Getting new employees up to speed is tough, but it's a big deal for any company. Whether you're a startup or a multinational, it sets the tone for how a new hire feels and performs. But knowing what to do is hard. There are so many things to consider, from what to include in the process to ensuring it works for everyone. It can be overwhelming. That’s where employee onboarding examples come in. By checking out the strategies that have worked for others, you can find out what works best for your company and your team.
One effective strategy is to use a company-branded swag welcome kit. Not only does this help new hires feel like part of the team, but it also reinforces your brand’s identity and values. But that’s just one option. There are many ways to create an effective onboarding process, and this article will help you explore the possibilities. Whether you’re looking for examples of how to structure your process or specific tactics, you’ll find plenty of practical ideas here.
What is Employee Onboarding?
Employee onboarding is all about integrating new team members into a company. It’s more than just paperwork and passwords; it’s about making people feel welcomed and ready to roll. The process usually has four stages:
- Pre-boarding
- Orientation
- Training
- Integration
Each step involves setting up technology, communicating expectations, and helping newcomers understand the organizational structure.
How Long Should Onboarding Last?
Onboarding should take around four to eight weeks, depending on the role. After that, employees should transition to day-to-day work without needing extra onboarding support.
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• HR Operations • HR Employee Relations • Importance of Employee Relations • Employee Relations Management • Remote Onboarding • Onboarding Automation
19 Employee Onboarding Process Examples for All Organizations
1. Create a new hire welcome package
Who doesn't love a good welcome kit? Equipping your new hire with some fun and helpful company swag is a nice way to welcome them to the team. Consider investing in branded items like:
- T-shirts
- Pens
- Notebooks
- Water bottles and more
Companies like:
- Mars
- Salesforce
All offer great welcome packages if you’re looking for real-life inspiration (proof that this onboarding idea works!).
Don’t forget to add a personal touch, like a handwritten note. Depending on your company’s size and style, this could be a letter from the CEO, the HR manager, or the new hire’s line manager. Customizing the package based on the employee’s role or personal interests is another way to show thoughtfulness and consideration.
2. Build an interactive onboarding app
One great thing about everything being digital these days is that it’s easy to impress your new hires through an interactive onboarding app, a virtual tour guide to the ins and outs of your company’s culture and operations.
Don’t rush to your dev team, though. You don’t have to create a full-scale app. A simple but well-thought-out Notion page or a comprehensive onboarding checklist can also do the trick.
Some things you’ll want to include in this checklist are:
- Company policies, as well as the history, mission, and values
- Setting up logins to all the right tools
- Organizing introductions with all the key people
- Any paperwork you need to get from your new hire
Sprinkling in some fun elements will ensure your brand’s personality isn’t lost in this process. Consider including interactive quizzes to test their knowledge, engaging videos to guide them through, or even personal anecdotes from team members for a more human touch.
3. Assign a buddy
Just like in school, the buddy system is a valuable and reassuring tool for any new hire to lean on. Being paired with someone in a similar role who has been at the company for a while helps build relationships and creates a safe space for asking questions.
Build regular check-ins into your buddy system. By forging these connections early on, you’re laying the groundwork for a supportive network that extends beyond the confines of onboarding. It can even be a good idea to have a few different types of buddies:
- Onboarding buddy: To help with day-to-day tasks and get settled into the role
- Culture buddy: To help navigate benefits and social groups
- Leader buddy: To give an inside scoop on higher-level strategy and company-wide goals
It doesn’t matter whether your new hire is office-based or fully remote. Assigning a buddy gives new hires a vital point of contact to help navigate all the latest information and those overwhelming early days.
4. Schedule an entry interview
Entry interviews allow new hires to speak directly with their manager. This meeting (or video call) aims to openly discuss the role’s expectations, understand personal and career aspirations, and discuss how the role aligns with these goals.
Some great interview questions to ask your new hires include:
- What are your career aspirations, and how do you see this role contributing to your long-term goals?
- What are your initial impressions of our company culture, and how can we ensure you feel aligned with our values and ways of working?
- Are there any specific support or resources you need to excel in your role?
- What is your preferred method for receiving feedback and communication from your manager and team members?
- What are your immediate priorities or goals for your first few weeks in this role, and how can we help you achieve them?
Getting the entry interview right lays a fantastic foundation for an open relationship between new hires and their seniors, making the discussion of promotions, pay rises, and ascending leadership more fluid and natural when they later arise.
5. Host a scavenger hunt
We know it sounds a little unconventional, but what a memorable way to start a new position, especially if it is done with a cohort of new hires! A scavenger hunt fosters camaraderie and breaks the ice, perfect for welcoming new graduates, but you should skip this idea when hiring for more senior positions.
How does it work?
Provide clues that lead to essential locations (either in person or digitally) so new hires can familiarize themselves with the lay of the land. Adding team-building activities or trivia about company history and culture is also a great way to promote colleague bonding.
Encourage collaboration and friendly competition (maybe a prize for the winning person or team) to ensure everyone feels included and invested. With some thought and planning, a scavenger hunt can be a fun and meaningful onboarding experience.
6. Host a group lunch or happy hour
Hosting a group lunch or happy hour within the first few weeks of a new hire’s arrival is a simple way to make them feel included and welcomed into the organization.
Taking the opportunity to bond outside the typical workplace is always a positive welcome sign. Everyone can let their hair down and get to know their new colleagues. As we know, the socialization process is also a vital indicator of future workplace performance. It's a worthwhile investment!
7. Build personalized workstations
Imagine walking into a fully equipped workstation personalized just for you. Organize all the technology and equipment new hires will need for their jobs ahead of time so they have a seamless onboarding process.
No one wants to start a new job without a computer, desk, or even a chair (this has happened to us). It just wastes everyone’s time. And don’t forget to set up their work email account as well. You could take this further and add a little welcome note on your new team member’s desk or format a new email account to receive a personalized welcome email if you have remote employees. The little details make new hires feel valued and at home.
8. Host interactive Q&A sessions
It can feel uncomfortable if you’re the only one asking many questions. But there’s safety in numbers. That’s why an interactive Q&A session with other new hires is a great way to get everyone on the same page without any shyness.
Depending on your team size, you might need to tailor the approach, but try to ensure every new employee asks at least one question to help empower them all. For smaller teams, where you might only bring on one hire at a time, scheduling informal Q&A sessions with different colleagues is still very valuable.
9. Schedule days for peer shadowing
Peer shadowing can help overwhelmed newbies take a step back and see the bigger picture of how different departments work together to achieve a common company goal. By observing different employees’ tasks and responsibilities, new hires can better understand how each piece fits into the larger puzzle.
This helps them orient themselves in their new role and understand who is responsible for what. New hires can join the marketing team for a campaign brainstorming session or take a customer service shift to learn more about clients and products hands-on.
10. Create customized learning paths
Consider using the entry interview to craft a customized learning path for your new hires. This empowers them to take their professional development into their own hands. Offering a self-development budget as a benefit can be especially powerful.
Ensure you communicate how such a benefit can be claimed during the onboarding program so there are no doubts about it. This can go a long way to making new hires feel like you have their back and want to see them succeed and grow professionally.
11. Ask about their preferences
Everyone thinks, works, and communicates differently. Take the time to learn your new hires’ preferences so that they feel understood from day one. This is especially relevant if you’re an international team, where culture can affect how people express themselves.
Even if your company doesn’t cross country lines, this is still beneficial for a direct manager to undertake with their new employees. Create a simple document where you can both align on your preferred:
- Communication style: Are you direct or diplomatic? A visual or aural communicator?
- Information processing style: Do you need to repeat information to ensure you understand it? Do you tend to look away from the speaker to retain information better?
- Ways of working: Do you prefer to be given direction or ask for help when needed? You could even include when you are most productive here in the day.
- Ways to receive feedback: Do you prefer a compliment sandwich or just cut the fluff and hear it straight?
Doing this can help both sides to give each other the benefit of the doubt, better understand each other, and avoid misunderstandings that might arise from cultural or personality differences.
12. Give them a company culture book or guide
Consider providing a creative and aesthetic book (or digital guide) that explores company culture, values, and history. This is like an employee handbook and can be a great place to put necessary (but often dull! There, we said it) documents.
For example, BambooHR sends all new hires a copy of Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson as an introduction to the company’s values and culture.
13. Introduce them to company wellness programs
Don’t let “well-being” be just a buzzword. Introduce employees to any well-being benefits as part of the onboarding process. New hires need to feel they understand and can easily access their benefits.
One way to do this is to choose a wellness activity together during their first month or simply let them know about any company-wide activities, like fitness challenges, that may be going on.
Ensure they know how to claim expenses or direct them to the relevant Notion page, where they can see everything on offer.
14. Creative videos for a warm welcome
Onboarding employees is a continuous process in any thriving organization. This makes it challenging to share company information with every new hire individually. Creating versatile welcome videos for every department and role can significantly help here. Plenty of online services allow you to create short but effective videos in minutes. A lovely welcome video will give the new hire a clear idea about your company’s ethos, culture, and goals, giving them a reason to stay.
It’s also important to mention that corporate video production doesn’t have to be expensive. The fee is a small price if it increases retention and makes the new hire feel welcome. Remember to share your video on your social media platforms. They’re a great place to reach new talent where they already are.
15. Add them to your social groups
Invite your new hire to a few social groups to get them started. Building connections beyond work and meetings is vital for fostering camaraderie and strengthening relationships.
The usual suspects are Slack channels and WhatsApp groups dedicated to different activities:
- Writing club
- Fitness club
- Book club
- Movie club
They are a great option. Taking this a step further, you could encourage your new hire to join a company Strava club and partake in fitness challenges there with other coworkers. Alternatively, a communal Pinterest board for saving crafts or recipes to then make could be a creative way to keep a crafting or cooking club alive.
16. Host creative onboarding challenges
Want an immersive onboarding experience for your new hires?
Organize a hackathon. This is a great way to kick-start developers in their new role. It’s super helpful to have a pair of fresh eyes untainted by “this is how we’ve always done it.” It gives your new employees an excellent opportunity to let their ideas run wild while familiarizing themselves with your tech stack.
17. Offer recognition of first achievements
Set a calendar reminder to publicly celebrate your new hire’s success in their first week on the job. Keep a close eye on their progress and milestones during these first weeks. Extra recognition and appreciation can go a long way to boosting their motivation and confidence in their new role and helping them feel like part of the team.
The actual milestones will vary greatly depending on the role, but the method for sharing the love doesn’t need to. If the new employee is a writer, it can be as simple as tagging them on Slack and asking other employees to interact with their article or like a new social campaign if they’re a social media marketer.
18. Create feedback loops
Make sure your employee onboarding has a feedback loop built into it, and schedule time to ask how new employees feel after a few days on the job. Keeping track of how a new hire is doing in a large company can be incredibly challenging.
Encourage open and honest dialogue. Ask how they feel about their new job and if they have any suggestions to improve the onboarding experience. Another common practice is to send out surveys to new employees. This can be especially helpful for getting more creative onboarding ideas (if this list isn’t enough for you!).
19. Hold an office tour with a twist
If you work in an office, consider organizing an office tour with members from different teams. This is a fun way to get people from other departments together and build a solid foundation with those they might not work closely with day-to-day.
To make it even more engaging, ask the tour guides to prepare a few anecdotes or unknown facts about the workplace to share.
Related Reading
• Human Resources Onboarding • HR Development • Employee Onboarding and Offboarding • Employee Satisfaction KPI • HR Operations Work • Onboarding Checklist • Employee Relations Strategies • Employee Relations Best Practices • Employee Onboarding Process
Why Do You Need a Great Employee Onboarding Process?
A positive onboarding experience helps new employees integrate into their work environment, learn the company culture, and become productive quickly. It assures them that their new workplace is supportive and values their growth. Within the first few days, employees see their new job as a place where they can advance in their careers.
Onboarding helps employees build skills and gain autonomy. They learn job functions and how to collaborate with team members. These experiences can improve job satisfaction.
A Gallup Poll found that 70% of employees with a good onboarding experience described their job as “the best possible job.” Only 12% of employees feel their company does well in onboarding new team members.
The Impact of Effective Employee Onboarding
Many companies miss the mark in properly welcoming new employees and setting them up to perform their best.
Employees aren't the only ones who benefit from a strong onboarding experience. A positive onboarding experience can lead to measurable results like decreased turnover, enhanced productivity, higher employee satisfaction, greater employee engagement, increased revenue, and improved reputation.
Your employees and your company’s success go hand in hand, and the best way to prepare them for a meaningful and profitable career is to ensure they have a strong start at your organization. Onboarding needs to be intentional and customized to your organization’s needs.
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7 Best Practices for Employee Onboarding
1. Sync Your Job Description and Onboarding Plan
Aligning the job description with the onboarding plan is crucial. Why was the job created? Incorporate these details into the 30, 60, 90-day plan.
If the role isn’t what the candidate expected, they may feel misled and leave. This alignment reduces confusion and turnover.
2. Craft Effective Onboarding Workflows
Your organization likely has existing workflows. Use them to personalize the onboarding process.
A personalized onboarding experience is what employees remember and talk about positively. Implement steps that are missing from your current process to improve the experience.
3. Leverage Onboarding Checklists
Checklists provide structure and consistency. They ensure that all necessary steps are completed. Use different checklists for various aspects of onboarding, such as orientation, training, and culture integration.
4. Ensure Consistency Across the Board
Consistency is key. Important steps will be missed if your team has a checklist but doesn't use it. Implement a digital system that is easy to track and ensure everyone responsible for onboarding uses it.
5. Communicate Clearly and Frequently
Communication is essential throughout the onboarding process. It should start when the employee accepts the job offer and continue throughout their first year. Set clear expectations, conduct progress check-ins, and provide a point of contact for any questions or concerns.
6. Incorporate Organizational Culture and Values
Introduce new hires to your company culture and values. Provide examples of what these values mean in practice. This helps new employees adopt and strengthen your organizational culture.
7. Evaluate and Optimize Your Onboarding Process
Use feedback from new hires to improve your onboarding process. Track new hire turnover, onboarding satisfaction, and training completion rate. This will help you identify issues and prevent unwanted turnover.
Related Reading
• Employee Relations Metrics • Roles and Responsibilities of HR Operations • Positive Employee Relations • Employee Relations Examples in HR • Employee Relations vs Human Resources • Employee Relations Issues • Onboarding Best Practices • Best HR Onboarding Software • Employee Relations Software
Build A Meaningful Employee Recognition Program With Ease with Giftpack's Client Gifting Service
At Giftpack, our driving force is simplifying the corporate gifting process while maximizing the impact of each gift. Utilizing our custom AI algorithm, we create highly customized scenario swag box options for you. We offer global delivery and an extremely user-friendly platform. We curate the most fitting gifts from a vast catalog of over 3.5 million products worldwide (which is ever-increasing).
By carefully considering an individual's basic demographics, preferences, social media activity, and digital footprint, we tailor each gift selection process regardless if the recipient is an employee, a customer, a VIP client, a friend, or a family member. With a wide range of locally and globally sourced gifts, we ensure that personalized gifting is accessible and achievable on a large scale, delivering meaningful connections across the globe.
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