Comprehensive Employee Onboarding Checklist and Template for Hybrid Work

While the employment landscape remains in a state of flux, it’s clear that many companies are gravitating toward a hybrid setup. As a People Operations leader, this means you’re likely spending a lot of time thinking about how to adapt your employee-focused processes, like onboarding, to this new environment.

To help, we created a new employee onboarding checklist — along with an editable employee onboarding template — specifically with a hybrid workplace in mind. You’ll get flexible options throughout the document to accommodate your remote and in-office employees.

You’ll also notice that our onboarding process spans several months — from the moment a candidate signs their offer letter to the end of the 60-day onboarding process. We believe this is the amount of time needed to create a truly comprehensive experience and set your new hires up for success.

Why a strong onboarding process drives company value

An effective onboarding process sets employees up for long-term success and can drive company value in numerous ways. For starters, employees who receive exceptional onboarding are 2.6 times more satisfied with their jobs. This translates directly to company value: Research shows that happy, satisfied employees are 13% more productive than dissatisfied employees.

Along with improving productivity, boosting employee satisfaction via a great onboarding experience also promotes better employee retention and reduces costly turnover. The cost of replacing a single employee can range from one-half to two times the employee's annual salary. As a result, improving employee retention can lead to substantial cost savings and keeps the team cohesion you've worked hard to build.

Of course, there's also the most obvious benefit of a strong onboarding process: providing new hires with the foundation they need to start doing productive, high-quality work as quickly as possible. At a minimum, solid onboarding will help new team members get up to speed and deliver value faster. In other cases, it may also help prevent costly mistakes.

1) Offer accepted and pre-onboarding checklist

The moment a new hire signs their offer letter, they’re part of your organization. This is an exciting moment that should be celebrated, not ignored. Whether your employee starts remotely or in the office, you can use emails and phone calls to kick off the official onboarding process. 

The preboarding process, meanwhile, should begin a week before your new hire’s start date. This phase aims to prepare your employee for their first day and take care of important logistics, such as filling out paperwork and setting up the needed technology.

Step #1: Congratulate the new hire and notify the team

When it comes to employee communication, it’s essential to match the message with the moment. That’s why, as soon as a new hire hits ‘send’ on their signed offer letter, you should be ready to celebrate! 

Whether you send the employee a gift box full of company swag or have their team members shower them with a fun welcome email, find ways to build excitement about the job, team, and company. This will ensure that your relationship with the new hire starts strongly and that their first experience with you and your company is positive.

However you choose to celebrate a new hire, including their soon-to-be team members in the party is important! Be sure to notify the team when you make a new hire and remind them how to make the new employee feel welcome and supported.

HR should alert the hiring manager when an offer is officially accepted so that the process of welcoming the new hire to the team can begin. Your human resources team should also be responsible for arranging any welcome gifts. Meanwhile, the manager should be responsible for announcing the new hire to the rest of the team and coordinating welcome emails/phone calls.

Step #2: Create a 60-day plan

We recommend creating a personalized 60-day plan for every new hire. This creates less stress for employees since they know what’s expected of them over the next two months. Here’s a general overview of how to structure your 60-day plan:

• Day 1-20: Learning
• Day 20-40: Contributing
• Day 40-60: Independence and ownership

During this phase, HR should provide the new hire's manager with a 60-day plan template, and the manager should customize the plan to be personalized for the new employee.

Step #3: Prepare paperwork

New hire paperwork is a necessary evil of the onboarding process. This can include W-4, I-9, insurance forms, direct deposit forms, and non-disclosure or non-compete agreements.

By taking care of this step before their start date, you can create a smoother transition for the employee and make their first week a bit less chaotic. Thankfully, many tools allow you to manage this process virtually.

During this step, HR should prepare and send paperwork to the new hire, answer any questions that might come up, and follow up with the new hire to ensure that all paperwork is completed before Day One.

Step #4: Set up IT

Make sure your new hires have access to all the technology they need on Day One. This can include setting up their laptop, email account, and any other tools they need to do their jobs.

If your employee is working from the office, it may be easiest to set up their desk ahead of time and walk them through their workspace in person. For remote workers, you can send everything via mail — just make sure to think ahead and ship things early in case of delays!

HR should coordinate with the IT team to set up laptops and email accounts. For remote hires, HR, the hiring manager, and IT should coordinate to send out a ready-to-use laptop. For in-office hires, HR can work with IT to set up their desk.

Step #5: Send materials for review

Giving the new hire a sneak peek into their first week may help ease their anxiety and allow them to make preparations as needed. We recommend sharing an overview of what to expect on the first day and a Week One schedule.

Have the new hire's manager create this Week One schedule. HR, meanwhile, should focus on creating a Day One overview and sending out any other necessary new hire materials.

2) Onboarding Week One checklist

It’s your new hire’s first week! This onboarding phase aims to introduce your employee to your organization's culture, processes, and people — without overwhelming them with too much information.

Week One of onboarding can be challenging for remote employees since they can't meet everyone in person. That's why we included additional touchpoints for remote hires to connect with other people at the company.

Step #1: Send a Day One welcome note

Let the rest of the organization know it’s the new hire’s first day! This can be done through email, Slack, or any other company-wide communication channel and will encourage everyone to share a warm welcome. For each new hire, your HR team should remind managers to create and send out encouraging Day One welcome notes.

Step #2: Carry out new hire orientation

You should conduct new hire orientation during your employee's first day on the job. This orientation can cover a variety of topics depending on the new employee's position, but a few important topics include: 

• New employee's role and responsibilities
• Details about the company, its mission, and its values
• Introductions to other team members

For in-office employees, these introductions can take place in person. For remote employees, you may have to indirectly introduce them to the team members they will be working with and instruct team members to reach out individually via a phone call or email. Having your new hire send out their User Manual (template available here) is a great way to help the rest of the team understand the conditions they need to do their best work.

Step #3: Schedule 1:1 meetings

Use this first week to set up 1:1s with the new hire, their direct team members, and company leaders (if relevant). Whether in-person or virtual, these meetings should be an opportunity for the employee to ask questions, create personal connections, and understand everyone's role on the team. HR can arrange 1:1 meetings with company leaders, while the new hire's manager should be responsible for arranging meetings with other team members.

Step #4: Assign training materials

Training materials such as worksheets, instructional videos, and online quizzes can help reinforce the knowledge your new hires need to know. HR should work to prepare these training materials and provide them to the manager. The new hire's manager can oversee their completion and provide support if needed.

Step #5: Integrate the new hire

You want your new hire to start familiarizing themselves with the company culture and their team. Understanding the organization's values and knowing how their team members like to communicate will help your employee get integrated faster. 

HR can begin integrating new hires by providing an overview of the company culture. Generally, that includes the company's mission, vision, and values. Their manager, meanwhile, should give an overview of the team and its processes, including workflows, tools, and communication preferences. They should also include the new hire in key meetings like daily standups or monthly team check-ins.

Step #6: Review the 60-day plan

In the first week, you want the new hire to review the 60-day plan with their manager. This gives them a broad overview of the next two months and allows them to ask questions before getting started.

Step #7: Establish a support system

Providing new hires with a support system to turn to when they get stuck or have questions is vital to creating a smooth onboarding process. The manager should assign the new hire a “buddy” or mentor who works on overlapping projects and can provide guidance as they continue to ramp up on tasks. Establishing an onboarding buddy program such as this ensures that new hires are given one-on-one guidance and support throughout the onboarding process. 

(Looking for more guidance on developing a successful mentoring program? Check out this helpful resource that answers some of the most common questions about building a buddy program.)

You can also provide self-serve support resources as well. For example, your company’s employee handbook likely outlines several common questions new hires may have regarding time off requests, dress codes, holidays, and other relevant company policies. Make sure your employees receive these resources during their first week.

Step #8: Provide a week one recap

Your new hire has a ton of information to process after their first week! To help them out, HR should work with the manager to compile a comprehensive recap containing all the information, resources, and links shared during their first week. This will help new hires retain and review what they learned.

3) Onboarding Month One checklist

After your new hire completes their first week with the company, they’ll enter Month One of the onboarding process. During this time, you want your employee to start their 60-day plan and continue familiarizing themselves with their team, colleagues, and work environment.

Again, we’re mindful that remote employees don’t have the opportunity to meet everyone in person. So, we created touchpoints that give them the chance to connect with their teammates.

Step #1: Start the 60-day plan

The first phase of the 60-day plan focuses on helping the new hire learn as much as possible. At the start of their first month, the new hire and their manager should outline learning objectives. While it's a good idea to have HR create and provide a customized learning template, here are a few examples of what these objectives may look like:

• Learn to use the internal tools we use by creating a project in...
• Understand our product and services by doing...
• Learn about our culture by talking to... and reading...
• Understand our team’s quarterly goals.

Step #2: Create opportunities for team building

Once the new hire is settled in and has room to breathe, help them get to know their coworkers better by hosting team-building activities. If you have a mix of remote and in-office employees, choose activities that can accommodate both settings. For example, consider:

• Team lunch or happy hour
• Cooking class
• Game or trivia night

To help the new hire get to know people outside of their team, invite them to join Slack channels that align with their interests — whether that’s exploring restaurants, volunteering, or sharing photos of pets. This is an especially great option for remote employees who may otherwise not get a chance to meet people outside of their team.

HR and the new hire's manager should work together to coordinate these team-building activities, and the manager should attend them as well. Your HR team should also be responsible for inviting the new hire to Slack channels based on their interests.

Step #3: Transition into the next phase of the 60-day plan

In the last 10 days of the month, transition the new hire into the next part of the 60-day plan. This phase should shift the employee into completing work tasks and contributing to the team. Managers should make sure the new hire is placed on a large project alongside an experienced team member or assigned a series of smaller tasks that they can do independently with regular check-ins.

Step #4: Schedule a Month One check-in

The new hire’s manager should schedule a check-in to see how the first month went so the employee can ask questions, share feedback, and prepare for their second month at the company.

4) Onboarding Month Two checklist

At this point, your new hire should feel fairly comfortable with their role and team, and they should feel prepared to take on more responsibilities slowly. So, throughout Month Two of the onboarding process, have your employee focus on building more independence with their day-to-day work. You can also support their development during this phase by providing feedback on their performance so far.

Step #1: Provide initial feedback

Once a new hire's first month on the job is complete, the manager should meet with them to provide feedback on their initial performance. This feedback will help the new employee understand the behaviors their manager views as positive and productive, as well as address any areas where intervention is needed. New hires at this point are  still settling into their role, so managers should give reasonable leeway regarding expectations and, as always, keep feedback constructive.

Step #2: Transition into the next phase of the 60-day plan

In the last 10 days of the month, transition the new hire into the final phase of the 60-day plan. At this point, your new hire should be ready to own projects, demonstrate more independence, and establish quarterly goals with the guidance of their manager. During this transition, HR should provide a template for establishing quarterly goals and send the new hire an overview of the company's performance review.

Step #3: Continue ongoing relationship-building efforts

Helping new hires build strong relationships with their fellow team members is one of the most important onboarding objectives. During the second month of onboarding, managers should strive to continue the relationship-building efforts that commenced with the first welcome email. 

These efforts can include team meetings, team-building exercises, team lunches, or any other activity you can come up with that will help new hires form beneficial bonds with their team.

Step #4: Schedule a Month Two check-in

The new hire’s manager should schedule a check-in to discuss employee progress, follow up on any questions or concerns, and prepare to wrap up the 60-day plan.

5) Onboarding Month Three checklist

Congratulations! You’ve successfully guided the new hire through the onboarding process. Before you wrap up, there are still a few things for you to do that will set the HR team and the employee up for continued success.

Step #1: Collect feedback

After the new hire wraps up their official onboarding, we encourage you to use this as an opportunity to ask the employee about their experience. Their feedback can help you improve and iterate on your existing process. Here are a few examples of questions you can ask:

• Do you feel the onboarding process prepared you for your new role? Why or why not?
• What could we improve on during the onboarding process?
• What part of the onboarding process did you particularly enjoy?

If you prefer to have this conversation in person, feel free to do so with your in-office employees! Otherwise, you can send your remote employee a survey that asks the same questions.

Step #2: Provide resources

Even after the official onboarding is over, employees shouldn’t feel like they’re on their own. Provide them with resources to turn to if they have questions or need support. Examples of resources you can share include:

• Company guidebook
• Overview of company Slack channels
• Access to a quarterly Q&A with HR for newer employees

Have your HR team compile a list of the instructive resources that are available to employees, and instruct managers to point new hires to these resources when they have questions.

Establish a successful onboarding program with Pyn

A great onboarding process is an experience your new employees won't soon forget and one that will set them up for years of success with your company. Along with an effective employee onboarding checklist, one of the best ways to facilitate a personalized, engaging onboarding process is to use Pyn's powerful employee journey builder.

With Pyn, you can create an automated onboarding experience with personalized employee messaging, helpful onboarding buddy programs, and 90-day employee onboarding journey maps. 

Start creating an onboarding program that your new hires will love — sign up for a free demo of Pyn today!