HR Glossary  /  Onboarding
Onboarding6 min read
Table of Contents:

What is Onboarding?

Hiring top talent is just the first step. Ensuring they reach their full potential and become long-term assets requires a strategic launch—and may be as challenging as hiring the right fit for your business. This is where onboarding comes in.

Onboarding is the path a new hire must follow to become a confident and efficient contributing member of the team. In short, it's a structured process designed to help a new hire succeed in their new role and become familiar with the company culture, managed by the HR team. In this glossary, we’ll provide an onboarding checklist for the entire process so you can make a success out of your program.

What is onboarding? The onboarding process goes beyond the first-day paperwork shuffle. It's a comprehensive program, lasting weeks to a year depending on the role and company, that turns a new hire into a productive member. This program equips new employees with the foundational knowledge, skills, and resources needed to perform effectively in their roles. Ideally, an effective onboarding process must also promote a sense of belonging by familiarizing new employees with your company culture, policies, and other team members.

Is Employee Onboarding the Same as Orientation?

No. While onboarding and orientation are often used interchangeably, there's a key distinction between the two. Orientation is the initial introduction that occurs on a new employee's first day or week. It focuses on basic things like company rules, benefits overview, and how things work at the company. Think of the employee onboarding process as the entire journey and orientation as the first checkpoint.

Benefits of Implementing a New Employee Onboarding Process

Starting a new job without being introduced to your team or, worse, without anyone having explained to you what you have to do—It’s just unthinkable. It won't work out, even in the short term. You must go through the onboarding process, yes or yes.

That said, onboarding is more than just some necessary steps that will take time. Onboarding offers numerous benefits, some exceptionally long-term, so it's safe to claim that a good onboarding is an investment. The key benefits of a good onboarding process are:

Employee retention: Robert Half found that 91% of employees thought about quitting their first month at a new job, and 28% did. This highlights the importance of a strong onboarding program to make your investment in talent acquisition worthwhile.

Faster time to productivity: An efficient onboarding program helps new hires learn what they need to know and use the right tools to become productive as quickly as possible—which also lets your training efforts pay off sooner. It also keeps new hire paperwork at a minimum.

Employee engagement: Feeling welcome, supported, and informed from day one helps create job satisfaction. A report indicated that a well-executed onboarding program can improve new employee retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%—goals that wouldn’t be possible without a high level of engagement.

Reduced costs: Retaining employees reduces the need for costly recruitment efforts, and a well-trained workforce minimizes the need for additional training down the line. Studies reveal that the longer the process, the higher the savings.

A well-designed onboarding program must be a structured roadmap that guides new employees through their initial integration into your company, as we’ve already said, promoting a sense of belonging and setting them up for a future efficient performance.

Here are the key steps to consider for an effective onboarding program:

Pre-Boarding (Before the First Day)

  1. First welcome and communication: When a candidate accepts the offer, start communicating to express excitement about joining the team. Send a welcome package with company swag (if applicable) or the employee handbook to familiarize them with company values and policies.
  2. Manager connection: Set up the connection between the new hire and their manager. The manager can send a personalized welcome email introducing themselves and expressing their enthusiasm about having the new team member on board.

First Week Orientation

  1. Preparation: Tell them what they need to know on their IT side, like their credentials into an HR tool. Make sure their manager sets their agenda up. They might need the new hire to work on a task from day one.
  2. Team welcome: Greet the new hire with enthusiasm, provide a company tour, and facilitate introductions with colleagues, especially those in proximity.

Ongoing Integration (First Few Months)

  1. Regular check-ins: Just one 15-minute talk with the new hire can work. Be obvious about what the meeting is about (don't let the employee assume anything), and ask how they're feeling and what the roadblocks are. Ideally, you should be able to check on the employee by the water cooler, but if that's not possible, just ask for a chat.

Onboarding deskless employees—those whose jobs require physical mobility and minimal desk time—or remote employees involves new challenges. Still, with the right strategies, you can offer them a smooth transition into your company.

Onboarding Deskless Workers

For instance, deskless workers perform major tasks in various industries like healthcare, hospitality, and construction. Think nurses, retail associates, delivery drivers, and field technicians. They are the staff members who talk to customers and represent your company. In other words, their timely onboarding directly impacts customer satisfaction and overall business performance.

These are some key aspects to consider when onboarding deskless workers:

  • Clear messaging channels: Set up specific communication channels accessible to deskless workers, like mobile apps or text messaging, to ensure they receive all the important information and updates.
  • An in-depth onboarding plan: Develop a clear roadmap outlining the entire onboarding process, including tasks, milestones, and roles of key players like HR and department managers.

Remote employees represent a completely different challenge. These are some practical strategies you can implement to adapt the onboarding process for remote employees:

Virtual welcome and team introduction: Organize a video call to introduce the new hire to the team and colleagues.

Company orientation: Organize a concise orientation video covering company history, mission, values, team structure, products/services, HR policies, and benefits information. You can book this meeting for the first week. It typically includes a recorded introduction by the CEO.

Regular manager check-ins: Plan frequent one-on-one meetings with their manager for initial support and address concerns.

Welcome buddy: Assign a close companion for ongoing support, introductions, and building a sense of connection. The new employee can “shadow” their companion on the first days to start learning the company's lingo.

Interactive learning: Offer bite-sized online training modules or incorporate interactive elements like polls or quizzes. Only do it if you have a good way to track progress.

Hook the employee up with company swag: Swag is also a good idea for remote workers. If the new employee can share their best mailing address, send them some company swag, like a mug so that they can share the news of their new position on social media. This could even attract prospective employees.

Implementing an HR software solution, like TalentHR, can help your recruiters by automating and simplifying complex or tedious tasks of the onboarding process, while freeing them up to focus on more strategic and exciting activities.

Selecting the ideal onboarding software requires thoroughly analyzing your company's specific needs and budget. Here are key factors to evaluate:

Understanding Your Needs

  • Number of employees: The software should fit your company’s size and hiring volume.
  • Onboarding complexity: Consider how complex is your onboarding process (e.g., legal compliance, role-specific training)
  • Integration needs: Check compatibility with existing HR systems (applicant tracking, HRIS, learning management)
  • Compliance and industry requirements: Consider if the software addresses industry-specific regulations.
  • Analytics and reporting: Does it offer functionalities to measure onboarding effectiveness?
  • Cost: What kind of solution can you pay for right now?

Interface and Customization

  • Branding and culture alignment: Can the software be customized to reflect your company's branding and culture?
  • Workflows and templates: Does it allow customization of workflows, templates, and forms for a personalized experience?
  • User-friendly interface: A user-friendly and visually appealing interface is significant for both HR professionals and new hires, especially if the new hires—deskless or remote—need to use the HR tool on their own devices, such as mobile phones. The selected HR software should be easily accessible.

Support and Training

  • Customer Support: Evaluate the level of customer support offered by the vendor.
  • Training Resources: Does the vendor provide documentation?

How can onboarding be personalized for different roles?

Create custom training content, mentors, and tasks to address specific role requirements and departmental workflows—so that new hires gain the know-how and confidence needed to grow in their particular positions.

How should the success of an onboarding program be measured?

Track key metrics like employee retention, employee performance, and engagement surveys. Then, you can also analyze these measures to identify areas for improvement and refine your onboarding strategy.

What are the best practices for collecting feedback from new hires during onboarding?

Conduct surveys at key points during the process. Additionally, encourage open-ended questions and anonymous responses to gather honest feedback on their experience and identify areas where you can better support them.

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