Onboarding – ideal integration of new employees

A perfect start for the new job: with the right onboarding, your new employees will have a positive experience all round. They will feel at home right from the start, quickly find their feet and enthusiastically apply their talents to your company’s goals. Good onboarding is also crucial to ensuring that your new hires stay with the company for as long as possible. In this article, you can find out which onboarding phases there are and how you can optimize them as an HR manager. Spoiler alert: It’s not done with sweets and flowers on the table… 🙂

Onboarding definition: More than just training

Onboarding describes the process in which new employees are integrated into a company and prepared for their role. The aim is for new team members to quickly find their feet and feel comfortable so that they can contribute their strengths as quickly as possible.

The onboarding process consists of several steps. It includes an introduction to the corporate culture, getting to know the team and relevant training for processes and tools. A well-structured induction increases the productivity of your employees and helps to ensure that talented people stay with your company in the long term.

Tasks and objectives of onboarding

Onboarding should make it as easy as possible for new employees to join your company. The onboarding process includes various steps to familiarize your new hires with the company’s processes, tasks and values.

The most important onboarding tasks

• Preparation of the workplace: Provide relevant work materials, obtain all important IT access and request company equipment such as telephones or computers in good time.
• Communicate the culture and structure of the company: You should familiarize new employees directly with the most important values, working methods and special features of your company.
• Welcome meeting: Organize a welcome meeting with superiors and/or team members in which tasks and expectations are clearly formulated.
• Introduce the team: Introduce your new recruit to their new team and contact persons to promote integration and team cohesion.
• Explain work processes and IT systems: The better the initial briefing, the faster new employees will get to grips with your processes, tools and systems.
• Exchange feedback: Offer new employees the opportunity to talk to you regularly, especially in the initial phase. In this way, open questions and uncertainties can be clarified quickly before major misunderstandings arise.

Effective onboarding increases the motivation of your new recruits and your existing team. Those who feel well prepared and welcome develop their potential more quickly.

Onboarding: importance for employee retention and satisfaction

The importance of onboarding for employee satisfaction is increasing, as confirmed by the latest softgarden study Candidate Experience 2023 – Part 2: The proportion of people who have already resigned in the first 100 days has been rising noticeably for several years.

The demands on the start in a new company are growing and the initial phase is increasingly becoming a “trial period for the employer”. A lack of leadership skills and inadequate induction plans are among the most frequently cited reasons for premature departure.

Successful onboarding, on the other hand, immediately creates trust and gives new employees the feeling that they are welcome and needed. As a result, they start their new role with motivation, integrate quickly and develop stable, long-term employee loyalty.

Levels and subjects of onboarding

Even though the induction process for new employees can vary depending on the industry and company, there are three central levels:

Professional level: At the technical level, you must ensure that your new employees have the necessary knowledge, tools and access for their tasks. This includes training, IT briefings and detailed explanations of work processes.

Cultural level: This level is about communicating the culture, values and goals of your company. New employees should understand the “why” and “how” behind their daily work and be able to identify with it.

Social level: At the social level, the focus is on the human component. New employees should immediately feel at home and find their feet as quickly as possible. Clear contact persons help in the event of questions and uncertainties.

Make sure that your new team member is optimally integrated at all three levels. This will create the basis for successful onboarding.

Professional integration

The professional integration of your new employees is the basis for them being able to fulfill their role optimally. With a targeted induction, you can ensure that new recruits quickly find their feet in their role and understand the necessary processes. Communicate clear role expectations from the outset and use training to prevent uncertainty.

Cultural integration

Your new employees will only be able to identify with the culture, values and goals of your company and contribute their strengths in the best possible way if they are familiar with them. Make sure that these topics are also communicated during onboarding, e.g. in the form of presentations or guidelines. Ideally, the new employee will be assigned a mentor/buddy who is available to answer any questions.

Social integration

The professional content and the company’s objectives are important, but they are not enough. A complete onboarding process integrates new employees, especially on a social level. Make sure that new employees feel connected from the outset and have the opportunity to integrate into their new team in the best possible way. In a positive working environment, new employees quickly feel at ease and are more motivated to work.

The onboarding process: The three stages of onboarding

The classic onboarding process can be divided into three stages: Preboarding, orientation and integration.

Preboarding begins with the signing of the contract and ends on the first day of work. During this phase, you provide the new employee with orientation. The orientation stage begins on the first day and can last several months. Here you show the new employee their tasks and the processes within the team and the company. During the integration stage, the new employee is fully integrated into the team. This phase lasts several months – depending on the industry and complexity of the role.

Phase 1: Preboarding – Before the first working day

Preboarding covers the period from signing the contract to the first day of work and can take several weeks or even months. During this phase, the organizational foundations must be laid for optimal collaboration. This is where you clarify initial questions and slowly introduce the new employee to their new role. Make sure that all email addresses, tools and access points are ready, compile important information and send a welcome message to provide orientation and an overview. The more thoroughly you work in the preboarding phase, the easier it will be for your new employees to get started.

Phase 2: Orientation

“Where, what, who, how and when?” To ensure that new employees are not overwhelmed after just a few days, you need to give them guidance, especially at the beginning. During the orientation phase, you familiarize them with the new processes and tasks and help them to overcome any uncertainties. During this phase, they should get to know their new team. You should clarify expectations on both sides and assign the first tasks in order to integrate the new team member quickly. The orientation phase begins with the first day of work and usually lasts around three months.

Phase 3: Integration

The integration stage of onboarding is about fully integrating new employees. They should become fully-fledged team members and use their full potential for the benefit of the company. This requires targeted feedback meetings, training and building trust between the new colleagues. The key to success here is the social component. Create a positive working atmosphere and make it as easy as possible for new employees to find their feet and identify with the company’s goals. The integration phase follows the orientation phase and usually lasts three to six months.

Reboarding: reemployment of employees

Reboarding is a special case of onboarding. This phase describes the process of reintegrating an employee into the company after a long absence. Examples of such absences include parental leave, sabbaticals, illness or the return of former employees.

In practice, reboarding is often neglected, although this phase of reintegration determines how quickly an employee finds their feet again and can work productively.

Optimal reboarding includes training on new processes and tools as well as introducing new colleagues and jointly defining the area of responsibility. In this way, employees quickly regain confidence.

Offboarding: employees leaving the company

At some point, the time has come: offboarding describes the phase in which employees leave your company. A well-structured offboarding process makes it easier for everyone involved to say goodbye and ensures that it is positive and without friction. Offboarding includes returning company property, deactivating access and documenting all relevant procedures and processes.

You should also use the offboarding phase to gather feedback in order to further optimize your processes. With a professional farewell, your company leaves a good impression and increases the likelihood that the departing employee will recommend your company to others or even return one day.

Roles in the onboarding process

Successful onboarding is teamwork. New employees can only be integrated quickly if the various players in the company work together efficiently.

HR managers

You’re where everything comes together. You keep an eye on the entire onboarding process and take care of everything organizational: contract details, access data and important documents. You establish contact with the relevant departments, prepare training sessions and act as the first point of contact.

Line managers

The line manager mainly takes care of the professional aspects. What is the role of the new employee and what exactly are their tasks? What are the work processes? What is expected? The line manager clarifies all these points with the new employee and ensures a smooth integration.

Buddy/Mentor

Ideally, the new employee should be assigned a buddy or mentor as a contact person during onboarding. This role is best filled by an experienced employee who can help the new employee get started, clarify questions and uncertainties and facilitate integration into the new team.

Team members

The new team is crucial for the social integration of the new employee. If the team members ensure a positive start and a pleasant working atmosphere, trust will develop and the new employee will quickly feel at ease.

With an optimal onboarding process, everyone involved is aware of their responsibilities and fulfills their tasks to ensure the quick and positive integration of new employees.

If you know the expectations of applicants, you can optimally adapt your onboarding processes. You can find out exactly what applicants expect from managers and new colleagues in our study Managers and colleagues in onboarding.

Onboarding activities

We have seen the importance of onboarding for the long-term success of a hire and we have looked at the different phases and roles involved. But which specific onboarding activities are most important? We have put together some key measures:

• Welcome pack with advance information: Your new employees should receive a pack with all the important information before their first day at work.
• Welcome and introductory meeting: A detailed welcome meeting with the HR managers and the relevant manager is essential. This gives new employees a good overview of the company and enables them to better assess expectations.
• Team introduction: A short team introduction in a relaxed atmosphere lays the foundation for the subsequent integration of new employees.
• Training and familiarization: Familiarization with important processes, systems and tools is a key part of onboarding. You should prepare relevant access and devices in good time so that new employees can start without unnecessary delays.
• Regular feedback meetings: Regular communication with you as the HR manager and the respective manager is extremely important, especially at the beginning. It pays to listen carefully: this is how you find out whether the induction is progressing as planned. Open questions and uncertainties can be clarified at an early stage.
• Assigning a buddy or mentor: With a buddy or mentor, new employees usually find their way around their new environment more quickly and easily. The buddy should be given a clear area of responsibility and enough time for their work.

Onboarding software by softgarden

The importance of onboarding is often underestimated, even though it has a decisive influence on the long-term success of an employee: The impressions of the first 100 days in particular help determine whether talented employees stay with the company in the long term or not.

Onboarding software helps you to optimize the onboarding processes in your company. This increases the likelihood that your hard-won new hire will stay with the company for as long as possible and really identify with your company’s success.

With the onboarding solution by softgarden, you cover all the crucial aspects and inspire your new team members with customized onboarding:

• Automated messages and process templates: Keep everyone involved up to date – at all times, fully automatically and personally at the same time. Automate routine admin tasks and gain more time for people.
• Multilingual welcome page: The welcome page also provides remote employees with optimal onboarding. Customize the page to match your company’s corporate design and flexibly activate internal information at the desired time.
• Transparent task distribution: Assign tasks automatically, inform about new tasks and track the onboarding progress of new employees conveniently online.

With softgarden’s onboarding solution, you reduce training costs, increase employee retention and ensure that your new hires realize their full potential for your company as quickly as possible.

FAQ – Onboarding