Onboarding Planning: How to Create an Effective Process

The article "Onboarding Planning: How to Create an Effective Process" by Allie Blackham explains that onboarding is the comprehensive process of integrating a new employee into an organization, emphasizing the importance of detailed onboarding planning tailored to different roles to improve efficiency, reduce turnover, and enhance retention.

Onboarding Planning: How to Create an Effective Process

Oct 24, 2023

Applicant Tracking, Applicant Tracking Systems, HR and Recruiting Industry Information, Recruiting Best Practices

Allie Blackham

Bringing a new hire onboard is an exciting time for any organization, but it can also come with some stress. Knowing how to onboard an employee effectively is a must, and this guide to onboarding planning ensures a more effective and efficient process.

What is Onboarding?

Onboarding refers to the process of bringing a new staff member into a role within an organization. It often includes a variety of steps that begin when an individual accepts a job offer with your business. Part of the onboarding process includes collecting vital information, often through the completion of required forms and documents. But that’s not all onboarding involves, and failing to see the big picture can increase your company’s risk of high turnover and poor retention rates.

What is Onboarding Planning?

Onboarding planning involves creating a detailed plan for how the process will look every time you bring on a new hire. While some of the steps in the process will remain the same across all departments and roles, others may need to change to accommodate different responsibilities and needs.

4 Steps to Develop an Onboarding Plan

Follow these steps to engage in onboarding planning in a way that will benefit your organization and workforce.

Know your employee onboarding goal

The first step is identifying at least one goal of the onboarding process. This often includes what a new hire should be able to accomplish by a set date. In order to achieve that goal, what needs to happen? Maybe the employee needs specific training or education, or perhaps they need to do certain tasks to become more familiar with them. With a goal in mind, it becomes easier to establish an onboarding process that includes the steps needed to achieve it.

Create your onboarding training team

Another vital aspect of onboarding planning is deciding who will take part in each step. Who is helping throughout the process? In most cases, the employee’s supervisor will take an active role in bringing them onboard and up to speed on their tasks and responsibilities. But you may also have others involved, such as those working in human resources and IT. Make sure you know who is part of the onboarding team and keep them informed as to their role.

Invest in the right tools

Invest in the tools needed to manage the onboarding process more effectively. A simple option is to create a checklist with all the tasks that need to happen before the employee begins working on their own. You could also use a timeline that emphasizes when each step will be completed and what the new hire can expect.

Technology tools are also vital in ensuring a consistent and highly efficient process. The days of filling out forms by hand are long gone, and it’s time for every organization to say goodbye to this manual and hand-cramping process. Choose an HR system that includes vital documentation with electronic completion capabilities. You can also look for onboarding tools available within your hiring platform, or an all-in-one solution that keeps all data in a single place.

Map your onboarding steps

Map out the steps of the onboarding process to ensure that everyone in the organization is on the same page. You can also provide a copy of the timeline or checklist to your new hire to keep them apprised of what to expect during their first few weeks or months on the job.

Understanding the Stages of Onboarding

We cover the stages of onboarding in detail on our blog, but here’s a brief overview of what each time period should include:

During the hiring process: Collect personal and contact information from the new hire to make follow-up communication easier.
During the offer stage: When making an offer, stay in contact with the individual and answer any questions they may have.
1-2 weeks before new hire’s first day: Before they come onboard, send a welcome message and any new hire paperwork they can complete prior to starting.
Day before first day: Provide details around their first-day schedule, work location, and expectations so they know where to go and what to bring.
On the first day: On day one, make sure to greet the new hire and show them around (if in person), as well as provide all necessary tech tools to do their job.
During employee’s first week: Throughout the first week, a new hire should have someone they can count on to answer their questions and provide assistance. This may be their supervisor or a co-worker.
During first three months: Over the first 90 days, assign the employee small tasks to build their confidence and skills, set aside time for regular check-ins, and request feedback on the process.

Onboarding FAQ

If you have questions about onboarding planning and the process of bringing on new hires, we may have an answer for you below.

How long should the onboarding process take?

The timeline for onboarding often depends on the role and experience level of the new hire. But for most positions, it should last for at least a few weeks. You can also review our blog post that covers this question in more detail.

What forms should a new hire fill out?

Some of the most critical forms for new hires to complete include:

Form I-9
Form W-4
State tax forms
Employment agreement or contract
Employee handbook acknowledgement
Financial details (direct deposit authorization)
Offer letter
Background check

What is an onboarding checklist?

An onboarding checklist is a document used to track the process and ensure that no steps are overlooked. You can review templates and examples to build your own that aligns with the needs of your employees.

With ApplicantStack, onboarding planning doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort. With onboarding tools built right into the platform, clients can easily find and bring on top talent. Learn more or try it for free today!

Allie Blackham

Latest posts by Allie Blackham ( see all)

Background Check Compliance: What Every Employer Needs to Know in 2026 - September 30, 2026
How to Reduce Time-to-Hire Effectively - September 16, 2026
Seasonal Hiring Playbook: Scaling Your Workforce for Q4 - September 9, 2026

Allie Blackham|Aug 5, 2026

Building an effective hiring process from scratch involves identifying your company’s needs and setting a path to find quality applicants. By examining past hiring practices and implementing new strategies, you can build a more efficient process. Read on for some ways to create a hiring process that gets results. Primary Elements of the Hiring Process […]

Allie Blackham|Jul 29, 2026

The need for high-volume, non-exempt roles in the retail, food service, and healthcare support sectors often outpaces companies’ abilities to hire quickly. In these busy industries, shifts can run 24 hours, and turnover is frequent, creating a challenge for hiring managers. If degree or experience requirements are creating a barrier to finding quality candidates, consider […]

Allie Blackham|Sep 30, 2026

Background checks help small businesses avoid costly hiring mistakes, from resume fraud to license misrepresentation. They help small businesses reduce hiring risk, but running them legally means following FCRA disclosure rules, EEOC anti-discrimination protections, and your state’s fair-chance hiring laws. What Are Background Checks? Employment background checks typically use a third-party professional screening service to verify […]

Verified First|Sep 23, 2026

Guest Post by Verified First Do you screen every candidate the same way? That approach is costing you more than you think. A templated process feels efficient, but it wastes budget on low-risk roles. Worse, it under-protects your safety-sensitive ones. Most organizations don’t catch this until a compliance issue or a safety incident hits. As […]

Allie Blackham|Sep 16, 2026

Shortening time-to-hire reduces the burden on hiring staff and helps you reach top talent faster. Small businesses can use any help they can get to make the hiring process more efficient. An applicant tracking system shortens time-to-hire by automating screening, scheduling, and offer letters, cutting out the manual steps that create the biggest bottlenecks for […]

Allie Blackham|Sep 9, 2026

Q4 tends to hit hiring teams like a freight train. Retail ramps up for the holidays, e-commerce warehouses struggle to keep pace with order volume, and hospitality prepares for back-to-back events. If your applicant pipeline isn’t ready for that surge, you may end up losing out on great candidates and revenue. Here are six steps […]

Allie Blackham|Sep 2, 2026

If your open roles are pulling in three or four times the applications they did two years ago, you’re not imagining it. AI writing tools have made it easier than ever for job seekers to customize a resume and cover letter for every posting in seconds. “Apply to everything” browser extensions allow candidates to blast […]

Allie Blackham|Aug 26, 2026

The hiring process takes time and money, both of which can be tight in small business budgets. When a candidate ghosts you at any stage, it can be demoralizing and expensive. Here are some ways to keep communication flowing to avoid being abandoned by quality prospects. What Is Candidate Ghosting? Ghosting refers to a scenario […]

Allie Blackham|Aug 19, 2026

Hiring new employees is no small task: it takes hours of company time and money to recruit, interview, and select top talent. Once you’ve got a new employee on board, you want to turn that hiring investment into a good experience for both of you. That’s where onboarding comes in. Read on for some effective […]

Allie Blackham|Aug 11, 2026

When someone walks out your office door for the last time, they’re taking valuable insights with them. The question is: will you capture those insights before they’re gone forever? An exit interview represents one of the most underutilized opportunities in business. Done right, it can reveal blind spots in your management, uncover systemic issues, and […]

Allie Blackham|Aug 5, 2026

Allie Blackham|Jul 29, 2026

Allie Blackham|Sep 30, 2026

Verified First|Sep 23, 2026

Make Recruiting and Onboarding Easy

See for yourself! Fill out the form to start a trial today and see how ApplicantStack can improve your hiring and onboarding processes.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

First Name*
Last Name*
Company Name*
Phone Number**
Business Email*

Watch for your free trial log-in information coming to your inbox!

*You agree to receive SMS messages about your Free Trial.

Watch for your free trial log-in information coming to your inbox!
*
- I understand this not a job application and I am based in the US or Canada.
  
  Entiendo que esto no es una solicitud de empleo y que resido en Estados Unidos o Canadá.

Start your free trial

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OK

Notifications