What Is Onboarding Process?

What Is Onboarding?

The onboarding process is a structured approach that organizations use to integrate new employees effectively into their workforce. It involves a series of steps and activities that help new hires to acclimate to their roles, understand the company culture, and become productive team members.

Onboarding ushers new people into a new corporate culture and gradually introduces them to an environment that the newcomers are expected to embrace.

Stages of Onboarding

The employee onboarding stages include:

Pre-boarding: This stage begins before the newbie’s first day on the job. Before newcomers become part of the organization, they receive a welcome email, filll out the requisite paperwork, get access to such vital resources as employee handbooks, and then get introduced to company policies and regulations.
Orientation: This is the primary stage of the overall onboarding process during which new employees get familiarized with the company’s mission, values, history, and structure. At this stage, they also come to know the material aspects associated with the job such as benefits, safety procedures, and company policies related to the job.
Training: In order to acquire the skills and special knowledge to be up to the task on the job, new hires receive training tailored to their position within the organization. Training can involve hands-on practice, online learning, and observing experienced colleagues at work.
Mentorship: To help new employees better and faster adapt to the new work environment and learn the ropes, a mentor is often assigned to them to answer questions that may arise down the road and provide support. Having a mentor by their side helps newcomers create bonds with their colleagues and take on new job functions.
Integration: For a newbie, feeling that they are part of the team is crucial. During the integration phase, new hires are encouraged to participate in feedback sessions and regular check-ins with their bosses to create the feeling of ivolvement.
Evaluation: To measure a new employee’s progress in the process of integration, address issues that may arise during the onboarding period, and make the necessary adjustments, employers hold periodic evaluations and feedback sessions.

New Employee Onboarding Process Activities

The onboarding process is one of the key responsibilities of the HR department. A properly organized and structured onboarding makes the new employees’ integration into the organization smooth and seamless. Understanding their roles and job duties, embracing the organization’s values and overall culture are essential for the long-term employee loyalty, engagement, and productivity. To attain these goals, an onboarding process must be properly phased and structured. The step-by-step onboarding sequence is shown below:

Making employment offers
Compensation packages discusion
Completing new hire documentation
Policy and cultural orientation
Role-specific training
Handbook review sessions
Filling out benefits enrollment forms
Benefits overview sessions
Workplace tours
Meetings with senior management
Introducing new team members

In most cases, once the onboarding has started, you may rest assured you got the job and there is no turning back. However, if the new job includes a probationary period, the tide may turn. The probationary period may run from 1 month to one year, depending on the position. So, a new hire should not hold false expectations and perform at their best during that period to secure the job for a longer term.

To put it in broader perspective, onboarding is key to a successful job. The better a new employee fits in the organization and understands the role, the faster they go through the learning curve, the more secure their status will be in the long run.

During high-altitude ascents, climbers do not rush to the summit in one go; they stop to acclimate. The first such stop is the base camp, where they stay for quite a while, learning how to breathe and move while using their energy sparingly. The same is true of the onboarding process: a new employee will integrate better within the new organization once they go through the learning curve of the ‘base camp’ – the onboarding.

What Is Onboarding Process?