With an onboarding checklist, you can ensure a compliant, consistent onboarding process for all of your team members. Other than standardizing your procedures, a checklist helps to verify that you’ve followed all of your compliance requirements. 

In addition, your onboarding process serves as the first introduction your new hires have to your culture. As such, it should incorporate important elements of your culture, like organizational charts, paid leave information, and welcome emails. Through the best onboarding checklist, you can prepare your company for success and long-term growth.

Do You Have an Onboarding Checklist for New Employees? 

At Asure, we conducted a survey of over 1,000 small businesses to learn more about their HR practices. The survey included eight topics, and onboarding was one of the eight sections. Among the five onboarding questions we included, we asked about whether organizations were using an onboarding checklist with their new employees or not. 

76% of zero-growth businesses had a checklist.

89% of fast-growth businesses had a checklist. 

This 13% spread was significant, but the spread got even higher when we only looked at companies that had under 25 employees.

Among companies with less than 25 workers, the number remain similar with 74% of zero-growth firms with a checklist and 89% of fast-growth companies under 25 employees having a checklist.

Whether the checklist leads to faster growth or fast-growth firms are simply more likely to adhere to HR best practices, the correlation is clear. Fast-growth companies are far more likely to have an onboarding checklist for their new hires.

The Top 10 Must-Haves in Your Onboarding Checklist

As you build your onboarding checklist, prioritize the two Cs of culture and compliance. Your checklist can help you integrate new hires into your culture and ensure that all of your compliance measures are met. 

During a recent Mission to Grow podcast about “Employee Onboarding,” Asure’s VP of HR compliance, learning, and development at Asure, Mary Simmons, mentioned a third C, consistency, that should be added to the group. “When we’re not consistent, our compliance is going to plummet and that’s really going to hurt us.” 

Consistency matters for creating a fair workplace and giving all employees access to the same resources. It also helps you avoid legal liability for discrimination since you’re giving each employee the same training opportunities. Additionally, consistency with training helps you ensure each employee completes I-9s and other legal requirements so that you’re in legal compliance. 

1. Send Welcome Emails to New Employee

Your onboarding process should begin before the employee’s first day on the job. Before they arrive at work, send them a welcome email with information about what to expect on their first day and important forms to fill out. If you have uniform requirements or need them to bring identification documents for Form I-9, you can add this information to the welcome email.

2. Provide Paid Leave Information 

Most likely, your new hires will have pressing questions about paid leave and other benefits. Your benefits package is your way to add value and make employees feel appreciated in their new roles. 

However, workers can’t appreciate a benefit if they don’t know it exists, so you need to add information about paid leave and other benefits to your new-hire packet. Then, you can add it to your checklist and go over the paid leave information during training. 

3. Get Signed Job Descriptions

On the worker’s first day, you should get them to read their job description. Afterward, have them sign a copy of the job description and keep the signed copy on file. These copies should be signed by the manager and the employee. 

Signed job descriptions are important because they validate that the employee signed and understood their role and responsibilities. If there is a dispute or a lawsuit in the future, the signed job description provides you with written proof of the employee’s understanding. 

4. Explain Organizational Charts 

As a part of your onboarding process, take time to explain the company’s organizational chart. Other than teaching them about your culture, this chart helps the new hire understand their place in your business. Additionally, there are many online platforms you can use to update and maintain a digital chart. 

5. Introduction to Company Culture 

Your onboarding process is an excellent opportunity to introduce new hires to your company’s culture. For example, you can take time to explain your company’s mission, values, and vision. Then, you can tie in the employee’s role in fulfilling this mission.

6. Meet Other Employees and Managers

Meeting other employees and managers is a good way to introduce workers to the company’s culture. You can even create a mentoring program where workers are paired with an experienced mentor on their first day. Then, they can turn to their mentor for advice and guidance as their career progresses. 

Interacting with other employees and managers will also help new hires relax. These introductions make them feel welcomed and like they’re a part of the team. Plus, it gives them someone to turn to if they have a problem or question in the future. 

7. Give Out New-Hire Paperwork

During the onboarding process, you should give all of your workers several important pieces of paperwork. While state and local areas have specific requirements, you will generally need to collect the following items.

• Direct deposit forms 
• Form W-4 (or W-9) 
• Form I-9
• State tax withholding forms
• Internal company paperwork
• Emergency contact forms

8. Finish Documentation

From a compliance standpoint, completing documentation is one of the most important things you should do during onboarding. For example, you should give employees an I-9 to fill out and request the documentary requirements for proving their work eligibility. Employees must complete their I-9 within three days of their first day of work, so this is an incredibly important step in the onboarding process. 

9. Complete a Site Tour 

To help new hires feel welcome at your organization, it’s important to carry out a site tour. This helps to familiarize workers with their office and where amenities are found. You can also combine the introduction to other employees with your site tour so that new hires know where to find key people. 

10. Prepare Digital Access 

Before the new hire arrives, reach out to your IT department to get their online accounts and facility access set up. Then, you can walk the new hire through their digital access when you onboard them. By taking time to do this in advance, you are preparing new hires for success and enabling them to do their jobs from the very first day of their employment. 

Learn More About Onboarding New Hires 

As a business owner, onboarding benefits your company in many ways. 

• It gives workers the tools they need to succeed. 
• Proper onboarding helps you meet compliance requirements. 
• You can introduce employees to your company culture. 
• It helps workers feel welcomed and engaged.
• Onboarding helps employees meet their team members, mentors, and key personnel. 
• You can provide a better employee experience and improve your retention rate. 

If you’re interested in improving your onboarding process, we can help. To learn more about what it takes to become a fast-growth company, reach out to Asure’s small business HR and payroll experts today.