A complete employee onboarding checklist

Start on the right note and improve the employee experience (EX) by following our essential employee onboarding checklist.

Imagine navigating the London underground without Harry Beck’s classic tube map to help. A simple trip from Paddington to Covent Garden could leave stranded in Elephant & Castle.

In the world of employment, the same principle applies. It only takes a poor onboarding process to push new, in-demand tech professionals back to the job sites again.

To make the perfect first impression and enhance the employee experience, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your new employees to understand what they need to know.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a valuable (free) employee onboarding checklist for you to swipe and deploy.

What is an employee onboarding checklist?

An employee onboarding process is a standardised introduction to a new employee’s role within a company.

This process includes introducing them to the workplace culture, familiarising them with the work processes and technology, and meeting the team.

It’s designed to set new employees up, to help them understand their role and reach their maximum performance potential as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The process starts when you begin hiring and ends when your employee is comfortable and settled into their new role. Having an employee onboarding checklist will help you keep on track.

Why an employee onboarding checklist is useful?

The need for an employee onboarding checklist comes down to retention rates. In fact, implementing a standard onboarding process experience increases new hire retention by 50%.

If you have an unfinished and undefined process, you might start seeing new employees leave before they’ve even really started.

Research by Gallup found only 1 in 10 employees strongly believe they had a great onboarding experience at their organisation.

And data from Digitdate suggests employees are two times more likely to search for a new job shortly after joining if they didn’t have a positive new-hire experience.

Unfortunately, many organisations or HR departments forget that onboarding isn’t just about handing over a laptop and giving them help for 30 days. It can be a year-long process that needs to be structured, simple and well-thought-out.

You want your onboarding process to be fulfilling and exciting whilst making them feel comfortable and confident at the same time. A good onboarding process can make life easier for you and your new employee.

A manager’s checklist for onboarding new employees

Whether you’re looking to improve your current onboarding process or create a brand new one, our checklist will ensure you’re doing it right and including the correct information.

Companies in any industry need to be considering the following stages:

Stage one – before their start date

• Send an offer letter or email, followed by forms and additional paperwork that is easy to complete, transparent and clear.
• Schedule a phone call to review the company policies, benefits, employee agreements, and any other terms your company needs to run through.
• Send them a joining date (a friendly welcome email here will set the tone between you and your new employee).

Stage two – your employee’s first day

• Allow them to meet the team.
• Give them an office tour, including the security run down.
• Supply them with the correct equipment and log-in details.
• Ease them in with simple tasks. These tasks might include shadowing another team member to give them a chance to ask questions.

Stage three – daily training

• Supply software training. New employees will often find a lot of information overwhelming, so try not to bombard them with too many new things all at once. Keep it simple and give them lots of time to process the software.
• Invite them to sit in on weekly meetings to give them a chance to meet new people and get a better understanding of where the company is and what they are doing.
• Give them daily task lists that aren’t too complex.
• Schedule an end-of-first-week check-in. This gives you a chance to see how they are settling in and if they need anything else from your onboarding checklist.

Stage four – ongoing training process

• Schedule 30-, 60-, and 90-day check-ins. A great onboarding process will prioritise the employee’s first year in the company, not just the first few weeks.
• Map out future goals and give them additional training if required.
• Make sure they’re comfortable using the software and understand the processes you use.

The tech industry will also follow a similar onboarding process to most other industries. However, there will be a few things to consider throughout the above stages that are unique to tech.

We have made it easy for you and included a tech-specific checklist below:

• Set up the required accounts they will be using before their first day.
• Make sure you have the correct equipment ready for them.
• Make sure you give your new employee enough time to familiarise themselves with the technology systems you use.
• Schedule 1:1 or small group training meetings to give your new employee the chance to ask questions and understand the process before doing it alone.
• Provide information about cyber safety and privacy agreements.

A good way to understand what you need to include in your onboarding process is to ask your newest employees how they felt when they first joined your team.

As we previously mentioned, put yourself in the shoes of the person you are hiring to create a helpful and professional onboarding process that works for everyone involved.

Continue improving your employee onboarding checklist with Revoco

At Revoco, we’re not just here for the initial hiring stages. We believe in building long-term partnerships with companies to help them create a winning culture.

With our bespoke tools and knowledge, we can help you find the ideal candidate and perfect your onboarding process.

Get in touch today to find out more about our tech recruitment services.