Creating An Effective Employee Onboarding Workflow + Template
Starting a new job is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming for employees and employers alike.
In fact, research has found that around 30% of employees have quit their jobs within the first 90 days and that on average organizations have 44 days to influence a new hire’s long term retention.
All this to say, onboarding is more than paperwork and introductions; it’s the foundation for integrating new hires into your company culture, setting expectations, and enabling them to succeed in their roles.
Yet, despite its importance, many organizations struggle with onboarding challenges like lack of structure, poor communication, or overloading new hires with information.
In this article, we’ll explore why optimizing your onboarding workflow is a game-changer for both employee success and organizational growth, the common hurdles companies face, and how to create a workflow that sets new hires—and your team—up for success.
What Is The Onboarding Workflow?
An employee onboarding workflow is a structured process that guides new hires through their initial period at a company, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition into their roles.
It outlines the steps, tasks, and objectives new employees need to complete to integrate into the organization successfully.
As we’ll go into, in best-in-class organizations, the onboarding workflow begins after the new hire has accepted the offer and can last up to a year in some instances.
Common activities include basic admin such as completing the necessary new hire paperwork to graduation ceremonies.
Key Onboarding Workflow Stages
To make things easier, it’s easier to split the onboarding workflow into different stages with a check-in or survey of some kind at the end of each stage.
Preboarding
Remember how I said that best-in-class organizations begin onboarding before they officially start? The preboarding stage is all about making the new hire feel prepared for their first day and ready to hit the ground running—or at a gentle canter at least.
This phase includes administrative tasks like signing contracts, completing paperwork, and preparing IT setups (e.g., email accounts, software access).
It’s also the little things to alleviate nerves and make a good impression, for example sending a new hire a welcome letter, a first week schedule, or a company handbook to ensure they feel informed and excited.
A well-prepared preboarding demonstrates your organization’s professionalism and reduces first-day jitters.
Orientation
The first week focuses on making a strong first impression and helping the new hire feel welcomed and valued.
Activities could include a facilities tour, introducing the company’s mission, values, and policies, and meeting the team and key stakeholders.
The goal is to create a positive and engaging experience, ensuring clarity about their role and how it contributes to the organization’s goals.
Studies confirm that employees who feel welcomed on day one are more likely to stay engaged and committed long-term.
By establishing a connection to the company culture early, you lay the foundation for meaningful engagement.
Mike Gibbon’s article on employee orientation is a great resource here.
0-30 days
Beyond orientation, let's look at what to include in the workflow of the first 30 days of a new hire’s role.
The first month is all about helping new hires acclimate to their role, team, and workplace culture.
Managers provide hands-on guidance, ensure cross-departmental introductions, and set up regular feedback sessions to address early questions and challenges.
There’ll also be the most overlap in what gets covered, regardless of role or seniority, so this portion will be easiest in regards to creating reusable elements.
Here are some things that you will want new hires to cover in those first 30 days:
- Get clarity on the role and responsibilities (super important)
- Be aware of employee policies and expected behaviors
- Gain an understanding of the technology, software, and tools that your organization uses and processes they'll be following
- Learn about your org’s mission, vision, values, products, business model, and customers
- Gain an understanding of the stakeholders of the organization
- Gain an understanding of the current projects that the organization is focusing on and what they will be focusing on in their role
- Have weekly meetings with their manager
- Develop an understanding of your company culture and team norms
- Get to know their fellow team members and who to go to for what
- Identify skills gaps and draw up some short and long-term goals for the remainder of the plan.
As the first 30 days will be the new hire’s first in the office (physical or virtual), it’s worth developing some reusable employee orientation activities like welcome presentations, reading the employee handbook, and team lunches.
The 30-60 Day Range
Now that new hires have crossed the 30-day threshold, it’s time for them to dip their feet further in the water and get more involved.
The knowledge gained from the first 30 days will now be ramped up and put into action and they can get more involved in projects and start to speak up more with their thoughts and ideas.
The roles and responsibilities that new hires go over when they started? They can now begin to make progress on this front.
The KPIs, goals, and milestones that you set in the previous 30 days? They’ll start making headway on them.
This is the part of the 30 60 90 day plan where each plan begins to diverge depending on the department, individual, or seniority level.
The 60-90 Day Range
At this stage, the new hire continues to make headway through the KPIs, specific goals, and milestones that were created in the first 30 days.
As this timeframe has a much greater emphasis on independence, this section of the plan will be much more open-ended and tailored to the individual.
New hires will be working on projects with less supervision, be more involved with their teams and the organization as a whole, and follow up with their managers to ensure that they are hitting their metrics.
At this point, team members can begin to go to the new hire for their expertise. Maybe they make a new team for a project they're working on.
Mistakes will still be made and that’s fine. They’re still new to the organization and they still have many things to learn.
That said, there needs to be a higher level of accountability compared to earlier in the 90-day plan, which will only continue to grow as time goes on.
Beyond 90 Days
Studies show that around 72% of new employees will have settled into their new role within 3 months, with 22% by 9 months, and the rest around 10-12 months.
So, while they’ll be pretty independent, some people may still need a little extra grace and guidance.
In general, however, managers now shift focus to supporting long-term career aspirations, offering advanced training, leadership opportunities, or mentorship roles.
Regular 1:1 check-ins, performance reviews and career discussions ensure continued alignment with the company’s goals.
Research confirms that a focus on ongoing development not only increases retention but also enhances employees’ overall satisfaction and contributions.
One of the best things that your organization can implement after the 90 day period is the stay interview.
The stay interview is interviewing employees about what has been working well, and where improvements can be made.
The stay interview is an excellent way to improve your onboarding process. It’s a great time to ask questions about how well the plan was laid out, how it was executed, and where it can be improved.
Feedback from stay interviews can be buttressed by another feedback method such as onboarding surveys.
Steps To Create An Effective Onboarding Workflow
If, like me, you think of the employee experience as like a product that people subscribe to when they join an organization, onboarding is like what happens when you purchase a new HR software package, for example.
Product managers speak to the end user and pour over the data to create smooth onboarding experiences for their customers, so it’s time to put that hat on!
1. Define goals
To create a meaningful onboarding workflow, start by clearly defining what you want to achieve.
For example, objectives might include familiarizing new hires with compliance regulations, integrating them into the company culture, or ensuring all the required training is completed on new tools and processes.
Best practices:
- Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to track success, such as training completion rate or a certain eNPS.
- Align onboarding goals with broader company objectives, such as increasing retention or improving team collaboration.
- Use input from managers, HR, and recent hires to ensure goals address real-world challenges.
2. Design the process
Designing the onboarding workflow should be a collaboration between HR, managers, and the L&D team, as they all bring expertise in employee development and role-specific needs.
Involving cross-departmental stakeholders ensures the process is comprehensive and aligned with organizational goals and makes it easy to assign clear responsibilities to HR, managers, and other stakeholders to prevent bottlenecks.
For example, ensure someone knowledgeable oversees compliance training and that relevant documentation is readily available.
For each stage, as much as possible, try to specify the tasks, objectives, and materials needed.
Best practices:
- Create an onboarding checklist to help standardize the process and ensure nothing is overlooked.
- Prepare resources like an employee handbook, training materials, and IT setup guides in advance. Make these easily accessible in something like an employee intranet.
- Factor in flexibility to tailor onboarding for different roles, such as technical versus leadership positions.
3. Implement the workflow
Smooth implementation requires cross-departmental coordination to provide new hires with everything they need.
Utilize technology such as IT service management (ITSM) platforms (e.g., Jira) to manage access to hardware, software, and networks efficiently and onboarding software, HRMS or LMS to track progress and help manage the workflow.
These tools can help automate onboarding tasks like sending paperwork or notifying stakeholders of outstanding tasks, ensuring consistency across onboarding experiences.
They're a relatively straightforward way to increase the onboarding ROI.
Best practices:
- Schedule and communicate onboarding tasks well in advance to avoid last-minute issues.
- Have a dedicated point of contact for new hires to address questions or concerns promptly.
4. Monitor and gather feedback
Regularly collect feedback from new hires and their managers to assess the effectiveness of the onboarding process.
Combine data from onboarding surveys, one-on-one interviews, and performance metrics to identify areas for improvement.
Pay special attention to whether new hires feel equipped to succeed and comfortable asking for help.
Best practices:
- Use performance metrics such as time-to-productivity or first-90-day retention rates to gauge success.
- Host regular check-ins with managers to discuss new hire progress and gather insights on what’s working well.
5. Evaluate and refine
Use the feedback and performance data to measure how well the onboarding process meets its initial goals.
Identify weaknesses, such as gaps in training or unclear expectations, and refine the workflow accordingly.
Feedback from offboarding employees can also provide valuable insights for improvement.
Best practices:
- Schedule quarterly reviews of the onboarding process to ensure it remains relevant and effective.
- Involve all stakeholders—HR, managers, and even recent hires—in brainstorming solutions for identified issues.
- Continuously update training materials and workflows to reflect changes in company policies or tools.
Onboarding Workflow Best Practices
Onboarding is a flurry of activity involving multiple actors, so it’s easy to miss something or create inefficiencies.
However, following a few best practices can help make the process smoother and more effective:
- Start early: Begin onboarding before the new hire's first day by providing welcome materials, setting up accounts, and sharing a schedule to reduce first-day stress.
- Assign clear ownership: Ensure HR, managers, and team leads know their responsibilities at each stage to prevent delays or confusion.
- Personalize the experience: As much as possible, tailor the process to individual roles and preferences. A nice touch here is to use a questionnaire to discover a new hire’s favorite food or snack, for example, and then tailor a welcome lunch or welcome gift around that.
- Leverage technology: Use tools like onboarding software, learning management systems (LMS), IT service management (ITSM) platforms, and HRIS to automate tasks and track progress.
- Prioritize culture integration: Don’t neglect activities that showcase company values, such as team-building events, mentorship programs, and open discussions about organizational goals.
- Provide regular feedback: Schedule consistent check-ins to assess progress, answer questions, and adjust onboarding plans as needed.
- Extend Beyond 90 Days: View onboarding as an ongoing process, offering long-term development opportunities, advanced training, and career growth discussions to keep employees engaged.
Tools And Resources:
Lastly, here’s a summary of useful tools and resources to help get you craft a great onboarding workflow:
- Onboarding software: Platforms such as Sapling, Enboarder, or Rippling offer end-to-end onboarding solutions, integrating HR tasks, employee engagement, and automated workflows.
- Learning management systems (LMS): Tools like Leapsome, Docebo, or TalentLMS help deliver training materials, track progress, and ensure employees complete required courses.
- HRIS/HRMS: Platforms such as BambooHR, Workday, or UKG streamline administrative tasks like document management, benefits enrollment, and payroll setup.
- Task management software: Tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday organize onboarding checklists and track the completion of tasks across departments.
- IT service management (ITSM) platforms: Solutions like Jira Service Management ensure smooth setup of hardware, software, and network access for new hires.
- Employee feedback and surveys: Employee survey tools like SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or Culture Amp gather insights about the onboarding experience to improve processes.
- Digital signature platforms: Services like DocuSign or Adobe Sign simplify signing contracts, NDAs, and other onboarding paperwork remotely.
- Knowledge-sharing tools: Wikis or intranet platforms like Confluence or Notion centralize onboarding materials and make them accessible to new hires.
- Mentorship and collaboration tools: Apps like Together Platform or MentorcliQ facilitate mentor-mentee pairings and encourage collaboration during onboarding.
You can also download our useful 30-60-90 day plan template to help you get started crafting your onboarding workflow:
Get our Onboarding template!
Subscribe To The People Managing People Newsletter
For further onboarding insights, subscribe to our weekly newsletter for HR and business leaders. You’ll receive all our latest content to help you grow in your career and make greater impact in your org.
