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OnboardingChecklist

Table of Contents
Onboarding best practices—from start to finish

3

Pre-boarding: A hidden opportunity

4

Roll out the welcome wagon

6

Demonstrate your culture at every opportunity

8

Keep things simple—eliminate paperwork

9

Develop a (flexible) structure for the first few weeks

11

Take extra time with remote workers

13

Get feedback—and act on it!

14

Take your time—support employees until they’re comfortable

15

The ultimate onboarding checklist

16

Onboarding best practices—from start to finish
In our 2022 small business forecast, we found talent scarcity and high employee turnover are two of thebiggest challenges organizations face. To retain new hires, it’s important to engage your employees from thestart and the companies that are managing to hire effectively right now are changing their processes to do it.

But how can you ensure new hires have easy access to the information they need to hit the ground running—
so they stay engaged, productive, and ready to work? 

The answer—A strong onboarding process.

Imagine if every new starter—whether they’re remote, hybrid, or in the office—had everything set up, planned,
and prepared for them on day one. Everyone’s been introduced and knows what they’re here to do, all starterdocuments are signed and ready to go, and your new hire has been briefed on what to expect in the first few
weeks on the job. 

Onboarding sets your employees up for success, so your new, fresh-faced team member can start their job
with the confidence they need to be productive from the get-go. Ultimately, a positive onboarding experience
results in employees who are more devoted to your company. But first, you need to create an onboarding
checklist that works—here’s how you can get started.

Just here for the checklist?
Take the fast lane

Pre-boarding: A hidden opportunity
Begin at hire, not day 1. Employee pre-boarding is the secret to engagement as it
gives new hires a chance to become excited and informed before they formally
start.

Onboarding begins here
So you’ve hired a new employee, great! Soon you’ll haveanother member of the team to help push your businessforward. But first, you’ve got to set them up for their new roleand prepare them for the road ahead. And you must do thisbefore their first day.

Draft a welcome email
You need to make your new hire feel included and informed.
Start by creating a welcome email that details everything a
new hire needs to get up to speed as fast as possible. Got acompany handbook? Share it. Got any upcoming work
events? Share them. This will help your new hires feel
welcome and also gives them time to understand all theirrequired reading. Set out what they can expect from their firstday, be as clear as possible, and ask if they have anyquestions.

Check access permissions
Next, set up all access permissions and invite new employees
to get comfortable with the software, tools, and systems
they’ll be using as part of their job. It’s always best to checkand double-check access before they start, just in case you’ve
missed one or something goes wrong.

Set up their workstation
Regardless of whether your new hire is working in or out of
the office, you’ll need to set up their workstation so they’ve
got everything they need to hit the ground running. If you’ve
got company-issued equipment, ensure it’s sent out to remote
employees early so it arrives in time.

Get your paperwork in order
Lastly, get all pre-boarding paperwork like payroll and tax
forms signed as quickly as possible. You can make this easy
for your new hires by using an automated workflow tool thatlets them sign paperwork on the go. If you get all of thetransactional stuff out of the way early, you’ll clear the pathfor your employee’s first day and get them excited to kickthings off with your company.

Roll out the welcome wagon
72% of employees think one-on-one time with their direct manager is the mostimportant part of any onboarding process and is essential for getting themramped up and ready to work.

Establish an onboarding team
The first day is incredibly important for any new hire,so you need to get it right and make them feel
welcome. We recommend assembling a well-rounded
onboarding team and assigning them a “buddy” tomake sure everything goes off without a hitch.
Bringing together members across different
disciplines ensures you’ve got all bases covered. Your
resident IT expert can help set up their (in-office orvirtual) workspace, HR can handle benefits and leave,and management can help establish expectations.

Draft a schedule
A schedule helps employees know exactly what
to expect. Make sure you work in that one-onone time with their direct manager (either inperson or video) so you work through any issues
and iron out the kinks. This will be a chance torun through company culture, the employee
handbook, and expectations for their first week.

Make introductions

Make sure you set up meetings and introductions

with the team, either in-person or over a video

platform like Microsoft Teams or Zoom. It’s worth

sending out an email with a brief bio of the new hire

before, just so employees are prepared.

Go the extra mile

Making a new hire’s day extra special can do wonders

for morale and retention. You could encourage people

from your team to film a quick welcome video, ordertheir favorite food from a delivery service (likeDoorDash) and deliver it in time for lunch, or change

your Zoom backgrounds to images of their favorite TV

show. These gestures may seem minor, but they’ll go along way to making their first day unforgettable.

Demonstrate your culture at every
opportunity
Studies show that companies with winning organizational cultures have 72%
higher employee engagement ratings than organizations with weak ones.

Personalize yourcommunications

Be transparent

Your onboarding process is a great way to let youryou’re not. When it comes to company

company culture shine through—and the best

culture, you can’t fake it till you make it.

place to start is through your communications

Pretty soon, your employees will see throughwith a new hire. So, add a personal touch to all

you if you’re not clear and transparent withmessages, emails, and more—taking every

what it’s like to work at your business. To

opportunity to make each hire feel special. Whenbuild a culture of trust, you should keep anan employee feels like part of a network, they feel

open dialogue at all times, invite feedback,compelled to ask questions, share theirand share all news (good or bad!) with yoursuccesses, and promote your business.

employees.

Share your mission, vision,and values
Poorly communicated company values canderail a company’s progress toward strategic
objectives. When each employee has adifferent understanding of your goals, it’s muchharder for them to arrive at the samedestination. Tell the story of your company andexplain to your new hire why it’s exactly theplace they belong.

There’s no use in pretending to be something

Keep things simple—eliminate paperwork
On average, new hires have over 50 activities to complete during onboarding, andfilling out extensive paperwork and documentation eats up a considerable
number of those tasks.

Employ automated workflows to consolidate actions
Physical and PDF forms are hard to complete and often filled out incorrectly because they're complex,
redundant, and time-consuming to fill out. Using an automated workflow tool can alleviate these headaches.
Dropbox Forms, for example, replaces PDFs with a series of easy-to-follow questions designed to becompleted on mobile devices. With intelligent pre-programmed forms, duplicated information collection likename and address is automatically filled out in repeat fields, which means new hires get paperwork done
faster. Plus, you can easily track document status all from within Dropbox Forms, so if something gets stuck,
you can remedy it quickly.

Use eSignatures toeliminate signing delays
Sending out paper documents for signature andwaiting for them to be returned slows down theonboarding process, which can be frustrating for
new hires. To keep them happy, you need tomake signing simple. That’s where eSignatures
come in. With an eSignature solution like
Dropbox Sign, your hires can sign documents
online, anywhere, anytime—even on mobile. This
makes onboarding a breeze and can cut down
delays significantly.

Make the most of document
templates
If you’re a growing company, then you know
onboarding requires many of the same documents
every time you hire a new employee—tax forms,
benefits forms, NDAs, and on and on. But finding
and editing these forms every time is timeconsuming and inefficient. With Templates in
Dropbox Sign, you can create these documents
once and then reuse them as many times as youneed. This effectively automates your busiest
work, so you can focus less on paperwork andmore time keeping your new hires engaged.

Develop a (flexible) structure

for the first few weeks
Everyone works differently. And with remote and hybrid work becoming
incredibly popular, you need to structure a new hire’s first few weeks withflexibility in mind.

Give employees clear goals
Goals, milestones, and objectives are key during onboarding, as it gives your employees tangible targets toaim for during the first few weeks of work. Even simple goals like making 10 calls or sending 20 follow-up
emails can help motivate staff to kick it up a notch. You should also consider making SMART goals for
personal development. These are usually more specific long-term goals that you’ll spend time creating withyour new employee.

Combine structure withflexibility
While it’s important your new hires know exactly
what’s expected of them, it’s equally important togive them a level of flexibility. 

For instance, if work often has certain deadlines
but could otherwise be done any time of day,allowing flexible hours can be a huge benefit. If
work is often solo, likewise for allowing hybrid orremote. Maybe they’d prefer to work 6-3 insteadof the traditional 9-5. Perhaps they want to work
remotely 3 days a week. Even if flexible hoursaren’t possible for types of shift and retail work,
perhaps it’s possible to add flexibility to when
and where non-in-person tasks, like admin, canbe done. Whatever their concerns, if you’reaccommodating, it can go a long way in helping
them be happy and engaged.

Set up regular touch-points
To keep track of how your new hires are settling in, you should plan regular meetings to go over performancebenchmarks. Some companies use a 30/60/90 plan. The plan sets expectations of what they should
accomplish in their first 30, 60, and 90 days and checks in with employees about how they’re tracking
towards these goal. Alongside discussing this document each month, try and meet with your new hires once aweek for the first couple of weeks. That way, they’ll have a chance to bring up any issues with progress
promptly, so they don’t fall behind.

Take extra time with remote workers
Not surprisingly, 50% of remote workers feel lonely at least once per week. Being
part of a community—even a virtual one—helps chip away at isolation andreduces anxiety when starting a new job. So, set them up for success by:

Ensuring they have the right tools for remote hires to work effectively — tools like video conferencing
mean employees can still have face-to-face time with colleagues, chat so they can reach out at any time,and, if you’re across the world, visibility of everyone’s calendars so they know who’s online when.

Reaching out regularly and offering support—not just in a professional sense, but also making time tocheck in on how they’re settling into the role

Being open to flexible working. That might mean rethinking how you measure work. Is it hours spent or
results and outputs? If it’s results, then flexibility becomes about ensuring that work gets done on time,and less about managing how or when it’s done.

Get feedback—and act on it!
Only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job of
onboarding new employees—88% don’t think their organizations do a great job.
That leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Ask for feedback
throughout onboarding
Maintaining a dialogue with new hires
throughout your onboarding process is critical.
Any feedback (good or bad) will help you tweak
and improve your onboarding checklist going
forward. So take the time to listen to your newhires and ask them what worked well, what
didn’t work so well, and what they’d like done
differently if they could start the process overagain.

Set up a post-onboarding
surveyA great way to gather feedback from youremployees is by running a post-onboarding
survey. By using a simple rating scale from 1-10,
you can get invaluable insights into engagement,
organizational alignment, culture, and more. Bethorough, but don’t bombard them with so manyquestions that they feel compelled to skip
through.

Take your time—support employees
until they’re comfortable
Don’t stop after a week. Onboarding can take anywhere up to a year, so you must
continue to give employees support until they feel completely comfortable on
their own.
At this point, your employees should be gaining confidence in their new roles. While the hard part is behindyou, the work isn’t done yet. Even though onboarding tasks will start to wind down, it’s important to continue
to give your employees support.

Continue to support new hires
Some employees will take a longer to adjust to a new job thanothers, so don’t rush things. In the coming weeks, be on handto answer questions, provide further training, and offer
guidance where it’s needed. It’s during this time that you’ll
likely pass the onboarding baton from HR over to otherdepartments — to help employees understand the more
intricate parts of the business and any opportunities foradvancement.

Take as much time as you need
Ultimately, your onboarding checklist will account for asmuch time as you need. but it’s always a good idea to keep
checking in with your employees every few months for the
first year to see if they have any concerns.

The ultimate onboarding checklist
Now you’ve got actionable advice on creating an engaging onboarding experience that works. But let’s behonest, even with the best practices in mind, putting advice into action isn’t easy. To help, we’ve put together
a comprehensive checklist of things to things to do throughout the onboarding process—so you can tickthings off as you go. 

Don’t be afraid to add your own and build out a comprehensive list for your business!

Before day one
Assemble a cross-functional onboarding
team and introduce their “buddy”
Make sure you and the new hire’s supervisor
are aligned on role, goals, andresponsibilities
Get all the legal forms and documents filledoutPrepare employee's in-office or virtualworkstation

On day one
Make sure your team knows they’rearriving and have the hiring manager
ready to greet them
Formally welcome them to the team andmake introductions
Start their training workflow
Have them scheduled to meet one-on-one
with management to address expectations
eview and demonstrate company culture

R

Give access to any tools, devices, doors, etc.
they will need
Create accounts for them on any software
they’ll need to do their job remotely
Draft a comprehensive welcome email
Send any manifestos, handbooks, or articles
out for new hires to read
Provide a copy of the job description withresponsibilities

Make sure they meet their buddy virtuallyor in person
Go the extra mile and make them feel
specialDuring the first week
Get them going on their first real work projectGo over expectations for the following month
Schedule at least one touch point to collect feedback and answer questions
Encourage them to communicate with their point person

During the first month
Have several touch points with you, management, and their buddy already planned
Explain long-term, high-level company goals so they are aligned on direction and culture
Provide reading material for personal growth
Set up a few small in-person or virtual events to encourage them to socially interact with the teamAsk for feedback on your onboarding checklist

After three months
Schedule an informal performance review
Review past and future assignments to ensure alignment
Review former performance goals and set new expectations
Give and ask for feedback again
Check employee progress on training
Discuss the end of their probationary period and expectations afterward
Check in on how they’re feeling about company culture and how they fit into itAfter six monthsConduct a six-month performance review
Review employee goals and progress so far
Set goals and objectives for the next six months
Check that employee has received all necessary training
Open the door for honest feedback
Make sure they still feel a strong cultural connection

After one year
Conduct a yearly performance review
Recognize their first year at the company and review how they met expectations
Discuss goals, projects, and plans for the upcoming year
Discuss compensation and raise policies
Ask for—and listen to—feedback on your onboarding checklist and company culture
Congrats, you made it to the year-one milestone! Look forward to the next awesome year ofworking together

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