: Training
This phase often involves equipping new hires with the knowledge and skills they need to gain confidence in their responsibilities.
Phase 4: Transition to the new role
As training concludes, employees begin to actively contribute to their roles. Ongoing support, feedback sessions, and check-ins during this phase help new hires transition seamlessly into their day-to-day responsibilities.
Learn more about the four phases of onboarding in our blog.
What documents should you collect from candidates as part of onboarding?
Paperwork is one of the key aspects of onboarding. Here's a list of documents that HR teams have to collect from new hires to ensure compliance and smooth operations:
- Employment offer and appointment letter
- Employment contract
- Employee handbook and code of conduct
- Employment compliance forms (e.g., I-9)
- Tax forms (e.g., Form 16, Form PF, Form W-3)
- Identity and address proofs
- Educational certificates
- Experience letters
How long should onboarding last?
A well-structured onboarding program spans a minimum of three months and can extend up to six months, ensuring new hires receive guidance and support. The exact duration, however, can vary depending on the complexity of the role, company culture, industry standards, and more.
Usually, the first week is dedicated to administrative essentials: completing paperwork, setting up IT access and gadgets, and introducing new hires to company culture and values. The next three months of onboarding focus on offering role-specific training; in the following three months, the focus shifts to goal-setting and performance milestones, helping new hires integrate into their role seamlessly.
How can HR professionals track onboarding success?
Here are some of the best ways for HR teams to track onboarding effectiveness and foster continuous development:
Surveys
Run surveys on your new hires to gauge their satisfaction levels and experience at each stage of onboarding. This feedback helps find areas for improvement.
Onboarding metrics
Monitor key onboarding metrics—including time-to-onboard, new hire retention rate, new hire turnover rate, training comption rate, hiring manager satisfaction rate, and onboarding completion rate—to assess the effectiveness of your onboarding program.
HR software dashboards
Your HR software's onboarding module tells you how many of your new hires are currently in your onboarding program and how many have successfully completed it. This data helps ensure that your program is running smoothly and meeting its goals.
How to build a successful employee onboarding program
Here are five key steps for building an effective employee onboarding program:
Step 1: Set clear goals
Set clear goals for what you want to achieve with onboarding and create relevant metrics. Keep them consistent with your organizational culture.
Step 2: Plan activities
Create comprehensive onboarding checklists that cover key onboarding activities, training programs, performance reviews, and other crucial tasks. This makes sure that no essential step is overlooked. Assign them to the right people to keep everything organized.
Step 3: Prepare the necessary resources
Be sure to have every resource and kit required for onboarding your new hires—including new hire welcome kits, company handbooks, IT-related gadgets, and training programs—ready.
Step 4: Keep everyone informed
Before you onboard your new hires, be sure to keep all relevant people informed so they can be prepared.
Step 5: Measure onboarding effectiveness
Once you have your onboarding program up and running, receive feedback from your new hires and track your onboarding metrics to keep improving.
