5 Best Employee Onboarding Experiences in 2023

Best onboarding experience #3 

Best for: hands-on onboarding

Built to help managers set up what progression looks like for their team, Progression has high standards in every area of the business, including their own onboarding process.

I got in touch with Jonny Burch, Founder and CEO of Progression and Neil Cameron, co-founder and CTO, to discuss what the best employee onboarding process looked like for them. 

What’s the onboarding experience like at Progression? 

Simply enough, it starts with a Notion template – it can seem very basic, but it’s super helpful to understand how the onboarding process is going to be split up for new hires.

Let’s take a look at what this plan is made of: 

• 4 weeks before the new hire starts – the process starts by simply getting new employees in the HR system and ensuring documentation is in order and equipment has been sent. Progression then sends some goodies to the new hire so they feel welcome and familiar with the business
  
• 2 weeks before the new hire starts – do the rest of the admin by requesting the P45 and onboarding them onto payroll
  
• 1 week before – sending instructions for their first day, adding them to all relevant platforms and announcing their starting day on Slack
  
• First day – this is a crucial day for the new hire, so it’s important the line manager does a welcome call in the morning and runs them through what will happen in their first week along with passing them all the information they need
  
• First week – there’s a required list of readings to go through as well as 1-to-1s with every member of the team. The new hire gets acquainted with the product, the company and the strategy
  
• Two weeks in – that’s where we clarify what’s expected until the end of probation and set goals for 30, 60 and 90 days
  

It might look like too much, but it’s never good to leave new hires alone as it can be counterproductive – they won’t know what’s expected of them.

As a remote-first team, Progression focuses on building a relationship with new hires. In practice, that means: 

• Keeping in touch with their manager through regular 1-to-1s 
  
• Getting new hires to schedule calls with the whole team to get to know each other (having the new hire make the first step rather than just passively sit through calls)
  
• Gathering feedback to understand where the experience can be improved 
  

What makes Progression the best employee onboarding experience? 

An early-stage startup where onboarding is still handled by co-founders – it gives a level of closeness to the business you don't often get.

With Progression, candidates also get access to progression frameworks at team.progressionapp.com - it gives them a good idea of what’s expected in the role, as well as what the potential career path looks like before they apply.

Best onboarding experience #4 

Best for: ownership and flexibility 

Clear, simple, and human. That’s how Megan Murphy, co-founder & CEO, describes the onboarding process they’re aiming for at Ourspace, a team design platform that equips tech leaders to make smarter org structure decisions. 

What steps make up the onboarding experience at Ourspace?

Before each new joiner starts, they first get a choice on equipment preferences so they get what they need from the business.

Once that’s ticked off, they’re given access to a Trello board for onboarding that includes:

• Key information about the business such as origin story, a timeline of how and why Ourspace started, company values, brand attributes and product principles 
  
• An introduction to each teammate 
  
• Strategy documents and product roadmap
  
• A plan for their first week 
  
• Operational assets such as logins, ways of workings, compensation principles, and expenses 
  
• A glossary of internal jargon 
  

That’s the starting point of each new hire, but that’s not all they get. They also participate in a series of onboarding rituals specific to Ourspace. During their first four weeks, they end each Friday with a team-wide presentation: 

• Week 1: Presenting a topic of their choice using the Pechakucha style
  
• Week 2: Sharing their core values
  
• Week 3: Reflecting on how their role meets their expectations
  
• Week 4: Sharing any feedback on the onboarding process and what improvements they may suggest
  

What makes OurSpace the best employee onboarding experience?  

We opt in for employee ownership and flexibility. In everything related to how people work, we try to provide as much freedom and autonomy as possible. This includes a €1,000 home office setup for each new joiner to ensure that their workspace equips them to work as productively as possible. 

Best onboarding experience #5 

Best for: ownership and flexibility 

Having worked with FairHQ ourselves, we know how important Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity are for businesses.

Speaking to Kate Pljaskovova, CEO & Founder at FairHQ – a platform designed to help companies with their DE&I strategy – gave me a clear view of how this can be done right from the start.

Let’s see what that looks like from the inside.

What is it like to onboard as a new team member at FairHQ? 

Onboarding doesn’t start from day one, but way before that. FairHQ likes to think of onboarding as straight after the offer has been accepted.

That doesn’t mean they’ll overwhelm the new hire with tons of information, but they’ll give them a structured understanding of what to expect, to cater to every kind of person – whether they’re from a different background, neurodivergent, need to plan around their lives a bit more, etc.

FairHQ wants to give new hires the space and time to adjust to their new circumstances – they also aim to gather any information way ahead of the new hire’s start date to make any necessary adjustments.

Once all questions have been answered, it’s time to prepare the onboarding plan that includes:

• A list of people to meet and how to meet them
  
• Phase down goals to make new joiners feel successful in their first weeks 
  

All that follows is a very hands-on experience. The first week is about learning all the information about the product and the business, and once that’s done, the new hire can go on to produce their first piece of work – it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s important to ensure the new hire has contributed from the get-go. They can then work on setting more ambitious targets for the weeks ahead.

Between checking in with their manager and getting to meet with their buddies, or having coffee with different people in the business, it’s also essential to make new hires feel like they’re part of the business from day 1. In a remote-first environment, it’s crucial to foster connections as much as possible.   

What makes FairHQ the best employee onboarding experience? 

FairHQ strives to keep the excitement going and accommodates the needs of anyone depending on their set of specific circumstances. It’s essential to make onboarding stand out this way.

That’s all for today. We hope these onboarding experiences will help you shape your own.

Building a top-notch experience for your team members

It takes a lot to build an onboarding experience that will stay with your team members – so taking into account all of what we heard from these exceptional examples, here’s what you should remember. 

Focus on operations first

Here’s a summary of what to think about when it comes to onboarding new team members: 

• Have all the paperwork sorted and on time 
  
• Give them all the information they need about the company 
  
• Put together a thorough onboarding plan with concrete goals for your new hire 
  
• Make everything lead up to the end of probation 
  

You can even use HR software to help you do all of the above – with Charlie, for example, your onboarding is sorted in a few clicks. Sign up today for a free 7-day trial. No credit card required. 

Give a good first impression and make it last

Of course, it’s not just about ensuring the paperwork is done and the work be completed – it’s also about creating the right atmosphere for your new hires. 

According to all the startups I spoke with, and my own, I can say for certain that this is what needs to be done to ensure it happens: 

• Give the new team member a proper introduction to their team
  
• Get people outside of their team to reach out and book a welcome chat
  
• Try to organise an activity or team breakfast as an ice breaker 
  
• Stay in touch throughout the whole onboarding process and beyond by regularly catching up 
  
• Have a DE&I strategy in place to remove bias as much as possible 
  

Top 3 mistakes you can make when it comes to onboarding

Perhaps that seems obvious, and following what we advised below will be enough for you, but in reality, providing the best onboarding experience can be a challenge. 

It may be that you want to impart some knowledge to the new hire, or try to ensure they do everything right by constantly checking up on them – this is just an example, but it can all end up being too much. 

‍So how do you prevent that? Perhaps by simply avoiding these top 3 mistakes: 

• Micromanaging – catching up and ensuring the new hire is getting on well doesn’t mean you should be sending them a message every hour or so. You also don’t need to check on what they do right after they’ve done it. Practice giving them space and let them come to you with questions, keep track of their tasks and book meetings to talk it through. 
  
• Being disorganised – if your new hire is constantly asking you where to find documents and resources, there’s a big problem. It also doesn’t send the right message nor give a good impression, so make sure you prepare everything before their first day. 
  
• Taking a self-taught approach – if micromanaging is not the right approach, leaving the new hire all by themselves with no guidance and no catchup is a big red flag as well. This is a time when they’ll need support, so catch up regularly, give proper explanations, make sure they understand and be there to answer all of their questions. 
  

That’s all for today. We hope these onboarding experiences will help you shape your own. Of course, if you want to learn more about onboarding, you can have a look at the following guides below: