Onboarding
Checklist
Enable productive employees from day one
A great start can
have a lasting effect
D i d yo u k n o w ?
Only 12% of newly-hired employees think their
organisation has a great onboarding process.
However, 91% of employees who have
experienced effective onboarding feel strongly
connected to their work. The kind of
connectedness that drives both productivity
and retention.
There’s a clear gap between how employees feel about
onboarding programs and how effective they have the potential
to become. Given that kind of room for improvement, it’s a bit
overdue that employers put a structured and seamless
onboarding process in place. In this guide, we offer a checklist for
each of the five core onboarding phases as we see them.
Onboarding Checklist 2
What you will
find in this guide
01 Before their first day
02 During their first day
03 During their first week
04 After their first week
05 During their first 4-8 weeks
Before the first day of work
Give new employees plenty of info in advance to ease first-day
stress and improve onboarding.
To do’s
Employee
Direct Formalities
contract integration
Get the new hire’s contract Check in occasionally to Request keys, badges,
signed and filed. build loyalty before day or passes for building
one. access.
Colleague
Workplace Information
involvement
Quick Tip
If a company event is before their start date,
Give onboarding staff the Ensure the new hire’s Send the new hire key info
optionally invite them to meet colleagues. necessary info and to-do workspace is fully set up. on company operations,
lists in advance. structure, and first days.
Onboarding Checklist 4
To do’s
Deadlines Virtual Employee
Training
Invite the new employee to Confirm onboarding style Organize safety and
inter-departmental and and provide needed relevant training sessions.
onboarding meetings. equipment.
Responsibilities Welcome gift Workplace
Best Practice
We created a website for new employees with
key info and a first-day agenda. New hires get
the link a week before starting to learn at their
Have the superior notify
Get a small welcome gift Assign a mentor to help own pace. Your team can do the same using
the team of responsibility for the new employee. the new hire feel welcome your internal platform.
changes. and “share culture”.
Onboarding Checklist 5
During the First Day of Work
Joint lunch
Have the entire team go to lunch together to get
to know each other. Alternatively, a lunch with all
new employees is also a good idea.
Best Practices
General onboarding At Personio, onboarding is spread out over two days and is presented in two
stages: an official and an individualised onboarding. That entails inducting
within the department new colleagues “from the outside in”.
The first day is used to share fundamental information about the company,
General onboarding within the department. vision and strategy and everyday workflows.
Have the manager introduce the new employee The second is more focused, designed by respective managers and used to
to common tools, roles and processes etc. that ensure colleagues know how their unique department functions.
are specific to the respective department.
Onboarding Checklist 6
During the First Week of Work
To do’s
Team Product Legal matters Mutual
onboarding introduction expectations
Have colleagues from the Provide the employee with
new employee’s department information about the Have the new employee read
give overviews of their fields, company’s products and/or and sign the standard operating
tasks and responsibilities. services and their benefits. procedures, if applicable.
Technology First tasks Team spirit Have the new colleague’s line
manager communicate the
company’s requirements. What
Introduce all tools commonly used will the new employee be
within the company and explain Have colleagues continue to expected to do, and what tasks
them to the new colleague. This Have the competent manager integrate the new employee into have been assigned to them?
can also be done as part of a brief the new employee on their group, for example through How does their role fit in with the
separate tool induction. their first projects. shared lunches or coffee breaks. company and its vision?
Onboarding Checklist 7
You can’t fully onboard someone in only a few days.
Keep In Mind
New employees deserve to take the first week to
find their way around, ask questions and familiarise
themselves with how you work.
This early stage is prime time to provide new
colleagues with additional information while
assigning them their first tasks.
TITLE OF DOCUMENT 8
After the First Week of Work
The first week has now come and gone. Now, the foundation for a
successful start should have been laid. This is an ideal time to clarify
any unanswered questions and obtain some valuable initial
feedback about the onboarding process from your new employee.
To do’s
First Leave Hybrid policy
impressions arrangements
Seek input from your new Share your hybrid working
employee. What has struck them framework, any out-of-country
as positive or negative so far? Inform your employee about policies and when employees
How do they feel? Is there any internal leave policies and brief are expected at work and when
information they need? them about the relevant process. working from home is possible.
Initial goals Working hours Build
contacts
Have the manager or HR actively
Have the manager and employee Inform your new employee initiate inter-departmental
agree on some early goals (for about internal regulations on contacts through shared activities
example, within the first month). working hours. such as joint lunches.
Onboarding Checklist 9
After Four to Eight Weeks Best Practice
The first two months, for any employee, are critical. That’s why your onboarding Within Personio, you can easily
processes needs to extend beyond weeks and into months. Establishing regular establish and run automated
feedback sessions is essential, especially as employees confront new tasks, performance cycles.
colleagues, processes and structures.
Performance conversations, even
from the beginning, are critical for
To do’s onboarding employees. Set an
early standard while embedding
a culture of development within
Second Organise a Development your organisation. Learn more
about Performance &
impression team event! opportunities Development with Personio here.
This could take the form of Have the manager and new
bowling, a hike in the great employee jointly define any
outdoors, or even a casual development opportunities that
dinner with the team. may be appropriate.
Regular feedback A sounding
Have the new employee’s
manager ask them for feedback board
again. This time, focused on their
wellbeing and expertise. What
Have the manager and HR work
suggestions might they have for
together to offer feedback on the
improving processes? Has their Conduct an initial feedback onboarding process and who
impression improved or meeting (which will be repeated they see as key stakeholders in
worsened since the first day? at regular intervals from then on). the process.
Onboarding Checklist 10
Organise a stellar start
for every employee
Prepared onboarding processes
Annie Schmidt
Create any number of customised onboarding
templates, per team or department level, that Onboarding in progress
automatically assign tasks to different employees
wherever they start.
Onboarding Tasks
Tasks Responsible Deadline Status
A wide range of onboarding tasks
Run your onboarding processes more smoothly Choose hardware IT IT team In 3 days In progress
with employee involvement. Automatically send Order hardware IT team In 3 days Completed
welcome emails or make important documents IT
available for download as needed.
Create account HR HR team In 2 weeks Completed
Automatic reminders
Create employee profile HR HR team In 2 weeks Not started
Give each task a due date and Personio will follow
up automatically with stakeholders to ensure Welcome email HR HR team In 2 weeks Not started
everything gets done (and no leaves no important
questions unanswered).
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