40+ Employee Onboarding Templates and Resources to Make HR’s Life Easy

It’s the big day! A new set of fresh hires is coming on board. The load is swallowing you up. Where even to begin? Worry not! You’re going to have enough resources to streamline the onboarding process. Here.

Right now, you need a new hire onboarding template to take care of the entire process, from A to Z. An actionable template makes the process breezy. Seventy percent of employees with an exceptional onboarding experience love their job.

The best onboarding template is the one that’s relevant to the department and the role you’re hiring for. You can’t just plug and play one to suit all your needs. There are no fail-safe templates that work on all occasions.

So, here’s this collection of 36+ employee onboarding templates and resources that make your life easy. Pick the ones that fit your need the best. Make the new hires drool over the company culture right from the beginning.

But first, let’s understand the onboarding process.

What does the onboarding process consist of?

Onboarding varies from one organization to another. The tasks vary, and so does the period. Some companies get the onboarding done and dusted in a week, while others take 12+ months. Your onboarding workflow can be longer. And that’s fine.

*Duration of New Employee Onboarding (Source*)

The entire process is divided into the following five phases:

1. Pre-onboarding: Sign up the employees

As you make the offer, the bulk of the onboarding process starts. The new hire accepts the job offer and agrees on a start date. You notify the department head and admin and accounts team. Then, you collect all the relevant documents. You surf through the hundred forms and files as the new joinee waits for the first day at work.

2. Orientation: Acquaint them with the team

On the first day, you welcome the new employee and connect them with the department head and their manager. They walk them through the workplace policies, introduce them to the team and give them an overview of their responsibilities.

Read How to Create a Great Onboarding Experience

3. Role-specific training: Engage them in the work

After the introduction to the workplace, the joinee spends the next few days in training. They get onboarding training as per their responsibilities. They explore the different processes and workflows and build working relationships with their teammates.

4. Transitioning: Make them productive

After training, a new employee moves closer to being productive. During this phase, they get comfortable around their teammates. They start working towards the set performance goals. Then, they also learn and settle into the general atmosphere of the organization.

5. Review: Conduct regular follow-ups

New employees need help as they come across new challenges. That’s why regular follow-ups are necessary. These follow-ups and one-on-one sessions ensure they’re adjusting well. Better create your own onboarding documentation template and onboarding SOPs for a neat onboarding,

How does onboarding differ between departments

It might seem that an onboarding process will be the same for every department. Sorry to break your heart; it’s not. Because of differences in job roles and responsibilities, HRs might have to follow a slightly different route for every new onboard.

For example, the HR department should know about every employee under its wing. The HR (or team HR) might need 1:1 sessions with every department or individual. So, onboarding an HR is toilsome.

On the other hand, The IT team members don’t need that broad introduction. They’re better productive meeting just the key members and department heads. While onboarding IT teams, the priority is introducing them to the company’s tech and data.

Then, marketing, sales and support teams need a better walkthrough of products or services compared to other teams. And, of course, each unit has its own peculiar set of responsibilities.

Onboarding a new employee is an experience that is full of surprises.

The challenge is to not see all those surprises as negative.
— Rebecca G B (@rgbrizi) August 29, 2022

An HR team must be aware of all aspects. You need to know how everything works to hire for all the different departments, job roles and levels.

General onboarding process checklists

Onboarding is specific to each role and department. Still, a few things apply to all the hiring flows. These tips ensure that your onboarding experience is the best it can be:

Add employee details to your system.
Send a welcome email along with their welcome package.
Set up 1:1 meetings with managers ahead of the start date.
Provide a brief of their responsibilities.
Introduce them to team members.
Provide necessary training as required.
Establish the goals and expectations.
Schedule regular check-ins over the next 90 days.

Here’s an example onboarding checklist suggested by Catherine Maheux-Rochette, Digital Marketing Director and Manager at Folks:

*New Employee Onboarding Checklist (Source*)

Download the Employee Onboarding Checklist from Folks HR

Few other helpful onboarding templates:

Back-to-office onboarding checklists

Streamlined onboarding for returning employees (or reboarding) is as crucial as onboarding new hires. It’s not the same as onboarding.

The needs of returning employees are different from that of new joinees. When someone returns after a long sabbatical or transitions to a new job role, they need to acclimatize. But they don’t need a full-on orientation.

Most recently, re-onboarding has been essential to put people back into form after the COVID-19 disruption. Jo Taylor, Managing Director of Let’s Talk Talent, has a practical checklist for post-pandemic re-onboarding.

Employee Re-onboarding Checklist (Source)

Download the Employee Re-onboarding Checklist from Let’s Talk Talent.

Few other resources for getting employees up to speed:

Onboarding templates for managers

Managers and senior executives are hired to make crucial organizational changes and drive growth. Their performance has a compounding impact on the company. So, the onboarding process needs to be carefully planned.

Here’s a quick checklist to onboard managers:

Send a welcome letter confirming essential information.
Update the team, supervisors and stakeholders.
Prepare office space and company accounts’ access.
Brief them about organizational culture, structure and policies.
Provide information about team members and key stakeholders.
Schedule welcome meetings with colleagues and organization leaders.
Hand over all the necessary paperwork and guidelines.
Schedule regular check-ins to gauge progress.

Proper onboarding ensures managers set the stage for success early. It helps them embody the company’s mission, culture, and standards.

Few more manager onboarding templates and checklists:

Onboarding templates for sales teams

Sales onboarding aims to fast-track the new hires’ learning and make them productive. The main focus is on training the sales reps and executives. And the onboarding process must prepare the force right from day one.

Here’s a quick checklist for onboarding sales teams:

Send a welcome letter with crucial details about products and services.
Set up 1:1 meetings with key managers.
Give an overview of the sales cycle.
Brief them about the customer base.
Involve them in product and service presentations.
Provide necessary training as required.
Establish the goals and expectations.
Schedule regular check-ins over the next 90 days.

A sales onboarding process nurtures the skills of the right talent. It prepares the team to get active fast.

Another thing to remember is that fast-paced training can exhaust the reps. And half-baked grooming can jeopardize sales and customer relationships. So, effective sales onboarding must ensure the right pace.

Few comprehensive sales onboarding checklists and templates:

Onboarding templates for IT department

IT plays a crucial role in daily processes. It’s the backbone of the entire company’s tech. Thus, onboarding in IT is different from other onboarding processes. It helps new employees to know the IT infrastructure and processes as quickly as possible.

IT onboarding focuses on training the new joinees on the tech. A formal IT onboarding process reduces friction while training.

Few resources to streamline the process for new IT hires:

Virtual onboarding process checklists

As per Buffer’s 2022 State of Remote Work report, 49 percent of companies are currently fully remote. An additional 23 percent have a remote-first working model. So, you must re-design the onboarding processes to nurture a productive hybrid workforce.

Onboarding remote employees comes with unique challenges. And replicating the traditional onboarding format doesn’t work.

Here’s a brief remote onboarding checklist:

Send a welcome email.
Parcel remote work equipment.
Share company swag with a welcome letter.
Add them to your communication platforms.
Prepare a virtual meeting with the team.
Review job responsibilities and expectations.
Gather remote employee onboarding feedback.
Schedule regular check-ins over the next few days.

Meenu KM, HR Manager at Blusteak Media, uses a checklist inspired by the following guide.

Download the 11 Steps to Onboarding New Employees Remotely from Udemy Business

She also suggests documenting all relevant information and procedures for the remote hires. They should have details of their reporting manager, emergency contact and teammates they’ll be working with.

Few other remote onboarding resources to help you:

Standard onboarding best practices

Welcome employee onboarding speeds up the time to productivity and reduces training costs. It also increases job satisfaction.

Following are the best practices for a new hire onboarding plan:

Ensure that your checklist covers all the necessary topics.
Deliver all information in non-overwhelming digestible chunks.
Make the new hire feel like a part of the team right from day one.
Help the new hire by setting up their workspace in advance.
Make the first-day experience magical for the new hire.
Pair the new hire with a buddy to make them comfortable.
Ensure that the new hire finishes their first week feeling good.
Track the effectiveness of your onboarding program.

Improve the onboarding experience with Scribe

Use Scribe to create training manuals that work best for you. You can generate and share step-by-step guides for any process. Scribe helps you automate and document processes 15x faster. With Scribe, you make onboarding easy for new hires.

Talon.One used Scribe to ramp new hires across eight time zones

Apart from creating guides, you can churn out SOPs and checklists. You can also throw all training materials together on Scribe Pages to create a resource database. It’s easy to share internally or over the internet.

Other essential onboarding resources

Onboarding is a lot more than following twenty onboarding templates and checklists. Here are a few other resources we put together for your reference:

Save 20+ hours a month explaining, training & answering quick questions. Send a Scribe instead.

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Introduction

But first, let’s understand the onboarding process.