9 Onboarding Tips Every HR Professional Should Know

Onboarding new employees is a crucial step in any organization. It sets the tone for the employee’s entire tenure with the company and can greatly impact the success and satisfaction in their role. No matter wether your organization works remotely, onsite or in hybrid mode: As an HR professional, you should understand and implement effective onboarding strategies to ensure that new hires are set up for success. In this article, we have compiled 9 onboarding tips that will help you provide a smooth welcome.

1. Make a comprehensive plan

Create a detailed plan that outlines all the steps and activities involved in the onboarding process. This should include everything from paperwork and orientation to training and integration into the company culture. Having a plan in place will ensure that nothing is overlooked and that the process runs smoothly.

The number of items in your plan will vary based on the department, role and seniority of the new employee. When creating the initial plan, you might be tempted to move everything into the first few weeks. This is understandable - after all you want your new hires to be up and running “asap”. However, you should be very careful to not overload them with a chaotic influx of poorly organized information. Onboarding tools can help you to comprehensively catalog what’s relevant and then create a well structured, clearly prioritized plan.

2. Reach out early

Reach out to new hires before their start date to provide them with information about the company, the role they will be filling, and what to expect on their first day. This will help them feel more prepared and excited to start their new position. Onboarding tools will allow you to schedule this info ahead of time.

It sounds trivial, but you should also make sure new hires have a quick way of contacting both their team lead as well as someone from HR in the weeks prior to their start.

3. Assign a mentor

Assign a mentor or buddy to new hires to help them navigate the company and provide a sounding board for any questions or concerns they may have. Ideally, this person is more senior and has previously held a similar role. In smaller companies, you might pick someone from the same team, which is fine as long as there are no conflicting interests at play.

Note that the mentor will serve both as a social and a technical guide to your new employee. They should be equally comfortable to make introductions to relevant people across your organization as to explain operational details over the course of the first 3-6 months. The mentor should be motivated (and have permission!) to allot time for onboarding, especially during the first weeks.

4. Provide meaningful training

Ensure that new hires receive comprehensive training on the company’s policies, procedures, and culture, as well as the specific skills and knowledge required for their role. This will help them to feel more confident and capable in their role.

While some modules need to be completed by every new employee, you should be mindful of relevance and timing: Does the company values training belong in week 1? Is the sales tool webinar less important or more important? A lot of this depends on context, so you should fine-tune and periodically review the training curriculum for each role.

5. The team welcome

Make new hires feel right at home by providing them with a welcome pack and organizing a team lunch or other social event on their first day. This will help them feel more included and a part of the company culture.

Don’t overdo welcome presents. Instead focus on making it personal and appreciative. A nice piece of swag (or two ;-) along with the laptop is plenty. Add a handwritten letter and a genuine, heartfelt welcome speech and your onboardees will have an amazing and memorable first day.

6. Let them socialize

Provide ample opportunities for socialization and networking: Organize regular events and networking opportunities for new hires to meet and get to know their colleagues. This will help them feel more connected to the company and its culture.

If your organization is remote only (or mostly remote), make sure you provide regular playful opportunities for non-work interactions, eg. virtual coffee breaks, gaming nights or random social 1:1s. If you have a physical all-hands offsite coming up, be sure to advertise this early with your new hires so they have something to talk about and look forward to.

7. Encourage open communication

From day one, institutionalize and encourage honest and direct communication between new hires and their managers or supervisors. This can be achieved through regular check-ins or one-on-one meetings, during which onboardees can ask questions and discuss any concerns they may have.

1:1 meetings should be longer and/or more frequent in the first weeks and can gradually converge to an operational baseline. Make sure your team leads understand the importance of providing this support and are comfortable giving and receiving honest feedback.

8. Check in regularly

Follow up with new hires regularly to check in on their progress and address any concerns or issues they may have. This will ensure that they are settling in well and that any issues are addressed in a timely manner.

Hold back on big employee surveys or pulse checks in the first months - your onboardees already have enough on their plate. Instead, ask for small pieces of feedback on a regular basis. Make it “snackable” and frictionless. Tools like OnBot natively support this and will enable you to get accurate readings on the happiness of your new hires.

9. Improve your process

Creating a good onboarding experience is not a “one and done” effort. You should aim to continuously evaluate and improve your process by gathering feedback from new hires and making adjustments accordingly. This will ensure that your onboarding remains effective and meaningful for those on the receiving end.

Be sure to have a dedicated tool for managing onboarding journeys. As you begin to optimize several role-based plans, each with dozens of different resources and timing constraints, you’ll be very happy to have everything in one place.

In closing …

Onboarding new employees is an essential aspect of any HR professional’s role. By heeding the tips above, you will ensure that new hires in your organization are set up for success. The rewards are significant: Organizations that implement good onboarding tend to see higher employee satisfaction, higher productivity and lower fluctuation. If you haven’t examined the structure and quality of your onboarding process recently, it’s probably a good idea to do so.