Employee onboarding: What does the perfect start look like?

And suddenly we are sitting at our desk as a new employee and then – yes, what then? We start tackling our first tasks, let colleagues help us, and tentatively make our first contacts in the break room. It can take some time before everything clicks and we are fully productive as an employee. A process like employee onboarding is intended to accelerate this. This brings benefits not only to the company but also to the new employee.

1. Definition: What is employee onboarding?

Onboarding describes a targeted process in which new employees are integrated into the company and into workflows during their first weeks and months. They are literally coming on board, are welcomed through various measures and events, and can thus arrive in the organization much faster.

2. Advantages of employee onboarding…

… for organizations

• Faster productivity: The better a new employee is trained, knows their areas of responsibility, and has built up an internal network, the faster they will deliver the required performance – or more.
• Reduced turnover: Well-trained employees resign significantly less frequently than employees without professional onboarding.
• Cost savings: Low turnover also results in potential savings, as HR departments have fewer expenses for recruitment measures.
• Employer Branding: Onboarding is usually one of several measures to retain employees and build and strengthen a positive employer brand. One result of these efforts is that talent and high performers become aware of the company.

… for employees

• Optimal start: Nothing is worse than not knowing what to do during your first days at work. Professional onboarding provides employees with everything they need to make the best use of this initial phase and grow into the new position.
• Building a network: In suitable onboarding formats, new employees come into informal and uncomplicated contact with colleagues, so that contacts are quickly identified.
• Knowledge building: New employees receive a comprehensive package of information and insights into company processes. This saves them from "slowly feeling their way around" and allows them to enter the job informed and with a certain feeling for the organizational culture.

How important professional onboarding is can also be seen in the study on the topic of onboarding recently conducted by keelearning together with the market research institute Dynata. It shows the status of further education opportunities in the German "Mittelstand" (small and medium-sized enterprises) and how far behind digitalization still lags in this area. Employees whose work does not take place at a desk, such as those in industry or retail, are particularly affected: around one in three of them states that further training takes place exclusively on-site and is not available digitally. A full 41 percent cannot receive further training within the company at all. In addition, 20 percent of respondents state that they have already resigned during their probationary period because they did not feel properly supported.

3. Phases of onboarding

The onboarding of an employee can roughly be described in three phases:

1. Pre-boarding: Before the first day of work
2. Onboarding: First day and first week of work
3. Re-boarding: First six months and longer

Phase 1: Pre-boarding: Preparation is everything

On the first day of work, the focus should be on the new employee. If the first half of the day is spent while IT sets up the computer, that is an rather unfortunate start. Therefore, all formal, organizational, and technical to-dos should be completed well before the first day of work.

This particularly includes:

• Providing technology at the workplace: The computer should be set up with all important permissions and programs, and the phone should be connected.
• Upcoming appointments: On their first day of work, the employee should receive an overview of upcoming appointments with important interfaces and supervisors. These appointments must be arranged in good time and can, for example, be communicated via an internal onboarding portal.
• Info package: The new employee should receive a welcome greeting before their first day of work, which, in addition to information material, also contains an onboarding gift.
• Being a contact person: If the new employee has moved for the job, employees can be a valuable source of information for finding an apartment and bureaucratic points of contact. In addition, as part of the welcome greeting, they can provide important information such as the dress code, opening times of the canteen, or nearby bistros and on-site parking options.

Phase 2: Onboarding begins

On the first day of work, the new employee should be welcomed warmly. This includes an introduction round in the new team. In the best case, there is a learning management system with which the employee has an overview of all upcoming appointments in the first week of work, as well as access to training materials that are important for professional onboarding.

The first week of work should be completely reserved for getting to know the company and the products, clarifying all formalities that could not be completed during pre-boarding, and making initial contacts. This comprehensive employee onboarding is the foundation for a successful start in the job.

Important formats/methods for professional onboarding in the first week of work:

• Onboarding buddy: Provide new employees with an experienced colleague who accompanies them during the first few days, answers questions, and has an open ear for their concerns. Such a mentorship gives the new employee the security of having a competent contact person.
• Company tour: In the first few days, the employee should have knocked on every door and introduced themselves with their buddy. They should also know the way to important places such as the mailroom, HR department, canteen, and restrooms.
• Product presentation: Even employees in accounting should have an idea of what products or services the company actually sells. Therefore, introducing the product range should be part of every employee onboarding.
• Lunch together: Part of the onboarding program is having lunch together as a team. Managers should sensitize their employees in advance to the fact that such shared social experiences make the first time in the company immensely easier.
• E-learning offers for onboarding: In the first few days of work, a lot of new impressions and information flood the new employee. It is impossible for them to remember everything, which is why they should receive as much information as possible in writing. But who reads all of that? It is best if employers have an onboarding strategy that includes various formats such as learning videos, online courses, and quiz apps. This makes the onboarding process varied and helps content stick better. In an app that functions as an onboarding portal, these formats can be bundled and made available to the employee as early as the pre-boarding phase.

The career network LinkedIn shows what a first week of work can look like here. The five-day remote onboarding program was created as a response to the work-from-home mandate during the coronavirus pandemic.

Phase 3: Re-boarding: Onboarding can only be the beginning

After the intensive onboarding phase, the employee has all the tools and information at hand to grow into their role. Nevertheless, some formats from employee onboarding should be used again and again to strengthen employee satisfaction and retention. This includes team-building days, creative workshops that invite "out-of-the-box" thinking, and, not least, continuous further education.

Employees can regularly test their knowledge using quiz apps, mandatory training can be carried out online, and employees can quickly receive important information that is essential for workflows and compliance via a team chat. This is how employees stay in contact with each other. On the other hand, HR departments have an optimal channel for internal communication, which is an important building block for employer branding.

In addition, there should be regular feedback rounds immediately after the intensive onboarding and also in everyday work life in order to optimize the onboarding process and obtain valuable criticism from employees. This feedback loop can also be automated using an online tool.

Digital onboarding tools are becoming increasingly popular. The evaluations of the Haufe survey also show this. While only 12 percent relied on digital process support in 2019, it was almost twice as many in 2020 (23 percent).

Would you like to learn more about the process of virtual onboarding? Then get to know the most important tools and methods here. We would be happy to present our onboarding app to you in a demo version.

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