onboarding-checklists
Employee Onboarding
Learning & Development
July 26, 2022

Onboarding templates and checklists to design great new-hire experiences

First impressions matter, especially when you’re onboarding a new employee.

In those first few weeks — or even days — new recruits are keenly observing their onboarding experiences to weigh up whether or not this job will be the right fit for them. Just because they’ve signed the contract, doesn’t mean they’ll stick around. 

In fact, up to 20% of employee turnover occurs within the first 45 days. 

In order to increase the retention of your new employees, you’ll need to take a closer look at your onboarding system. With the help of a refined template, you’ll be able to develop a strong onboarding programme that employees will love. 

But what does strong onboarding look like?

Contents

  • What makes strong onboarding?

  • Onboarding templates

    • General onboarding templates

    • Onboarding templates for managers

    • Onboarding templates for sales teams

    • Onboarding templates for remote teams

  • Develop the ultimate onboarding experience

What makes strong onboarding?

You don’t want to throw your new employees in at the deep end. 

Put yourself in their shoes — it would be overwhelming to start at a new job and not have sufficient introductory training in your role. A rushed onboarding process will inevitably scare off a lot of talent from staying on —  hence the high average turnover rate for new hires. 

Instead, you’ll want to develop an informative onboarding process that eases your recruits into their roles, answers any questions that they may have, and introduces them to their management and co-workers who they’ll be working alongside. 

The goal of onboarding is to ensure that they feel prepared and ready to take on their new roles. 

Onboarding templates

Onboarding processes will look slightly different for each organisation and each role because they should be specific to your company as well as the job specifications. 

Templates are therefore a great starting point when developing your onboarding training and processes because they can be tailored to each unique situation. 

General onboarding templates

If you’re looking for a broad, general template that covers most aspects of onboarding, then this section is for you. You’ll want your template to cover certain aspects including:

  • Some pre-boarding information to build anticipation and excitement for their first day of work

  • Introductions to co-workers and management

  • Familiarisation with the hardware and software they’ll be using 

  • Information about the company culture and values

  • Specific training for the role

  • Regular feedback and check-ins regarding the onboarding process and new role

  • Personal goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)

Here are some general onboarding templates that will help you to achieve the above:

Onboarding templates for managers

Great onboarding for managers is imperative because it not only affects their role but also all of the roles of the people that they’ll be managing. 

You’ll need to ensure that they have the soft skills that are required for management roles – such as conflict management or leadership skills – and that they are fully up to speed with your company's mission, purpose and values.

Here are some fantastic templates for onboarding managers:

Onboarding templates for sales teams

Your sales teams need to know your company and your product inside out before they ever get started on selling. They’re essentially representatives for your company and thus need to be prepared before going into a sales meeting. 

For a sales rep, there are no ‘wrong’ questions. They should feel comfortable enough to raise their hand whenever they’re unsure about anything to do with your business’ product or service.

It’s especially important here to set ambitious yet achievable KPIs. 

Incorporating peer-led learning - from other sales reps who are settled and experienced in their roles - is a refreshing angle that you could introduce into your sales team’s onboarding. 

Here are some excellent onboarding templates for sales staff:

Onboarding templates for remote teams

With so many employees preferring to work from the comfort of their own homes, it can introduce new challenges into the onboarding process. 

But it’s nothing that a good template can’t fix!

You’ll just need to be more creative in finding ways to keep your new remote hires engaged and fully immersed in the culture of your company. 

Here are some templates to help you do just that:

Develop the ultimate onboarding experience

While a template acts as a great jumping-off point, an onboarding and training tool will help to take your business to new levels. 

My Learning Hub is a learning management tool that ensures that your employees are properly onboarded, with all of the information and resources they need to perform well in their new roles. 

Start your free trial today, to see how My Learning Hub can transform your onboarding and wider training initiatives. 

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