Best Employee Onboarding Examples from Top Companies

Hiring new employees can be stressful on both sides. That’s why companies put time and effort into their onboarding process. Understanding what is onboarding and implementing it effectively can make all the difference in the hiring process.

It’s important to have an effective onboarding process, not only for employee turnover but for employee satisfaction and employee engagement in the long run. Successful onboarding sets the foundation for long-term retention and productivity.

Tips for Great Employee Onboarding

1. Share information that will impact New Starters in their First Week

When you’ve finally chosen the person to fulfill the position and after offer acceptance, it’s important to communicate what your expectations will be for the first week. This onboarding information should include work hours, performance expectations, and key details from the employee handbook.

The first week at work can be stressful, learning new ways of doing things, trying to find the quietest bathroom, and finding the best place to order lunch from are all issues they’d have to deal with. Adding a few curveballs to the mix, especially when the rest of the office knew about it, won’t make them feel any better. A comprehensive new hire checklist and onboarding checklist can help ensure nothing is overlooked during this critical first impression.

2. Make their first day comfortable

There’s nothing worse than showing up for your first day of work, and no one knows about your arrival, who you are, or where you’re supposed to go. Poor onboarding can damage the new hire experience from the start.

Make sure co-workers are expecting a new employee, and prepare their workspace for them. This includes business cards, necessary equipment, and access to the learning platform.

Don’t worry about dressing it up, just give them their space and whatever provisions they’d need to get started. Consider providing an employee handbook that outlines company values and organizational culture.

If possible, you could even call a quick meeting for new hire orientation to welcome the new employee and introduce them to the people they’d be working closest with, including their direct supervisor. This team bonding opportunity helps with new hire engagement.

3. Assign newcomers a work partner

Starting a new job can already be a stressful time, there’s no need to add more stress to new employees by leaving them by themself in this new environment. An onboarding buddy or mentorship program can significantly improve the new hire experience.

Instead, ask current employees if anyone would be interested in assisting the new employee for the first few weeks through job shadowing and guidance.

The current employees will understand the key roles of the business and what the performance expectations of the new employee would be. Having an onboarding buddy to watch over them, or help them when they have any questions within the workplace that don’t need upper management to solve is a great way to lessen the stress of starting a new job. This structured onboarding approach ensures consistent support.

4. Plan probation management

Plan the probationary period for any new employees with clear onboarding process steps and an onboarding timeline.

A great way to plan their probation is by setting some goals that you’d like them to achieve. Don’t make them anything serious, instead make them fun, and sociable, but still related to work somehow.

You could ask them to talk to a new co-worker each day for a week. Simple tasks that will boost their morale, as well as help them bond with co-workers through team bonding activities.

You should however plan what their role in your company is after the probationary period and look at whether they work well within the group and with their co-workers. Their role within the company should be discussed with them during check-in meetings throughout the probation period. Regular performance reviews and onboarding evaluation help track progress.

That’s the reason probation periods exist. Sometimes a certain person just does not mix well with the organizational culture or work ethic.

Companies are always on the lookout for recruits, especially those with skills and experience that relate to the position that needs filling. Businesses have even turned to social media to recruit new employees like Facebook and LinkedIn.

If your company does use LinkedIn, here are LinkedIn toolsthat will help you get the best results from your next recruitment campaign on LinkedIn.

There are plenty of companies that use these tips and more for their structured onboarding program, ensuring effective onboarding for all new hires.

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13 Great Employee Onboarding Examples

1. Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice is a digital company that offers software to companies that would like to display user-generated content on their websites.

Bazaarvoice’s formal onboarding process is quite simple but very effective, combining onboarding and orientation seamlessly.

All employees must attend on-site onboarding classes before starting work at the company. These classes will include the inner workings of whichever role the employee will take, as well as company structure, rules, and organizational culture. This formal onboarding ensures everyone understands workplace safety protocols and harassment policies.

The classes aren’t split between different levels of employees, which creates a great learning environment that is free from any prejudice.

They’ve even adopted a fun game called onboarding scavenger hunt, which helps with employee development and team bonding.

2. Netflix

Netflix has amassed a massive user base since its humble beginnings in 1997. How you might ask?

Netflix has a solid reputation for treating its employees well. They put a lot of time and effort into finding positive ways to boost employee productivity, building trust with their employees through their employee value proposition, and an overall focus on growing the company.

Netflix has an excellent onboarding program that starts from day one.

All new employees are greeted with a desk and laptop ready at their disposal before they even get to work. All necessities are accounted for, including necessary forms like the I-9 form and W-4 form. Call it a starting gift.

Offering an employee everything they need and a space to work on day one should be an important thing more companies strive to do. This attention to detail creates a positive first impression.

Not only will employees feel important from day one, but they will be more productive from day one. Their effective onboarding program includes clear information about paid time off and benefits.

3. PepsiCo

PepsiCo, the famous beverage company, is well known for trying to bring the fun factor when it comes to employee training and onboarding new team members.

PepsiCo has integrated a cloud-based learning platform that provides new employees with all kinds of educational videos, webinars, and instructional posts about things at work. This structured onboarding program follows clear onboarding process steps.

Included are quizzes and other supporting material that make finding answers to questions at work a bit more fun and easier. The system also includes compliance training modules to ensure all regulatory requirements are met.

This software was designed by a company called Appical, which specializes in HR technology and is based in Amsterdam.

PepsiCo also believes in the buddy system. This is when a company teams up new employees with old employees so that they can help them around the company until they get the hang of things. This effective onboarding process ensures onboarding success for all new hires.

4. Grubhub

The food delivery app GrubHub has been going strong for a long time. It’s no surprise that they are so successful with their focus on employee engagement.

Grubhub has an excellent introductory video that answers all questions any potential employees might have about the company values and culture.

It’s not long, has all the onboarding information needed, and keeps your attention.

Their onboarding process involves an introductory video for new hires and potential applicants, serving as part of their preboarding process.

With more businesses going fully online, we will certainly be seeing more introductory videos like this for onboarding new employees soon, especially for deskless employees and frontline employees.

5. Vodafone

A telecom giant that employs people worldwide surely understands the importance of a great onboarding experience and successful onboarding strategies.

While other companies have complex frameworks and documentation, Vodafone created its employee onboarding application with pre-start engagement features.

Vodafone knows what they want from their onboarding process and designed it themselves from the ground up, creating an effective onboarding program.

Vodafone has created an app that guides their new employees through the onboarding process. In the app, new applications fill in the required information, before they are greeted with all the important onboarding information regarding working at Vodafone. This preboarding process begins before the official start date.

Vodafone is also proud of its employee ambassador projects. Employee ambassador projects are when a company encourages employees to promote their brand or product.

Vodafone UK launched their Go Social project for employees who would like to share Vodafone-related content on social media. Employees can even submit their content for approval. There are plenty of other ways you can use ambassador programs for onboarding and in onboarding programs and general business.

6. Verisys

When the Covid pandemic hit, many companies found themselves in a difficult position. They would not be able to close the doors but needed to find ways to keep the workforce productive and communicating.

Remote working would be the solution for most businesses, including frontline employees and deskless employees.

Working remotely presented plenty of problems since many employees might not have the correct equipment or know how to use remote work software.

Verisys created video tutorials for their workforce to help them set up their computers and workspace correctly for remote work. This learning platform approach ensured effective onboarding even during challenging times.

Verisys also made sure that any equipment needed was delivered to employees’ homes through automated enrollment systems. They even sent out a welcome package to any new employees, maintaining a positive new hire experience.

7.Google

Google is a massive company with over 130,000 people working for them across the world. Running a company this big takes a lot of managerial prowess and an effective onboarding process.

Google’s workaround to introducing new employees into their massive work family is quite simple through their structured onboarding program.

They keep up to date with their new employees by engaging with them through regular check-in meetings and performance reviews.

Google will remind employees of their goals and the steps they need to take to get to them. Obviously, they won’t want you going from zero to a hundred immediately, but little constant, funny reminders of your goals are a great way to stay engaged with your employees, as well as boost their productivity. This approach to new hire engagement has proven highly effective.

These reminders are split between gentle, timely, relevant, and easy to execute, following clear stages of onboarding.

Google is also a fan of using employee referrals when it comes to finding recruits. They would constantly keep in touch with employees about new positions and whether they know any people that might fit the role.

8. Apple

Apple is no stranger to finding interesting approaches regarding its onboarding process and creating memorable first impressions.

New employees are gifted a welcome package and a “class of” shirt, which acts as a reminder of when you started working at the company.

What makes their approach more interesting is what’s included in the welcome gift.

All Apple employees are given a brand-new MacBook, which sounds like a dream come true! But, there’s a catch.

The MacBooks gifted have not been set up at all. New employees will have to ask other staff members for help, as well as use their skill set to get everything they need working on their brand-new MacBook.

It’s a great way to motivate new employees to ask for help, as well as a challenge with a clear end goal that is achievable in a short period. This unique onboarding evaluation method helps assess problem-solving skills and willingness to collaborate.

9. Quora

Quora is a big believer in the mentorship program approach to onboarding.

The Q&A website assigns a current employee to mentor a new employee for a set period. Mentors are usually the best of the best in their field, serving as both onboarding buddy and guide.

New employees will then shadow their mentors through job shadowing, as well as be able to seek help whenever they have questions.

It might lower the productivity of one of your professionals since they will have to be mentoring a new employee, but getting a new employee up to speed faster using a mentor is better than a new employee taking over a month just to settle in. This mentorship program ensures onboarding success.

10. Monday.com

Workflow management software company Monday.com believes in innovation and it shows, not only in their excellent software but also in their onboarding practices.

Monday.com uses a program named CRM for HR professionals to manage their structured onboarding.

Digging a little deeper into this program, you’ll find an excellent online learning platform that has been developed with new employees in mind.

The HR department can use the software to customize an onboarding template that fulfills all the needs and questions any new employee might have with engaging activities, checklists, and task boards. This comprehensive approach covers everything from new hire orientation to ongoing employee development.

11. Buffer

Buffer is a social media tool used by companies to post any of their business analytics like profits, overheads, and even the salaries of their employees.

The coolest thing about Buffer though is the fact that it has been working remotely since its inception.

New employees work under a 45-day contract first, before being fully employed by the company. During this “boot camp” stage, employees’ performances are measured through regular onboarding evaluation, before they are hired.

Buffer did get rid of this system, due to many employees feeling unmotivated or a lack of involvement. This poor onboarding approach led them to reconsider their strategy.

Like many other companies, Buffer now offers a guide to new employees through a set of introductory emails and conducts a new hire survey to gather feedback on the onboarding timeline and overall experience.

12. Zapier

Zapier has over 350 employees working across the world. Their fully remote operation could be problematic, but Zapier has systems in place to make things work.

Mainly engagement through their effective onboarding program.

Working remotely can be stressful since it can be difficult to get in touch with other employees immediately if you need help.

Zapier has a full week of initiation for new employees with structured onboarding activities.

During this time, employees will be provided all the tools and software needed to be successful, as well as learn the main roles of their positions and how they fit within the company. They participate in cross-departmental meetings to understand how different teams collaborate and contribute to company values.

13. Jooble

For the past year, Jooble has been making use of a hybrid model for its workplace. To make accommodations for this new form, Jooble had to change their onboarding process to not only work offline but online as well, ensuring effective onboarding for all employees.

Jooble believes that the best onboarding systems consist of creating a safe environment for onboarding new employees, where errors aren’t looked down upon, and they can learn stress-free. They also assign new employees a buddy for guidance, implementing a successful mentorship program.

They also strongly believe in respecting each other and creating an atmosphere in the workplace where no one thinks better or higher of themselves, fostering a positive organizational culture.

For online employees, the onboarding process looks a little different.

Employees are sent a welcome letter before their first day, with tasks that they will be expected to do during their first work day. This includes information about workplace safety, paid time off policies, and other essential onboarding information.

Jooble also believes in employee feedback. New employees will be asked to complete a new hire survey on the first day, the end of their first month, and after the trial period to ensure continuous improvement on onboarding and measure onboarding success.

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A company's onboarding process determines whether they keep quality employees with experience, or suffer a string of miserable employees who leave before a year. An effective onboarding program is essential for onboarding success.

Implementing a structured onboarding program with clear onboarding process steps, an onboarding checklist, and regular check-in meetings can transform your new hire experience. Whether you’re focusing on onboarding for frontline employees or building an onboarding program for remote workers, the principles of successful onboarding remain the same.

Hopefully, these tips and examples will set your company on the right track when it comes to developing an onboarding process that works. Remember that effective onboarding is an investment in onboarding that pays dividends through improved retention, faster productivity, and stronger employee engagement.

About the Author:

This article is written by a marketing team member at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk