Onboarding process

What employee onboarding is, its stages and how to make it work

Onboarding process

What is onboarding?

Onboarding is the process of bringing a new employee into the company: from accepting the offer to the moment they work independently and feel part of the team. It covers paperwork, access and equipment, meeting the team and learning the culture, training and first goals. Onboarding usually lasts three to six months, and up to a year for complex roles.

The quality of onboarding affects whether a new hire stays. According to Gallup, only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job of onboarding new employees. A well-designed process pays off quickly: new hires reach full productivity sooner and are less likely to leave during the probationary period.

Stages of onboarding

Stage	When	What happens
Preboarding	from offer acceptance to day one	paperwork, workplace and access setup, welcome email
Day one	the first day	meeting the team, manager and buddy, overview of tasks and rules
First week	working days 1–5	training on tools, first simple tasks, a one-on-one with the manager
First 90 days	months 1–3	goals based on a 30-60-90 day plan, regular feedback, review at the end of probation
Up to a year	months 3–12	development plan, full integration into the team and processes

Who is involved in onboarding

HR plans the process, prepares documents and makes sure no step gets lost.
The manager sets goals, holds regular one-on-one meetings and gives feedback.
A buddy or mentor helps with informal questions and culture through a buddy system or mentoring.
IT and facilities prepare equipment, accounts and the workplace before day one.
The new hire completes training, asks questions and shares feedback.

How to make onboarding effective

Start before day one. Paperwork, access and equipment should be ready in advance so the first day is about people, not formalities.
Make the process repeatable. Define the steps, owners and deadlines once and use the same template for every new hire.
Set clear goals. New hires should know what is expected of them after 30, 60 and 90 days.
Collect feedback. Short surveys after the first week and month show what to improve.
Plan for remote employees. Onboarding remote employees needs its own plan for communication, virtual introductions and equipment delivery.

Onboarding, preboarding and offboarding

Onboarding is one part of the employee life cycle. Preboarding is its first stage, between the offer and day one. Offboarding is the opposite process, when an employee leaves: handing over work, returning equipment and closing access.

In PeopleForce, onboarding in Core HR is built on process templates. A template sets tasks with subtasks, owners (the manager, the new hire, a specific colleague or a person from a profile field, such as a buddy) and deadlines relative to the first working day: tasks can start before or after the employee's start date. For every new hire, the process runs from the template and each participant gets their tasks on time.