The best employee onboarding process

beSlick
Dec 2018

This article is part of our Process 101 guide.

Your employee onboarding process sets the tone for your relationship. It makes sure your employee knows who you are, where you’re going, what matters, sets expectations, plus all the logistics, like performing background checks and ordering equipment.

With beSlick it’s easy to set up an employee onboarding template for use in your HR team. For each new member of staff you simply create a task from the template, assign the steps to the relevant people and track progress using the report function.

5 steps to a great employee onboarding process

Establishing a good, repeatable onboarding process isn’t difficult:

1. Write it down: it doesn’t matter what you write, what order you write it in, or even if you miss things, but just write it down. Now you have a starting point to improve upon.

2. Involve the team: you could perform an employee survey asking what the best things were about their induction, or what they think would make someone entering the business feel welcome.

3. Invite your peers to collaborate: ask other managers across the business to contribute, adding/deleting steps, re-ordering things, attaching templates for the pre-joining letter or presentations they share with new starters – after all, this needs to be a template onboarding process that can be rolled out to any person, at any level in any department.

4. Make the process visible to everyone: it’s no use having a complicated flow diagram locked away on a shared team site on your intranet that no-one ever looks at. Find a way of making your process known to everyone, and simple for them to follow.

5. Encourage feedback: processes are a moving target and should be continuously improved so that your new employee experience gets better and better. Get the team to share their favourite restaurants in town for that first day lunch. Ask for ideas on what other goodies to put on the desk with the biscuits – a cup of tea in a branded mug?

Typical steps in an employee onboarding process

Step 1: Once employee has accepted, confirm the first day logistics

(What time to turn up, who to meet, where to park etc.)

Step 2: Add employee to HR systems

Step 3: Validate original documents and certificates (passport, qualifications etc.)

Step 4: Obtain checks (such as DBS, Right to Work etc.)

Step 5: Order equipment

This could include items like keys, fobs, laptop, monitor, keyboard & mouse, desk & chair, and mobile phone.

Step 6: Set up email address

Step 7: Set up access to systems

Don’t forget to consider both your third-party systems (e.g. SalesForce, Xero, SharpSpring) and internal systems (e.g. access to the website backend, SharePoint, G-Suite)

Step 8: Organise training

This should include training about your product/service and your company, but could also include specific training on the systems you use.

Step 9: Communicate to staff

Step 10: Assign work

Ensure their line manager has a copy of the job description and has an induction plan of what needs covering in their first week.

Step 11: Book HR induction

Your new employee will need to know what happens with payroll, absence, requesting holiday and health and safety in the office. You will also need to register them for benefits, including pension enrolment.

Step 12: Update the org chart

For example, via the intranet, or a new person board.

Dream big

When a new employee joins your organisation, it’s your chance to show why you’re the most fabulous company in the world, so throw everything you can at it. You might be tempted to set parameters, such as a budget per head, but all this does is constrain people’s thinking.

Tell your team that anything is possible, and they’re empowered to make it happen, and you’ll see the ripples throughout your organisation. Your team isn’t stupid, they’re not going to run off and book a luxury cruise for everyone. But they might book a night out in an escape room with dinner and drinks, which as well as providing the ultimate onboarding experience:

  • Keeps your wider team happy, motivated and feeling like their contribution matters
  • They’re likely to post about it on social media, which positions you as a great company to work for and builds your reputation
  • The new employee is more inclined to give you a top-rated Glassdoor review
  • It’s a great team building exercise and demonstrates that anyone new isn’t a threat
  • Demonstrates your company values at play

If you have ambition to be the best, the secret to success is onboarding a great team that want to make your vision a reality.

Make our employee onboarding process your own

It’s easy to get started. Simply click on the button below to populate this template into your beSlick account. You can then run tasks and add/delete steps to make the process fit your organisation.

1Perform background checks on the candidate and file the background checks away

Importance: Optional

File here: (add link to HR employment contracts area)

1.1Request employment references

Importance: Essential

Email the two referees (separately) using the template email attached, to request employment references

Email Subject: Employment Reference Request

Dear {name}

{candidates name} has named you as a referee on her application for employment with our company.

Please could I request that you complete the below, to the best of your ability, and return to me by {date}.

Dates of employment with your organisation:
Job title:
Reason for leaving:
Was the applicant dismissed: y/n
Would you re-employ him/her: y/n
If no, please state reason:
To the best of your knowledge, was there ever any reason to suspect this person of dishonesty or breach of trust?
Trustworthiness:
Reliability:
Details of the applicant’s time-keeping and punctuality:
Details of the number of days’ absence from work in the last 12 months:*

Completed by:
Position:
Company name:

Yours sincerely,

1.2DBS check

Importance: Optional

gov.uk/find-out-dbs-check

1.3CCJ check

Importance: Optional

trustonline.org.uk

2New starter communication to existing staff

Importance: Essential

State what the new employee will be doing, who they will be working for and when they start.

Email Subject: New Employee Joining

Hello all,

{new employee’s name} will be joining the {name of department} on {date} as {new employee’s job title}.

{you may want to give a brief description of their responsibilities}

Please join me in making {new employee’s name} feel welcome.

Kind regards,

3Order necessary equipment

Importance: Essential

3.1Computer or laptop

Importance: Optional

3.2Monitor

Importance: Optional

3.3Keyboard & mouse

Importance: Optional

3.4Desk & chair

Importance: Optional

4Set up IT

Importance: Optional

4.1Create employee company email address

Importance: Essential

4.2Set up access/user accounts to software crucial to the role

Importance: Optional

4.3Add employee to company org chart

Importance: Optional

(add link to your employee org chart here)

5Add employee to payroll

Importance: Essential

Create new task using the ‘add employee to payroll’ template

6Send welcome email to new employee

Importance: Essential

At least a week before joining , send email explaining the dress code, parking expectations, start time, any other expectations and check employee is happy.

Email Subject: First Day

Hi {name}

We all hope you are looking forward to your first day as much as we are. I just wanted to share a few things:

Our parking spaces are X, X, X, and X, X. At the moment these are first come, first served. There should be a space free for you on your first day and we can go through parking when you arrive.

The office is open from 8:30 to 5:30, but on your first day, please arrive at 9.30am, this will ensure that we are set up for your arrival.

Dress code is X.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

Kind regards,

7Invite new hires to visit Glassdoor and leave their interview experience

Importance: Optional

2-3 working days before their start date, using the template email OR as within a week of their employment commencement

Email Subject: New Hire Interview Experience

Hello ________,

We hope you are settling in well/We very much look forward to working with you!

As you know, our company is continuing to grow. To sustain that growth, we want the best people to join our team and you play a critical role in helping us recruit top talent. Your feedback will help future candidates prepare for interviews, which will help us find the best talent — just like you!

Your feedback is vitally important, both to our recruitment team internally and to job seekers. As you know, we have a company page on Glassdoor. Please take a moment to visit Glassdoor and post comments about your interview experience with our team.

Spend no more than 15 minutes on this. Remember, all feedback is anonymous.

All the best,
Your HR Team

8First day welcome meeting and introduction to processes

Importance: Essential

Book a meeting and run through with the new employee:-

– Employee org chart
– Health & safety practices
– How to book a meeting room
– How to request holiday & log absence

9Company values and mission meeting

Importance: Optional

Line manager or CEO to explain company values and mission statement

10Assign policies for attestation to the new employee

Importance: Essential

11Set up probation review

Importance: Essential

Create new task using the ‘closing of employee initial employment probationary period’ template

12Check in one week after start date to make sure employee has settled in

Importance: Optional

13Invite new hires to visit Glassdoor and leave their employment experience

Importance: Optional

Invite 90 days after their start date, using the template email

Email Subject: New Hire Employment Experience

Hello ________,

Can you believe it has already been 90 days? We hope you are acclimating nicely to your new role.

Did you know that the most trusted form of advertising, aside from a personal recommendation, is an online review?

You probably already know this if you use websites like eBay, Amazon, and TripAdvisor. Your feedback is vital to our recruitment team and to job seekers considering work at our organization.

Please take a moment to visit Glassdoor and post a review about your work experience over the last 90 days. This feedback will help us attract talented new employees (just like you!) who will help our company grow.

Spend no more than 15 minutes on this. Remember all feedback is anonymous.

Thanks,
Your HR Team

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