The New Hire
Onboarding Checklist
Everything you need to deliver a great new hire experience.
Starting a new job is always a bit tough.
No matter how experienced the new hire is or what role they’re stepping into, it's tricky to fit into a team where everyone else already knows each other and are well-adjusted to the company's culture.
During this time of transition and adjustment, if you fail to help the new hire discover a sense of belonging and comfort, the likelihood of losing the person to attrition is very, very high; as high as this - an average of 28% of new hires leave within the first six months of joining an organization.
On the other hand, a great onboarding experience increases the chances of retaining new hires by almost 82%. Plus, these days, employee onboarding is more than just paperwork; it's about making the new person feel at home.
All this could mean two things for you - either it’s time to reevaluate your existing employee onboarding strategy or it is time to create a brand new one.
One way or the other, this new hire onboarding checklist will ensure you don’t miss a thing while crafting your new hire onboarding strategy.
The 6 Cs of effective new hire onboarding
New hire onboarding is a complex process. It involves multiple tasks and responsibilities which can be classified into 6 Cs.
Compliance
Compliance for new hires includes understanding company policies, rules, and legal requirements, along with completing necessary paperwork. These tasks can seem dull or challenging for newcomers. In most cases, they'll need a bit of extra help or push to get these essential steps done.
New hires need a clear understanding of their responsibilities and the job's expectations. This clarity can be provided through initial discussions with their manager, HR sharing essential Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and a designated buddy introducing them to the various tools and resources the organization offers.
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Clarity
Culture
For a new hire, quickly grasping the vision, values, practices and norms of the organizational culture is key to integrating smoothly into the company. While formal introductions are essential, many of the unspoken norms and ways of working can only be fully understood through direct interactions with colleagues, co-workers, and managers.
Facilitating a new hire in breaking the ice and finding their place within the organization is an essential component of the onboarding process. This involves fostering interactions with managers, co-workers, and cross-functional teams. Additionally, it encompasses the sense of belonging and acceptance that stems from the organization's commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Community
Capability
During onboarding, a new hire is developing the skills and knowledge necessary for their roles. A well-planned onboarding process accelerates this development, balancing skill acquisition with opportunities for meaningful contribution, particularly for fresh graduates who may start with smaller projects and gradually take on more responsibilities.
Onboarding is a two-way street, involving both communication and feedback. While it's important for the new hire to learn about the organization, it's equally important for the organization to understand the new hire's perspectives and needs. Regular check-ins and open communication are pivotal for this two-way exchange.
Coordination
58%* of companies agree that their onboarding program is focused on paperwork and processes.
Key stakeholders in delivering an exceptional new hire onboarding experience
The biggest truth about delivering a great new hire onboarding experience is this: A number of people and teams need to come together to give new hires a welcoming experience.
So who are these key stakeholders?
People Team/ HR
Of course, the People Team steers the entire new hire onboarding experience and is the voice of the organization for the new hire.
Ops Team
This team could consist of IT, Admin and Finance. From access to laptops to being assigned a new workstation, setting up a salary account and getting an allotted company parking, a number of other teams play a crucial role in the employee onboarding experience.
Manager
The manager leads a new hire’s introduction to the team, the team’s projects and their individual roles and responsibilities.
Buddy
An assigned buddy is a new hire’s window to the unwritten, informal parts of an organization’s culture and their go-to in case of any doubts, clarifications or help.
Preboarding Checklist
Goal: To build excitement and ease the anxiety around joining a new organization.
Quick Tip
Invest in collecting contextual employee feedback as part of your employee onboarding experience.
here is why
Only 26%* of new employees recall being asked for feedback about their candidate experience and hiring process. But the same report also predicts that seeking feedback before the joining date increases the willingness to refer others by 79%*.
Onboarding checklist: Day 1
Goal: Make your new employee feel welcome at the organization and break the ice
88%* of organizations do not onboard new employees well.
Onboarding checklist: Week 1
Goal: Enable the employee to get a sense of belongingness and accomplishment
Onboarding checklist: First month
69%* of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding.
Onboarding checklist: First 60-90 days
Goal: Enable the employee to get a sense of belongingness and accomplishment
Automated new hire onboarding checklist for enterprises
A new hire onboarding checklist is great to have!
It ensures you don’t miss out on anything and are able to deliver the best onboarding experience. However, if you are a large enterprise onboarding thousands of new hires every week, manually ticking off the to-dos from a checklist for each employee is impossible!
Instead, you could automate your new hire onboarding checklist and personalize it. Platforms like Tydy are meant to make your employee onboarding experience smooth and seamless, at scale.
Things to keep in mind after you hit the 90-day mark in your employee onboarding journey
Celebrate the 90-day milestone
Encourage managers to celebrate the 90-day milestone of new employees. This could be by handing out company swag, going out for lunch together, or sharing milestone points on your reward and recognition platform.
Provide constructive feedback
Managers should continue to provide feedback that will enable the employee to grow and perform better. This could also mean suggesting training, assigning more challenging projects, and so on. The responsibility of the manager as the mentor only grows from this point.
Conduct a review meeting
Understand how comfortable the employee is with the organization, the team and their role. Check if they need any additional support and discuss the way forward with clarity and intent.
Create other employee experience journeys
Build different guided journeys that employees can take within the organization. This could be lateral movement, movement to a new location, taking a sabbatical, welcoming a kid in the family, opting for working from anywhere.
Remind them about the perks and benefits
Nudge your employees to make the best of the perks and benefits available to them. Let no employee burnout by not making enough time to rejuvenate. Let no employee lose their benefits because they forgot to claim them or didn’t know how to.
Continue to capture contextual feedback
Continue to gather feedback at every employee touchpoint, so that you can continuously improve their experience with the organization.