A lot goes into onboarding programs — like signing legal documents, conducting orientation and introductions and implementing training — so it’s easy to miss a step. That’s where standard operating procedures (SOPs) come in, as these documents help you outline the entire onboarding process. With these resources, you can successfully integrate new employees into your organization.

In this article, we’ll cover how to build effective onboarding SOPs that standardize your process.

What’s an SOP for Onboarding?

SOPs are process documents that provide employees with instructions on how to complete a workflow. They include process steps, helpful resources and relevant team member contact details. 

Onboarding SOPs typically focus on one of two audiences: 

• HR teams: These documents aim to help HR representatives familiarize new employees with the company. Instructions cover tasks like setting up workplace accounts, scheduling meetings and completing paperwork for the recruit.
• New hires: SOPs for incoming employees explain the inner workings of the business and role. For instance, these resources can cover company policies, training sessions and daily tasks.

No matter which type of guide you create, reviewing SOP examples and onboarding SOP templates is a great way to get started.

Why Are SOPs Important in Onboarding?

While SOPs affect onboarding programs in many ways, here are the most impactful benefits:

• Alignment: New hires will understand the company’s expectations from the first day. 
• Efficiency: Following defined guidelines improves training speed and productivity.
• Clarification: Specific instructions reduce onboarding challenges like errors and miscommunications.
• Compliance: Onboarding SOPs include steps like completing tax paperwork to align with hiring regulations and protect the company from legal issues.
• Acclimation: Clear guidelines minimize confusion and allow employees to perform tasks efficiently from the start, helping them adjust to their roles quickly.
• Consistency: Standardizing the process ensures every new employee receives the same high-quality training and orientation.
• Structure: SOPs organize processes and paperwork during a hectic time, helping new hires understand their responsibilities and managers keep track of critical documentation.

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How To Write an SOP for Effective Onboarding: 5 Steps

To write clear, actionable onboarding SOPs, follow these five steps.

1. Determine Your Goals

Start by gathering your team for a brainstorming session to identify your objectives. Discuss your current onboarding process, determine what works and what doesn’t and map out your ideal program. 

If you need inspiration for goals, consider the four C’s of onboarding:

• Compliance: Ensure employees are aware of legal concerns and company policies.
• Clarification: Eliminate ambiguity and make sure every employee understands their role.
• Culture: Reinforce organizational values and educate new hires on company norms.
• Connection: Foster a sense of belonging and help new hires build relationships with their colleagues.

Say your current employee welcome package has seven separate manuals — a serious case of information overload that causes new hires to ask several questions. To improve clarification, set a goal to condense this content to help new hires feel less overwhelmed and ease the workload on managers.

2. Build a Solid Outline

Collect all the tasks and duties in your onboarding program and begin structuring them in a comprehensive, logical order. While you outline your SOP, think about the process from start to finish — this is a great time to reorganize your current methods.

As you map out your procedure, consider which steps apply to different roles. Knowing your audience helps you structure and write the SOP and ensures you separate your procedures into comprehensive sections. For instance, new hires need job-specific training, while IT professionals would set up tool access. 

3. Break the Process Down Into Small Steps

Divide each stage of the process into small, digestible steps. SOPs must be straightforward, so it’s vital to break them down until they’re easy to follow. 

For example, listing broad instructions like “Send out paperwork” is too vague. Instead, write detailed steps, such as: 

• Assemble the following paperwork: (List the documents here).
• Email the documents to the candidate two weeks before their start date.
• Ensure they’ve filled out the paperwork by one week before their first day.
• Send the paperwork to the hiring manager for their signature.
• Store the completed documents in the following folder: (Link to proper storage folder).
  

4. Give Your SOP a Trial Run

Before you release your onboarding SOP, have your team review and test it. Ask them for detailed feedback and revise your procedures accordingly. 

This step works best if you have the relevant team offer their input, as they’re more familiar with the process. HR representatives can review your new orientation SOP, and employees in the same role as the new hire can double-check the accuracy of daily process SOPs.

5. Review and Update Regularly

Regularly update your SOPs based on new organizational policies and employee feedback. It’s a great idea to ask new hires for their feedback on the onboarding process — this gives you firsthand insights and shows people you value their opinions.

We recommend scheduling reviews so you remember to check on your SOPs. Your first update should be three months after creation to incorporate your team’s initial opinions and feedback. But after the guides are in regular use, they should only need an annual review.

Tips for Creating the Best SOP Onboarding Documents

Take your procedures beyond technical requirements using these best practices.

Use the Right Software

Building procedures takes time and effort, so write an SOP with software to speed up the process and increase accuracy. 

AI tools like Scribe lift the burden, creating effective SOPs as you work. Turn on our browser extension and go through normal onboarding processes, like moving workflow items on your PM tool, and Scribe generates step-by-step guides with annotated screenshots.

You can then add these actionable guides to your SOP database or download them and send PDFs straight to your HR team.

Include Visual Aids

Visual aids convey information in multiple ways to support different learning styles. Employees who don’t understand text instructions as well can view screenshots and embedded videos for more insights. 

Include whichever media works best for your processes, such as screenshots, videos, GIFs, graphs and charts. Screenshots show employees precisely what should be on their screens, and videos help them see their role in action. For instance, a video clip can show customer service reps how to close and archive an open ticket.

Create Feedback Channels

Implementing user feedback is the best way to improve your SOPs, so make it easy to collect suggestions. By reviewing employee input during the test run, you can catch mistakes and make minor adjustments. These comments also help long after your SOP is in regular use. For instance, one of your new hires may use a different browser or operating system, which could affect how they complete tasks.

Scribe has two main ways to collect feedback: emoji reactions and comments. Team members can react with applause to show their appreciation or give more details through a custom comment. With these features, employees can share their thoughts on a process as they complete it in real time, so feedback is specific and relevant.

Include Links To Crucial Resources

Provide easy access to other employee SOPs and documents through your procedures. This eases navigation and makes them even more valuable. 

In HR SOPs, provide links to information like onboarding email templates, benefits enrollment forms and training materials. In onboarding documents for new hires, list other essential resources, such as company policies and employee handbooks. We also recommend linking to your company directory for quick access to contact details. 

Regardless of the audience, every SOP should also direct users back to your knowledge base so folks can quickly navigate between different onboarding documents and revisit other procedures if needed.

Use the Checklist Format

There are four main types of SOP formats, but we recommend the checklist style for onboarding SOPs to help new hires visually manage their tasks. It’s easy for recruits to forget all their assignments during this exciting but overwhelming time, so new employee onboarding checklists allow them to keep track of tasks by ticking boxes as they go. This format also tells the HR team where new employees are in the onboarding process.

Checklists also enhance collaboration for HR SOPs. When each team member ticks off actions as they go, colleagues know when it’s their turn to jump in. For example, as soon as the HR manager sends the welcome email, the IT specialist knows it’s time to set up account permissions for the new hire.

How To Choose the Right Onboarding SOP Template

Use an SOP onboarding template to speed up the process. A ready-to-use outline ensures you don’t miss any crucial steps, especially if you’re new to writing procedures.

But not all onboarding templates are created equally, so here are our top considerations when choosing an SOP template:

• Customization: Templates should be flexible, allowing you to easily edit the structure and add essential resources.
• Implementation support: Templates should have quick access to customer support or a thorough knowledge base to answer questions you might have.
• Company cultural match: SOPs should suit your organizational culture, so make sure your template aligns with the rest of your company material. For example, a law firm may need a more formal, hierarchical outline than a small bakery.
• Comprehensive sections: Your template should cover every onboarding stage and vital resource, including orientation, training and employee handbooks.
• Accessibility: Templates should be user friendly and logically organized, enhancing understanding and knowledge retention.

Get started today by downloading Scribe’s HR Onboarding Guide template:

Set New Employees up for Success With Scribe

Detailed written SOPs eliminate confusion by outlining company policies and making onboarding more efficient. But there are so many steps to onboarding that it can be difficult to properly explain them all. 

Scribe makes it easy to describe these tasks, as our SOP generator instantly transforms any process into an actionable, sharable guide. Turn on our tool, complete a process as usual and watch our software create step-by-step instructions with accompanying screenshots. You can also jump into our library and use one of our many onboarding SOP templates.

Sign up for Scribe for free and enhance operational efficiency today.