Employee onboarding: 5 best practices to try today

Employee onboarding is more than just a chance to inform new employees about their roles and responsibilities. It’s also a time to introduce them to the company’s culture and provide the necessary resources to succeed. However, many companies aren’t fulfilling the purpose of onboarding, with 52% of employees feeling untrained after completing the onboarding process. 

In this article, we will explore the purpose of employee onboarding, its importance and how to build a stellar onboarding programme as well as share best practices to consider for your business. 

Employee onboarding occurs after a candidate is hired and consists of integrating the new employee into a company by educating them about their job duties, company policies and culture and providing training resources to ensure that they feel prepared to hit the ground running. 

The employee onboarding process is similar to boarding a plane. When passengers board a commercial flight, the cabin crew give them a short briefing about the airline’s policies and culture, the aircraft’s safety features, its on-board resources and what to expect during the flight. In the same way, employee onboarding covers the basic things a new hire should know about a company, their role and how to thrive in their new position.

A great onboarding experience sets the tone for new employees and provides them with the knowledge and resources that they need in order to dispense their job responsibilities productively and efficiently. Additionally, ensuring that you have a well-developed onboarding process for employees improves retention, reduces costs, strengthens company culture and boosts engagement and productivity. 

According to a survey by Korn Ferry, 98% of CEOs and hiring managers believe that the onboarding process is a key factor in employee retention. This statistic shows how important creating a comprehensive onboarding process is for a company’s retention efforts. With a solid first impression and sufficient training, new employees are more likely to feel satisfied with their roles instead of jumping ship after a short time. 

Improving retention also reduces turnover costs, which can considerably burden many companies. The average cost of replacing an employee can be as high as 50%–60% of their salary, with overall losses reaching 90%–200%. For example, if an employee earns £45,000 per year, it could cost between £22,500 and £27,000 to replace them and result in between £40,500 and £90,000 of total company losses.

Being strategic in terms of your onboarding process and how you train new employees can reduce onboarding costs. For instance, if you invest in onboarding software, this may require significant upfront expenditure, but it will significantly reduce the ongoing cost of onboarding. There are benefits associated with streamlining the onboarding process and utilising advanced technology, such as reducing costs, saving time and providing more thorough training. 

The employee onboarding process is a time when you should let your company culture shine. Whether this means providing corporate freebies to new employees or hosting a ‘get to know the team’ session, new employees should feel welcomed into your company culture with open arms. 

Setting expectations for company culture, communication styles and team collaboration strengthens company culture. By making your company culture clear from the beginning, new hires can feel confident embracing it. 

Employee experience (EX) and engagement are vital components of a satisfied workforce. These two metrics ensure that employees are actively engaged and happy in their roles. During onboarding, new employees may meet with HR reps and company leaders to learn about included benefits, company goals, the tech stack and more. An effective onboarding programme will generate enthusiasm and promote commitment to the company. 

Boost EX and engagement by immersing new hires in the company culture, demonstrating the company’s values and displaying a positive work environment. 

A proper onboarding process also enhances employee productivity. Once the available tools and resources have been shared with recently hired employees, they will be properly prepared to tackle the challenges that they may face in their new roles. Additionally, they should be introduced to their team and assigned a mentor so that they have someone to contact when questions or issues arise. 

There are five key pillars that are essential for building a fantastic employee onboarding programme, with each one playing a specific role in the overall effectiveness of the process.

Compliance training ensures that new hires are familiar with and comply with company policies, procedures and legal requirements. To do this effectively, you should develop an onboarding module that covers essential policies and procedures relating to attendance, sick leave and holiday leave and to the use of company resources such as computers, email and internet access.

Additionally, you should discuss any legal requirements that the company must comply with, such as occupational health and safety regulations, equal employment opportunities and workplace harassment policies. New employees should feel empowered with the knowledge that they gain during onboarding. 

You should develop and share a comprehensive job description before the start date of new hires to clarify their roles, responsibilities and performance expectations. This document or presentation should also set out the goals and objectives for the first 30, 60 and 90 days of employment. 

HR teams should also provide easy access to training and development opportunities that support the new hire’s role and career goals. Planning the integration into meaningful work entails slowly introducing work to new hires throughout the onboarding phase, allowing them to ask any questions. 

To ensure that new hires are familiar with the expectations in terms of company culture, you should ensure that they understand the company’s values, mission, norms and customs. You should also provide opportunities for the new hire to participate in company events and initiatives to help them acclimatise to your company culture. 

New employees should also be encouraged to share their perspectives and experiences with the team. Fresh ideas and unique perspectives can often improve company culture, so involve stakeholders such as managers, colleagues, team members and company leaders in the culture initiation.  

New hires should have the opportunity to build relationships and networks within the organisation in order to create more cohesive teams and support more effective collaboration. To that end, you should arrange for every new hire to meet with key personnel and departments so that everyone has the chance to form connections. 

It is recommended that you assign a mentor or ‘buddy’ to help the new hire navigate the organisation and build relationships. This person can encourage the new employee to participate in team-building activities and social events and become involved in online platforms such as Slack channels or social media groups. Finally, you should make sure you send an announcement to the company about the new hire prior to their start date.

HR teams should schedule regular check-ins with the new hire’s manager to provide feedback and track goals. Companies can also check in with onboarding surveys and quizzes, interviews and one-to-one meetings, whether virtually or in person. 

When revamping your employee onboarding programme, it is important to use both qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the effectiveness of the employee onboarding programme. There are several ways to gather this data, including:

When it comes to employee onboarding, there are a handful of best practices that HR professionals should be implementing. For optimum results, follow these best practices for onboarding.

Now that you understand the importance of a well-developed employee onboarding and training process, it’s time to implement these best practices. Create the best-possible onboarding experience for new employees by checking in frequently, setting expectations and providing support where they need it.

Learn how SurveyMonkey makes it easy to build employee onboarding processes with surveys.