Employee Onboarding Processes

The growth of any business is reliant on talent acquisition. Once you’ve mastered the HR recruitment process it is important that any new team member is given the correct introduction to your business.

Once a candidate has been sent a job offer letter, the process of integrating them into your workforce begins. The hiring process can often be a lengthy process to secure the best talent. HR professionals and hiring managers need to collate the right information to ensure their addition to the team is smooth.

In this Croner article, you can learn about the employee onboarding process. Explore what must be included in a new starter checklist and employer responsibility with regards to the information you need to provide to the individual.

How to prepare for a new starter

There are a number of documents that must be prepared for a new employee. This is exactly why a new employee checklist is such an important document. There are elements for the employer and employee to complete at the beginning of a new starter’s employment period.

One of the first things employers need to do for a new employee is get them to fill out an Employee Starter Form. Once this has been completed, employers can ensure that the employee is given the correct tax code.

This document should be submitted to HMRC before the employee’s first payday. If it has been correctly filed, the employee will pay the correct amount of tax, which is peace of mind for them from day one.

How to complete the five sections on a new employee starter form

It’s important that all questions are answered on a new starter checklist. There are five main sections which are:

1. Employee personal details

Here, the employee can fill out their first name, last name, gender, date of birth and address details. If they know it, you must also collect their national insurance number.

2. Employment start date

This established the date the employee received the relevant tax code. It can also be useful to explain to the employee that they need to retain their start date information for things like mortgage applications in the event of relocation.

3. Employee Statement

This section will help establish the employee’s financial situation and therefore is another important aspect in ensuring they receive the correct tax code.

4. Student loans

Here, the employee can outline their student loan status. Employers need to know that if the new starter has a student loan, what balance is outstanding and what repayment plan are they on.

5. Declaration

The final section of the new starter checklist is the declaration. This confirms that, to their knowledge, everything on the form is accurate.

Do employers need to give employees any forms beyond a new starter checklist?

Aside from a new starter checklist, there are other forms employees should complete when starting a new position.

The forms required will vary from industry to industry based on the specific nature of a role. Risk assessment may be required as part of a health and safety at work check. Commonly, however, there are four types of form employees should complete.

This list includes non-compete forms, an agreement not to work for competitors; company policy forms, including Equality and Diversity; health forms, assessing suitability for a role and confidentiality forms, for employees who will process sensitive data.

Is there an essential new hire checklist?

In short, yes! Here are six steps employers should take when taking on a new hire.

Complete a background check

This may be a right to work check, checking criminal history or residency checks for foreign workers. It is an essential process to guarantee the safety of clients and other team members.

Submit a job request form to HR

If you are the decision maker, ensure that you contact your HR department to proceed with a contract of employment.

Review the schedule and job basics

Either via phone or via email, employers should reach out to the new starter to clarify the schedule for the first day and subsequent week. If, for example, your new starter needs to attend an induction then you must inform them. You can also supply information like parking arrangements and dress code.

Prepare team introductions

One of the most important things to consider with any hire is the balance of your existing team. In order to better integrate new employees into your business, take steps to communicate with team members and introduce the new hire. You can set up meetings with key figures and arrange a workplace tour. This can form part of a wider HR audit.

Prepare their work environment

There’s nothing more disorientating for a new employee than not being able to hit the ground running. Ensure you’ve got a clean space for them when they arrive and get work equipment in place.

Prepare for new hire training

Schedule any training and arrange for trainers, equipment, and space as necessary.

Now that we've established what you should be doing to bring new employees into the business, let's take a look at the onboarding process.

What is new employee onboarding?

Put simply, employee onboarding is the process of introducing a new staff member to your organisation and to their team members.

Employee onboarding and offboarding process

Getting the process right is essential to the smooth integration of a new starter.

Depending on the organisation, the company culture, the work environment, the specifics of the job and a number of other factors, onboarding can last as long as a year.

Regardless of how long you choose to make yours, the first week of any new starter is always crucial.

Here are some of the employee onboarding process steps you need to consider in the first week:

• What does the employee need to know about the culture?
• What role will human resources play?
• Will I involve line managers and co-workers?
• What goals should I set?
• How do I gather feedback and measure success?
• What new hire paperwork should I put together?

Is Offboarding the opposite of onboarding?

The process begins when an employee hands in their notice. You’ll want to issue a formal resignation acceptance letter, ensure the employee’s team is aware of their plans and contact any clients the employee has contact with to inform them.

The next step is to prepare a work handover. It’s unlikely the employee will be able to finish all of their work prior to their departure, so you need to decide who will take on any left-over work, and who will pick up any regular tasks.

Finally, you’ll want to conduct an exit interview to ask for feedback from the employee. Following the exit interview, recover any company equipment and say farewell.

If you’re aware that an employee intends to leave the business, you’ll want to consider how the exit will impact colleagues and the team they work in, as a whole.

Successful offboarding leaves the door open for an employee to return if they wish to do so.

Benefits of onboarding new employees

We’ve looked at what employee onboarding actually is—but what are the benefits of it?

Firstly, it can work wonders for your company culture.

A good onboarding strategy shows the new employee this is an organisation that cares about the welfare and development of its staff.

This leads nicely to the second benefit— employee retention.

A good introduction to a business means it’s more likely the employee will continue to show up. If their first day is a horror show, they’ll be looking for the quickest way out of the door.

Finally, there’s the added benefit of productivity—the driving force of any business.

The better your onboarding, the more immersed the employee will be in your company. And the quicker they are in—the quicker they’ll be performing.

Employee onboarding challenges

Integrating a new employee into a new culture doesn’t come without challenges. It’s entirely possible for a worker to fail at their job because of a poor culture fit. Overcoming this challenge is part of the onboarding process.

Communicating your organisation’s goals, culture, and history will help engage the employee. But make sure you’re not subjecting the new hire to lecture after lecture, as this is likely to cause them to disengage.

Electronic onboarding of new employees

In the modern workplace, there is always a digital element involved.

You can opt for total online employee onboarding if you wish. For example, you could have them complete training via video tutorials, have them read about the company and then fill out questionnaires to reinforce their understanding.

However, this doesn’t really immerse them in the company culture the way a face-to-face onboarding programme does.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything digitally.

To start, having an employee onboarding email to welcome the new starter leaves a great first impression.

It should come from either the line manager or the director, and welcome the new starter to the company and their team, as well as some details about what they can expect from their onboarding.

If you want to conduct full digital employee onboarding, there are plenty of suppliers who provide services to simplify the process for you.

However, bear in mind this service rarely comes without a cost.

This type of induction can be very useful for remote employees, or those who won’t be in the office for regular hours. Otherwise, we suggest some elements of face-to-face interaction with co-workers and management.

Creative ways to onboard new employees

If you’re looking for inspiration for some creative employee onboarding¸ look at how other organisations do theirs.

Etsy onboards its employees through a boot camp. Bazaarvoice onboards its employees through a scavenger hunt. Valve has an employee handbook full of images, diagrams, and jokes.

Some of these ideas may not be viable for your company, but it’s worth adding some levity where you can to make the employee feel comfortable.

New employee onboarding checklist

So you have everything ready for the new employee’s arrival. Or do you?

Having a checklist can keep the onboarding on track, and helps you clarify which steps you’re yet to complete.

Here’s a rough employee onboarding checklist template:

The Employee’s first day

• General Orientation
• Tour and introduction to various teams
• Run through the employee handbook
• Run through all relevant policies, including health & safety
• Explain compensation and benefits
• Settle the employee into their workspace

The employee onboarding worksheet doesn’t stop there, however. It’s worth drafting up a checklist for the full week.

Week one

• Provide initial tasks to ensure they are aware of their roles and responsibilities.
• Check-in with the employee each day to ensure they’re settling in
• Review performance (if applicable) and set goals
• Run through probationary period details with the employee
• Check they have all the equipment necessary for their role
• Ensure the employee has met all teams they’ll be working with
• Encourage engagement on social media

If you want to provide a full onboarding experience, you could develop a full onboarding kit for the new employee.

This would involve checklists spanning up to 1 year, and the development of a programme such as the one Etsy has.

Help with employee onboarding.

Croner has a team of award-winning HR professionals who are specialists in their field. We've been helping businesses for over 80 years and our advice line is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Why not speak to a Croner expert on 0800 470 2015.