First impressions count, and the way you onboard a new team member can make a real difference to how they feel about their new role and you as a business.

A great onboarding experience makes your new hire feel valued, like a key player in your team and makes sure they are comfortable to not only ask for help, but do their best, most creative work.

Here are our top 6 tips for a successful onboarding process:

Take it online

Whether the new team member is working in house, virtually or hybrid, making sure all the resources that they need are in one place is invaluable. And makes life a lot easier for your HR team! It could be Sharepoint, at Upsource we love Notion, whatever the tool, being able to direct a newbie to one place for the employee handbook, leave processes, policies etc makes an information overload easier to deal with.

You can keep onboarding checklists online for your HR and Ops teams too.

Pre boarding

Make sure you’ve got everything your new hire needs in terms of equipment, keys, desk setup, access to systems organised ahead of their arrival. Any paperwork should be completed by both the organisation and your new team member, and all staff involved in the onboarding process have everything they need to make for a smooth entry.

Have a clear training plan

Your new hire wants to feel like they can hit the ground running and they know where they are going. With a training plan, they can see that they are being invested in, and comfortable that they will be guided through any gaps in their knowledge.  If you use a tool like Notion, you can set tasks, assign to team members and set deadlines, so everything is perfectly clear.

Ask for feedback

The best way to make your onboarding process better? Ask the people you’ve onboarded! They’ll know what worked, what they felt was missing and where they felt overwhelmed. Ask them directly after onboarding, and then again after they’ve been with you for a couple of months, when they might have a different perspective.

Company policies, needs and culture are always evolving, you’ll need to update your processes to match.

Buddy up

This is especially important if your new hire is working virtually and can’t turn to the person on the next desk for all those little questions that come up. Setting up a buddy or mentor programme helps new employees to get to know people on their team, or across the organisation, helps to immerse them in your company culture and lets them see what success looks like for you.

Follow through

Give someone a bells and whistles onboarding but as soon as it’s over, leave them to themselves and they are going to feel like they’ve been love bombed. Your employees are your best assets, so you should be investing in them, checking in, and continuing to make them feel valued.

If you feel like your onboarding process could use some work, get in touch with Caroline and she can match you with one of our incredible Operations and HR specialist VAs.