Why is onboarding so vital to your company’s success? And what role can a good onboarding experience play in retaining your people long-term?
We all know that first impressions count. Think back to your first day at school or college. It’s those people who took the time out of their day to be friendly and to say hello or show you around who made their mark. And it’s the same at work.
Companies that put time and effort into their onboarding processes can—and let’s be ambitious here for a moment—impress their new hires in ways that will last well beyond the first days and weeks of employment. And that’s true, whether you’re onboarding a new starter in your office, welcoming new hires in remote or hybrid environments—or making new employees across the globe feel like a part of the team.
Positive first impressions in the workplace can develop into solid working relationships, improved productivity, and impressive employee retention rates. And the fact is that keeping an existing employee is cheaper than hiring a new one, so investing time and money in a great onboarding process makes excellent business sense. The fact that it can also help your new employees feel like a welcome—and productive—part of the team from day one is an added and invaluable bonus.
Onboarding fundamentals
From the all-important welcome email to details of start times, dress codes, and what to do upon their arrival in the office, there are fundamental components to include when developing an effective onboarding process for your new employees. This glossary introduces you to a helpful overview of what’s involved each time you welcome someone new into the business.
Learn more about the meaning of employee onboarding
The role of employee onboarding is to make people feel welcome—while ticking all the boxes of their new employment contract. From compliance and logistics to training sessions and objectives setting, here’s our ultimate guide to help make your life simple—and create a great first impression with your new hire.
See this exclusive guide for new employee onboarding checklists
Onboarding starts when the interview stops. Once the fundamental components like compliance and logistics are in place, consider if there’s anything else you could add to make a new hire feel like part of the team. Weaving your company culture into your process is a great place to start—do this, and they’ll get a real feel for what it’s going to be like to work with you from day one.
Learn how to introduce new hires to your company’s culture from day one
The secret to providing an onboarding process that makes your new hires feel welcome from day one is to engage people from across your business in developing your process. For example, your HR and IT departments will have the KPIs, tech tools, and social initiatives to make your onboarding process inclusive and effective. Here’s how—and why—to get people from across your business onboard with onboarding.
Is it time to reboot your employee onboarding process? Here’s how
Some level of admin is inevitable in your onboarding process. Personalizing the experience for new hires can reduce paperwork and make a big difference to how someone feels about joining your company—even before their first days with you. Discover how personalization can enhance your onboarding process with this guide.
Learn how personalization makes a positive difference to your onboarding process
A successful onboarding process can mean the difference between someone finishing their first day at work feeling ignored and unimportant and someone who can’t wait for what tomorrow brings. Here’s how to create an onboarding process that results in the second scenario, so new people feel engaged and ready to perform as a part of the team from day one.
Discover how great onboarding leads to great performance—from day one
After the time and expense involved in recruiting and employing someone new, you want to make sure you’re taking every opportunity to nurture and retain the hires you make. This helpful guide outlines your onboarding responsibilities.
Learn how considerate onboarding creates solid employee engagement
Onboarding tools and tips
Onboarding is no simple task. Especially when it’s done well. This task list ensures you’ve ticked all the boxes you need to cover—from ensuring people have the right IT equipment on their first day to goal and expectation setting once they’ve had a chance to settle in.
Use this task list to make your onboarding process simple—and brilliant
Automation can make your life so much easier when onboarding new hires. And it helps create positive and memorable experiences for your new employees. Discover how Bob’s onboarding flows help you check you don’t overlook any details in your new hire’s critical first few days and weeks.
Check everything off your list with these invaluable onboarding flows
The time between the receipt of an offer letter to a new hire’s start date can see some people getting cold feet while others are raring to go and want more information. Here’s how to use email to start and keep the conversation about starting work going—with helpful onboarding email templates to guide the frequency and content of your messaging.
We’ve made onboarding comms simple —get your email templates here
Unlike traditional onboarding processes, you can gamify Bob with fun tasks and challenges to get teams worldwide using the software. Discover how Donna White, Growth and Ventures Director of DIJGTAL, brought the onboarding process to life for her people.
Discover a fun-filled way to onboard your entire team
Onboarding matters. We’ve highlighted four things to address when developing your company’s onboarding processes to achieve higher retention, greater engagement—and better employee productivity.
Transform your onboarding with four simple best practices
There’s a close correlation between employee experience and your branding strategy. Existing and prospective employees can view company images and videos online, so it’s essential to create an impression that’s both positive and honest—especially for your new starters. Here’s how to create an onboarding experience for your new hires that will shine online—and stay true to your branding strategy.
Discover onboarding experiences your people will share and remember
Consistent and effective onboarding processes join the dots for new employees, from offer letters to settling into their new roles. Use this series of onboarding checklist templates to help your new hires feel engaged and at home from day one.
Make life simple—download your onboarding checklist templates here
The onboarding period is a golden opportunity to make a meaningful first impression on your people and help them settle in, whether their role is on-site, hybrid, or remote. With customizable and personalized workflows and task lists to meet each new employee’s needs, discover how Bob makes the onboarding experience easy.
Discover the power of a personalized onboarding experience here
Remote onboarding
Thanks to the power of technology and the clarity of video calls, it’s possible to successfully onboard those new employees working from home or a remote office. Discover how an effective onboarding process builds strong working relationships with remote hires, wherever they are in the world.
Get your complete guide to onboarding remote employees here
Working from home has become the new normal for many Americans—and companies capable of creating compelling remote onboarding experiences can develop valuable relationships with their employees from the start. Here’s how to foster company loyalty, boost employee productivity, and increase employee retention with positive onboarding experiences.
How to help new remote employees feel like part of the team from day one
Some remote roles demand particular attention to detail at the onboarding stage. For example, when recruiting new engineers and developers, it makes sense to think about what they’ll need to get up and running at speed in their first eight to 12 weeks with you. This guide helps you tick all the necessary boxes.
We’ve made great onboarding for remote engineers simple—learn more
The stress of starting a new job can be magnified for new hires in remote roles. Here’s how to pre-empt their potential concerns and questions in your onboarding process—and assure them that they’re a valued team member from the start.
Onboarding remote engineers? Here’s a practical checklist to help
Onboarding research
We write a lot about employee onboarding at HiBob. That’s because it plays a crucial role in creating a happy and engaged workforce—and boosting employee retention. The latest research into employee onboarding reveals a wealth of opportunities you can seize to make a lasting positive first impression on your new employees.
Download report—The State of Employee Onboarding
Why bother with onboarding? We asked 1,000 employees across the United States for their opinion on whether onboarding matters. The results make for startling reading. Read more to find out more—and retain your valuable employees.
Why onboarding matters—discover why bad onboarding equals poor retention
Our latest research reveals how and why exceptional onboarding is becoming so much more than a nice-to-have. And how effective onboarding can give you a tangible advantage in the marketplace.
Discover how effective onboarding helps you attract and keep the best talent
Do you think employee onboarding is business-critical? Our latest research makes for fascinating reading—and will help you develop the complete and welcoming onboarding experience that your new hires expect—and deserve.
Good onboarding matters—and here’s the research to prove it
Offboarding
Your offboarding process needs to support both employees who are choosing to leave their employment with you—and those you’re laying off. It should be as efficient and effective as your onboarding process and minimize disruption while protecting confidential company information. Here’s how to make sure you offboard well.
Get the complete guide to effective onboarding
Parting can be such sweet sorrow—even for those employees you’re laying off. Use this template during your offboarding exit interviews to take opportunities to learn more about your company while saying goodbye on the best possible terms.
Download your exit interview templates
Just as there are multiple things to remember during the onboarding process for new hires, there are numerous must-haves when offboarding. This checklist helps ensure you’ve covered everything that HR and legal will need—while creating a positive final impression of your business and brand.
Your complete offboarding checklist is here—download it now
Webinars
The competition for great talent in the market is real. On this webinar, HiBob and JazzHR reveal how to stand out when hiring and retaining talent—and share their top tips for streamlining your recruiting and onboarding processes.
Streamlining your recruiting and onboarding processes in 2022—listen now
What’s it really like to work in your business? What are the values your people hold dear? And how does culture impact your people’s day-to-day lives at work? In this webinar, HiBob’s Alex Coates uncovers the power of culture-focused onboarding to aid employee engagement and long-term retention.
Demo webinar: Culture-focused onboarding with Bob—listen now
Done well, onboarding nurtures employee engagement, creates positive brand associations—and results in long-term employee retention. Discover four ways to streamline your employee onboarding experience in this webinar.
Four Ways to Streamline the Employee Onboarding Experience—listen now
Onboarding matters. And in today’s competitive global marketplace, it can mean the difference between retaining and losing your best talent. Discover how to manage the intricacies of a worldwide workforce while creating tailored, localized experiences for your employees across sites and countries in this webinar with Shane Long from OwnBackup.
Automating and scaling global onboarding processes—listen now
First impressions count. Everything you need to know to develop effective employee onboarding for your new hires is included in this essential guide. Apply this research and our findings to instill employee engagement and see long-term retention from a positive and productive workforce from day one.