How To Create an Onboarding Checklist

Onboarding is all about formally introducing new hires to the company and equipping them with all they need to start their job or training. The output of a successful onboarding process is fully equipped, confident, and productive employees.

While many businesses have the best intentions for onboarding employees, very few stick to their commitment. Many hiring managers simply get lost in the million other things that they need to do.

Using an onboarding checklist can ensure that things get done. Its purpose is to schedule activities, ensuring that nothing is overlooked or missed. So, how do you create an onboarding checklist?  

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Step 1: Choose a reliable checklist tool

You can create a checklist the old-fashioned way. It may entail printing it on paper and sharing it with new hires or team members. A more efficient way to do this is to create an online checklist using an online tool that can allow you to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track work performance. You can consider a tool such as WorkPilot for recurring checklists and organising your processes through workflows.  

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Step 2: Organise your onboarding into key phases  

Stay organised by identifying the major phases of your onboarding process. After identifying the phases, you need to figure out the key activities. Now, they include:  

• Pre-onboarding:

First office visit & sending the offer letter

• Early onboarding:

Sending pre-onboarding materials or welcome email

• Welcoming new hires on the first day:

First impressions matter, and this is one of the key phases of a great onboarding process.  

• New employees first week:

Rome was not built in a day. You need to continue with onboarding activities throughout the new hire’s first week, such as making introductions or scheduling meetings with clients.

• Role-specific training:

The onboarding transitions to the training phase that focuses on equipping skills to help employees perform in their new roles.  
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Step 3: List activities for each major task, category, or department

Building the actual checklist entails identifying things to be done. There are many ways to organise your checklist. For instance, you can identify the key tasks and break them down into milestones. This may look like this:  

Welcoming employees

• Prepare & send the welcome email
• New hires team members send a welcome email and prepare the welcome hamper
• Brief the new hire on the phone about the first-day logistics (Where to go, what to bring, etc.)  
  

Setting up the workspace

• Computer set up by the IT department
• Provide basic office stationery
• Prepare passwords and logins for online services

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Another way to do this is to break up the checklist into various areas such as compliance, logistics, management, training, and culture. Each area should have the key actions to be performed, for instance:  

Compliance

• Prepare and send employee contracts
• Provide the company policies
• Health and safety training  
  

Logistics

• Desk setup and welcome care package
• Create online accounts for the company systems
• Send the location and directions
  
  

Step 4: Communicate responsibilities with the team

Make all concerned parties aware of the actions and tasks they will need to perform for the ultimate completion of the checklist. You should share it or provide access if you're using an online checklist creator.  

Step 5: Progress tracking  

You need to find ways to ensure that all the actions and activities laid out are being carried out and completed successfully. You can create ownership by making the employee aware of the checklists, ensuring they can identify what has not yet been done and report it.  

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That's all it takes to create a checklist for a smooth onboarding process. Remember that creating the checklist is only the first part of the battle. You must make sure that all the milestones have been completed. If you need a reliable tool to manage the checklists, WorkPilot can help out.