Best employee onboarding practices
- Checklist items
- 37
- Items due before or on day one
- 17
- Items due in the first 30 days
- 20
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The best employee onboarding practices for a small employer are the ones that survive a busy week: a checklist with a name against every item, the paperwork finished before day one, a named person to ask, a first week with a plan, the handbook acknowledged with the week-one policies explained, and check-ins that are written down. The onboarding checklist on this site produces that list for the hire, free and without an account; HeadcountDesk Pro keeps it against the employee and chases the open items.
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An owner for every item
The checklist fails when it is one manager's list; it works when each item has a name: the accounts to IT, the forms to the hire, the equipment to whoever orders it, the introduction to the manager. The free onboarding checklist on this site assigns them.
Done before day one
The forms, the acknowledgement, the accounts, the equipment, the first week's calendar. Recorded as done, not assumed. Pro shows what is still open the day before.
Week one with a plan, and a person
A calendar for the first week and one named person to ask. The plan and the person are what turn a first week into a productive month.
Written check-ins
Week one, month one, before probation ends, with notes filed against the employee. The free review template on this site records the goals agreed. From the vendors' own pricing pages: Homebase lists Essentials at $24 per location per month billed annually or $30 monthly, with a free Basic plan for one location of up to ten employees; BambooHR lists Core at $10 and Pro at $17 per employee per month; Deputy lists Core at $6.50 per user per month. HeadcountDesk Pro is $24 a month per location.
Best employee onboarding practices: common questions
Which onboarding practice has the biggest effect?
An owner for every item. Lists without owners are the ones that do not get done.
Is the onboarding checklist free?
Yes, with no account. Pro keeps it against the employee and sends the reminders.
Should onboarding be the same for every role?
The shape, yes; the items differ by role, and the checklist takes the role into account.
Will it do what you need for Best employee onboarding practices?
Tell us what your business needs and we will tell you straight whether HeadcountDesk Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.