A Complete Guide to New Employee Onboarding Part 3 — How to Create a New Employee Onboarding Plan

The first days and weeks in a new role can shape an employee’s entire experience with your company. That’s why it’s essential to provide a clear onboarding timeline, along with steady communication and support during this critical time. When new hires know what to expect and where to turn for help, they’re more likely to feel confident, connected, prepared, and ready to contribute.

The following is a template for building a successful program based on G&A Partners’ onboarding processes and best practices:

How To Onboard a New Employee

The employee onboarding process is more than a checklist or a single-day event. To be truly effective, onboarding should begin the moment a candidate accepts your job offer and continue through their early days, weeks, months (or more) on the job.

The onboarding timeline typically includes four key stages:

1. Pre-boarding
2. Orientation and introduction
3. Education and training
4. Development and retention

These stages will be the same, no matter where your employee is located—but they can and should be adapted for remote and hybrid team members. Thanks to digital onboarding tools and innovations, you can now deliver a seamless, supportive experience no matter where your employees are located.

Let’s examine each stage of the onboarding process, beginning with what happens before a new hire’s first day.

Pre-Boarding: Engage Early

A thoughtful pre-boarding process lays the foundation for a positive experience. It shows new hires that you’re organized, communicative, and invested in their success. Consider the following during this important stage:

• Send a welcome message: This personalized email can come from your HR department, but it’s even more relatable and impactful if your new hire also hears from their direct manager and/or other team members. Early contact can make a major difference in how well recruits adapt to their new job, how they view you as an employer, and how quickly they become a valued member of your team.

• Share onboarding administrative needs early: Use an online platform to deliver required documents, such as W-4 forms, benefits enrollment details, and your employee handbook. This helps streamline the process and reduce first-day stress. It also allows your new employee to formulate questions before starting the job.

• Clarify roles and responsibilities: Email your new hire important details about their job description, role, and expectations. Also give them information about the company mission and values, their team members’ roles and responsibilities, calendar invites to employee orientation and first-week meetings, and any relevant background information on current projects the team is involved in.

• Share your excitement: As their planned start date approaches, reach out to your employee and share how excited the team is to welcome them. If your employee is local, you might even plan an informal get-together with team members before their first day.

• Set up workstations and technology: For onsite workers, set up their desk/work area with necessary office supplies and information. For remote and hybrid workers, work with your information technology experts to ensure your new hire’s technology platforms and tools are set up and ready to use before their first day. Also, let them know when to expect their laptops or software and who will be helping them to set it up.

Note: Remember that new hires in a remote environment need extra support to learn from, work alongside, and bond with coworkers. This is the time to start. Let them know when their manager will reach out to welcome them online and who they’ll meet virtually in the first few weeks to help them get familiar with tools and resources.

G&A Best Practice: Three days before an employee’s start date, G&A’s HR department sends a personalized welcome email that provides information about what to expect on their first day and beyond.

Orientation: Introduce the Basics and Build Connections

First-day impressions matter. Use orientation to introduce new hires to your company culture, tools, and people. To make the most of orientation, focus on these essential first-day touchpoints:

• Start with a one-on-one welcome: If your new team member is onsite, have a short introductory meeting in your office and then show them to their workstation. Make sure they have a printed set of office FAQs and a contact list with the HR manager or team members who can help answer any questions related to onboarding paperwork and processes.

• Give a tour or platform review: After they’ve grabbed a cup of coffee or tea, show new onsite employees around, introduce them to coworkers, and answer the simple questions: Where is the break room or the printer? Where is the nearest bathroom? What are the security codes and temporary login passwords? Where do I get my badge photo taken? For remote employees, use video conferencing to personalize their virtual orientation and help them connect faces with names. Their questions may differ from onsite hires, so be sure they have ample opportunities to ask and get the support they need.

• Walk Through First-Day Requirements: Guide your new employee through day one requirements, such as filling out and submitting required paperwork, logging into your company’s network and digital platforms, and attending onsite or virtual orientation events.

G&A Best Practice: Based on employee feedback, G&A rolled out a mentoring program that assigns each new hire a “buddy” to help them more easily acclimate to their new environment.

Education and Training: Build Learning Opportunities

Once orientation is complete, it’s time to shift focus to education and training. This stage helps new employees gain the knowledge, confidence, and connections they need to thrive in their roles. It’s not just about teaching systems or processes—it’s about supporting new hires as they build relationships, absorb your culture, and begin contributing in meaningful ways.

Here are a few ways to make education and training both effective and engaging:

• Schedule daily check-ins: For the first week or so, it’s a good idea for managers to check in on new employees at least once a day to answer questions and help with any lingering hiccups. And don’t forget your remote workers. Their check-ins may be even more important. Since they can’t just pop into their manager’s office, they may feel uncertain about when and how to reach out.

• Build trust through mentors: Have your assigned mentor schedule check-ins with your new employee so they can ask questions they may be hesitant to ask their direct supervisor.

• Lay the foundation for collaboration: Arrange one-on-one, in-person, or virtual meetings between your new hire and their coworkers so they can learn about each team member’s role and responsibilities and lay the groundwork for collaborative relationships.

• Encourage team connection: Find fun, creative ways for team members to get to know new employees, such as holding virtual happy hours and the occasional in-person team lunch or dinner. Consider inviting remote workers to a welcoming visit onsite to help build connections.

• Share the “why” behind your mission, vision, and values: Give new employees a strong sense of your company’s identity by sharing its history, mission, values, and culture in a compelling, memorable way. Go beyond static handbooks—consider using welcome videos, storytelling from leadership, interactive presentations, or live Q&A sessions to bring your company’s journey and purpose to life. When employees understand the “why” behind your organization, they’re more likely to feel connected, motivated, and aligned with your goals.

G&A Best Practice: Start training your new employees after their orientation—but go easy at first. At G&A, employees attend various virtual training programs in their first week, ranging from introductory and client-experience training to IT and systems training.

Employee Development & Retention: Give Your New Employees the Support They Need to Thrive

• Ease into responsibilities with role-specific training: After orientation and general training, shift to role-specific training that helps new employees build the skills they need to succeed in their position. Give them time to absorb information, ask questions, and gain confidence before assigning a full workload. A gradual ramp-up allows them to grow into their role with clarity and support.

• Set goals that support growth: After initial training, schedule a one-on-one with your new hire to identify where they need help closing any gaps in skills and work together to set short- and long-term goals for their position. This lays the foundation for practicing a situational leadership management style, which nurtures growth by meeting employees where they are and developing their unique knowledge, skills, and abilities.

• Keep regular check-ins on the calendar: Continue regular check-ins with managers and mentors to ensure new employees feel supported, engaged, and aligned with expectations. As the employee settles into their role, the frequency of these check-ins can transition from daily to weekly and eventually to a cadence that fits their needs and responsibilities. Consistent feedback—both encouraging and constructive—is key to identifying obstacles, celebrating progress, and helping employees grow in confidence and performance.
• Strengthen onboarding with feedback from new hires: Ask for feedback about your onboarding process through a brief, one-on-one or a new-employee survey. These insights help you understand how supported and engaged your new hires feel and highlight what’s working well versus where improvements are needed. Listening to employee perspectives early on reinforces trust and helps you refine your onboarding approach over time.

• Recognize and celebrate milestones: Plan team lunches or happy hours to celebrate employee milestones or anniversaries. These can be in-person or virtual, depending on your workforce’s needs.

• Provide learning opportunities beyond onboarding: Offer continuous improvement training and career development opportunities to support and nurture your employees. Development and retention are ongoing processes that should extend beyond the onboarding phase.

G&A Best Practice: After a few weeks on the job, G&A Partners invites employees to “New Hire Bootcamp,” a one-day virtual training with all new employees. G&A’s executive team members, department heads, and other employees talk to new team members about the company and various departments, and the bootcamp helps them to establish and grow their employee network beyond their immediate department.

Successful onboarding relies on clear communication and consistent support from managers and leaders to help new employees settle in and grow—in the office and in remote or hybrid environments. By partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO) such as G&A, you can enhance your onboarding program and provide new employees with personalized assistance during those critical early days.