Hiring the right employee is only half the challenge. What happens between the accepted offer and the employee’s first few weeks can significantly impact engagement, productivity, and long-term retention.
Many organizations spend weeks or months recruiting a candidate, only to leave them with little communication before their start date. Others treat onboarding as a single-day event focused on paperwork and system access.
The most successful companies take a different approach. Onboarding starts before day one, and momentum keeps building throughout the employee’s first week. These five onboarding steps can create a stronger employee experience from the start.
Click here to download the full checklist.
1. Make New Hires Feel Welcome Before They Arrive
The period between accepting an offer and starting a new role is often overlooked. It’s the time when new hires are most likely to feel uncertainty. But simple actions can make a difference.
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
A welcome email from leadership, a personal note from the manager, or an introduction to the team reinforces that the employee made the right decision. Or, send a welcome package or ask about food allergies to plan a welcome lunch during their first week. Small gestures like these create excitement and strengthen the employee’s connection to the company before they walk through the door.
2. Set Clear Expectations Early
Starting a new job can feel overwhelming, and many employees arrive with questions about responsibilities, schedules, team dynamics, and what success looks like in their role. Providing these answers before day one reduces uncertainty and builds confidence.
Sharing a first-week agenda, introducing key team members, or providing access to basic training materials leaves new employees feeling more prepared. They don’t have to spend their first day wondering what comes next, helping them focus on learning and contributing instead.
Clarity creates confidence. Confident employees tend to ramp up faster, something that benefits everyone.
3. Help New Employees Build Relationships Quickly
Top employees do not join companies. They join people.
One of the fastest ways to improve onboarding is to help new hires build connections. Assign an onboarding buddy, schedule introductory meetings, or plan an informal team lunch. This makes new hires feel like part of the team sooner.
Employees who feel connected are more likely to stay connected long-term. Strong workplace relationships also increase engagement and create a support system for questions that naturally arise during the first few weeks.
4. Focus on Early Wins
Many organizations overload new hires with information during their first week. Training is important, but momentum matters too. Early success builds confidence.
Give new hires a manageable project or task during the first week, giving them a chance to contribute while getting familiar with their role. This also creates a sense of progress, rather than making onboarding feel like a week-long orientation session. A small win often accelerates confidence far more effectively than another training presentation.
5. Continue Onboarding Beyond Day One
Great onboarding is not a single event. It’s an ongoing process.
Managers who check in regularly during the first week create opportunities to answer questions, provide support, and address concerns before they become larger issues. Gathering feedback at the end of the week also helps organizations improve the onboarding experience for future hires.
Photo by Duncan Meyer on Unsplash
The goal is simple. Make sure employees feel supported, informed, and equipped to succeed.
Why Onboarding is a Retention Strategy
Companies often think of onboarding as an administrative process. The strongest organizations view it as a retention strategy.
A thoughtful onboarding experience helps employees feel welcomed, connected, and prepared from the beginning. It reinforces their decision to join the organization and sets expectations for the culture they’re becoming a part of.
At Squadron, we often see a direct connection between strong hiring practices and strong onboarding. Recruiting great talent is important, but helping that talent succeed from day one is what creates long-term impact.
A great hire can change a team. A great onboarding experience helps ensure they stay.
For additional reading on this topic, we recommend an excellent book by Joey Coleman, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention, which provides a framework for improving employee retention by focusing on the first 100 days and the entire employee journey, using an eight-phase model to guide leaders in creating a more caring and engaging workplace through consistent communication and appreciation.