Checklist onboarding

The first weeks decide whether new colleagues feel at home, become engaged, and stay engaged. This checklist helps you make sure onboarding goes far beyond just a login code and an office tour—it truly strengthens culture, connection, and motivation.

Checklist

👋 Preparation & Welcome

• Make sure laptops, accounts, and passwords are ready.
• Give a personal office tour and introduce the newcomer to colleagues.
• Organize a welcome lunch or happy hour.

🌱 Culture & Everyday Habits

• Explain how the organization handles etiquette and informal rules.
• Encourage newcomers to ask questions and share their observations.
• Use Jablin & Miller’s model (1991) to help uncover organizational culture:
  • Ask open questions
  • Ask indirect questions
  • Mask questions as jokes
  • Observe behavior
  • Listen in on conversations
  • Test boundaries

🤝 Informal Networks & Rituals
Create opportunities to build an informal network (clubs, sports teams, interest groups).
Involve newcomers in symbolic rituals that help them feel they truly belong.

📝 Getting to Know Each Other & Building Connections
Use a creative introduction format, such as a personal “user manual”:

• Where were you made?
• What’s the task you’re best suited for?
• How can you be recharged?
• When do you give an error message?
• What’s your best review?

📚 Structure & Guidance

• Make room for informal conversations about culture and values.
• Take hybrid work into account: offer digital onboarding too.
• Pair up newcomers for mutual support.
• Provide clear guidance:
• A coach (content expert, experienced colleague)
• A buddy (practical support, peer)

🔍 Learning from Experience

• Hold group conversations with employees who’ve been with the organization 6–12 months.
• Collect their “critical incidents” and use them to improve the program.
• Continuously adapt onboarding based on real experiences.