Onboarding is your chance to turn a new hire’s excitement into lasting engagement. A strong start ensures that they feel connected to the team and ready to do great work from day one.
To get someone ready to hit the ground running in their new role, you’ll need more than just paperwork. Successful onboarding happens with a clear, structured process that works across time zones, respects cultural differences, and keeps you compliant with local laws no matter where your team members work. Without a systematic approach, productivity slows, and small compliance gaps can turn into big problems.
Inside this guide to onboarding best practices, you’ll find practical ways to streamline training while crafting an experience that makes people excited for their next steps.
10 employee onboarding best practices
You’ve followed the right steps for hiring new employees and found a rockstar ready to work with your team. But signing a contract isn’t the last thing to worry about in the hiring process. The onboarding experience needs to give every new hire the clarity and tools required to succeed, whether they’re in the office, working remotely, or joining from another country.
To help them thrive, here are 10 onboarding best practices you can adapt to fit your organization’s culture.
1. Start the process before day one
Onboarding doesn’t start on Monday morning, it starts the moment someone says “yes” to your offer. The time between their acceptance and the first day, also known as preboarding, is a golden opportunity to remove uncertainty and build excitement.
A quick welcome email from their manager, a small package of company swag, or a link to a digital portal with team intros and first-day details goes a long way. This is also the perfect time to sort out paperwork and tech access so their first day is about meeting people, not hunting for passwords.
2. Personalize the onboarding experience
People join your team as individuals, not job titles. A great onboarding process blends structure with personal touches that make them feel seen for who they are, not an interchangeable cog. That acknowledgement might look like a personal introduction to colleagues they’ll work with most or sending a short video welcome from their new team. The key is to keep it meaningful, not overwhelming.
3. Set goals and expectations early
Nobody likes guessing what success looks like in their new job. Early in the first week, define responsibilities and explain how you’ll measure performance. Clarity from the start gives new hires confidence in their daily tasks, helps them make better decisions, and keeps everyone’s expectations aligned.
4. Provide a structured framework
An onboarding plan that maps out the first weeks and months, combining training and role-specific milestones, helps new hires feel secure. Knowing what to expect and when to expect it creates scaffolding so everyone stays on track to meet or exceed expectations.
5. Train and involve managers from the start
Even the most polished onboarding program can fall flat if managers aren’t involved. Give them a clear role and the tools they need to welcome new hires, whether that’s regular check-ins or a walkthrough of key processes. Engaged managers help new hires settle in faster and feel more connected to the team.
6. Automate administrative tasks
Nothing kills enthusiasm like a mountain of forms. Use HR management software to take care of the routine tasks, such as onboarding forms, contracts, benefits enrollment, and payroll setup during preboarding. This way, new staff can spend their first days focusing on building relationships and learning the ropes.
7. Provide early access to tools and resources
If someone’s first week is spent waiting for logins or a laptop, you’re losing valuable momentum. Make sure they have the equipment, accounts, and role-specific tools they need from day one—or better yet, during preboarding.
It’s especially useful to have everything in the mail early when you’re onboarding remote employees across time zones. That way, they can get ahead of paperwork and independent training videos without having to wait for the rest of the team to wake up.
8. Assign onboarding buddies or mentors
A buddy or mentor gives new hires a friendly go-to person for all the questions that feel too small for a manager. It could be how to navigate a process, who to talk to about a project, or just where to find the best coffee nearby. This connection makes people feel like part of your culture faster, smoothing out the adjustment period.
For hybrid setups with intermittent office presence, following the best onboarding practices for hybrid teams ensures no one gets accidentally left out. These best practices include providing onboarding agendas that include location requirements, scheduling frequent check-ins face-to-face, and building a list of key contacts—like IT and the People team—to reach out to if they need anything while at home.
9. Gather continuous feedback
Intensive training may not last long, but onboarding isn’t something you finish after a week. Keep checking in, formally and informally, to see how things are going. Short surveys, quick chats, and one-on-one meetings will give you insight into what’s working and what needs improving so your team member sticks around long-term.
10. Extend onboarding beyond the first 30 days
It takes more than a month for some people to fully settle in. Keep the momentum moving with check-ins after 30, 60, and 90 days with the company and ongoing training and career conversations. A long onboarding timeline shows you’re invested in their long-term success.
Benefits of a great onboarding process
A well-designed onboarding plan makes a measurable difference for your business. It sets the tone for a positive employee experience, which is foundational for long-term engagement and company success. Some things a strong onboarding process improves are:
- Faster time to productivity: Structured, intentional onboarding helps new hires reach full performance up to 34% faster. Every moment saved means earlier contributions to team goals and revenue growth.
- Reduced churn rate and onboarding costs: Fast turnover eats into budgets. Replacing a single employee costs about 20% of their base salary, and 41% of organizations report more than 5% turnover among new hires.
- Improved employee engagement and retention: Onboarding quality lays the groundwork for long-term loyalty. A Gallup poll showed 68% of employees leave for reasons tied to engagement, culture, well-being, or work-life balance—all areas that a thoughtful staff onboarding process can strengthen.
- Positive word of mouth: An onboarding process that's smooth, supportive, and personal signals to new hires—and the market—that you value your people. Employees who have a strong start are more likely to share positive experiences with their networks, improving your brand image and making it easier to attract talent.
Onboarding checklist: What to include
Like any good checklist, an onboarding checklist takes the guesswork out of the process and tells new hires exactly what to expect in their first few weeks. You may need multiple lists, specialized for different stages of onboarding, like the following examples.
Preboarding tasks
Start off on the right foot by setting the new employee up with everything they’ll need before they arrive:
- Send a welcome email with first day details, including start time and arrival instructions (or login info for remote hires).
- Share and collect onboarding forms, contracts, and benefits enrollment documents, ideally in a digital, centralized system. An onboarding tracker keeps everything in one place and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks.
- Set up the team member’s workspace, whether that's shipped equipment for remote roles or a desk, phone, and computer on site.
- Grant access to key systems and company portals.
- Introduce them to their manager, buddy, or mentor so they have a friendly point of contact.
First week essentials
The first week is the time to establish expectations and help your new employee feel ready to thrive in their role. While there are some legally mandated steps you’ll need to take, use a well-defined and structured plan unique to your company culture to start strong:
- Schedule role-specific orientation that covers job duties, goals, and expectations.
- Provide training on core tools and processes they’ll use daily.
- Review company culture and communication norms, as well as company policies.
- Pair them with their buddy or mentor who can answer day-to-day questions.
First 30, 60, and 90-day checkpoints
A simple way to extend onboarding without overloading your new team member is to check in at major milestones, like the end of their first, second, and third months with the company. Each month should bring new development:
- 30 days: Review early contributions, answer questions, and address challenges. Confirm that they’ve completed required training.
- 60 days: Discuss progress toward initial goals and reinforce cultural alignment.
- 90 days: Evaluate overall performance and plan for next steps for career development within the company.
Measuring onboarding success
Tracking the right onboarding key performance indicators (KPIs) helps you see what’s working and where to improve:
- Time to productivity: Measure how long it takes new hires to reach expected performance levels.
- 90-day retention rate: Track how many employees remain after their first three months.
- Onboarding completion rate: Check what percentage of team members finish all required onboarding steps and training.
- New hire satisfaction score: Use surveys to gauge how employees rate their onboarding experience.
- First-year retention rate: See how many new hires stay with the company beyond the first year.
Common onboarding mistakes to avoid
Even the best hiring process can lose momentum if onboarding stumbles. Some of the most common missteps include:
- Leaving managers out of the loop: When managers aren’t ready to guide a new hire, first impressions suffer. Give them a heads up on what to cover—or, better yet, a checklist—and show them how they can make the first weeks count.
- Dumping too much too soon: Piling on information that doesn’t apply right away only leads to a new hire feeling overwhelmed. Start with the essentials, then add more as they settle in.
- Overlooking compliance in global hiring: Bringing in talent across borders? Skipping required paperwork or local legal checks can create big problems later.
- Not asking for feedback: If you never check in with your team, you won’t spot any early frustrations. Short surveys or quick chats can reveal insights you can act on fast.
- Making onboarding a one-day event: A welcome session is great, but it’s not enough to properly situate an employee. Stretch onboarding over the first few months to build skills, relationships, and confidence.
Simplify your onboarding process with Oyster
Hiring and onboarding across borders doesn’t have to be complicated. With Oyster, you can bring on talent from anywhere, handle payroll in multiple currencies, and give every team member the right benefits for where they live. It’s all managed on one platform so you can focus on welcoming people, not wrestling administrative tasks.
See how Oyster’s employer of record services can keep your team connected and supported from day one.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, engage, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
