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PortugalOnboarding
Essential elements of every onboarding plan
Learn what the essential elements are for an onboarding plan in companies, for new employees, and its notable features.
Marcos Lopez
HR Consultant
6 of February, 2025
It is estimated that one out of every five workers does not last more than a month and a half in their new job. Although there are several reasons to explain this, one of the most evident is the lack of adaptation to the new job.
To avoid these situations, which are so harmful both for the worker and the company, it is essential to know the elements for an onboarding plan that facilitate this period of adaptation for new employees to the company and their job.
What is an onboarding plan?
The onboarding plan or process is an employee welcome plan that facilitates workers’ arrival at the company and allows them to quickly reach an appropriate level of performance. There are companies that resolve the onboarding plan in just over a month, others can take up to a year.
It does not have a predefined duration, and doing so may be a mistake by the company. Its duration depends on the job and the worker’s skills since some positions require more dedication than others.
Throughout this onboarding process, the new worker will become acquainted with the most outstanding aspects of their new job, starting with who the bosses and colleagues are or the space in which they will carry out their duties.
The work tools available, company habits and corporate culture or job responsibilities are other issues that must be part of the onboarding process.
Elements for an onboarding plan
Pre-onboarding
You don’t have to wait for the new worker to start the welcome process. In fact, we should activate it even before posting the job offer or starting the worker selection process. It’s important to make clear who will be the manager or person in charge of the new employee, what schedules or rules will follow, the corporate culture, etc. These are aspects that the company should make clear in the interview. It’s the best way to start the onboarding in advance and avoid problems.
When the worker accepts the offer, it’s time to start with the paperwork: work contract, tax models, registration with the Social Security… In these days of impasse from when the worker receives the company’s OK and his arrival at the company, it’s also a good time to send him the company welcome manual, a guide with all that he will do or any other information that will be useful on his first day on board.
The first day of work
Do you remember your first day at work? Surely it was a special day, and there was someone who guided you through those first steps. Well, another of the essential elements in any onboarding plan is the management of the first day of work. The welcome session is something that should not be missing in any onboarding. It can be a general presentation, a tour of the company or you can take the opportunity to work on teambuilding to welcome the new face.
One of the most important aspects is providing the new worker with work tools. This includes both material means (company phone or car, tablet, computer, etc.) and all passwords and access keys to the company’s systems. It will also be essential to explain how time control works. Remember that it is mandatory to keep a log of hours worked. If they haven’t signed the contract yet, this is when they should. The same goes for data protection, trade secrets, etc.
The plan in the first weeks of work
The employee welcome plan cannot be limited to the first day, but must go beyond. Assigning a mentor, preferably with more experience and from the same department, is a good way to help the new worker integrate. Regular meetings to ask about their situation in the company, how they feel, if they need any help, etc., are also of interest.
There will come a point when the worker will be fully settled in their job, having assimilated the corporate business culture. At that time, the process will have come to an end. However, it is important to listen to their opinion to improve the management of new hires in the future to make the onboarding plan even more efficient. What has been most helpful to them? What would they improve?
The best help for the plan
Having onboarding software will be extremely helpful when it comes to dealing with the management of new workers. Among other things, you can design the process from the beginning and add a checklist with everything the new worker should know. This is one of the different functionalities that Sesame HR software offers in onboarding to make sure you don’t miss anything. By centralizing the entire process in onboarding software, the different company managers know how the adaptation is going, when meetings are held, etc.
The first impression at a new job is very important, and you can only provide a first impression once. Having a customized onboarding plan for each worker is ideal to provide a suitable welcome, facilitating their adaptation and enhancing the image of the company.
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