How to create an effective employee onboarding checklist

Hiring someone new is one thing. Getting them set up properly so they can hit the ground running? That's another. And, unfortunately, it's where a lot of businesses (unintentionally) drop the ball.

Getting onboarding right can help a new hire feel like part of the team from the get-go. It encourages them to actually stick around. However, if you don’t nail the onboarding process? You could end up spending weeks chasing up missing new hire paperwork and fixing mistakes. You might even watch your new hire walk out the door.

The good news is that an effective onboarding checklist can stop that mess before it starts. Using a checklist like this is a great way to keep everything in order. It can help you make sure nothing gets missed and help your new employees settle in faster.

In this article, we explain what an employee onboarding checklist is and how to create one. We also share the benefits of using one and detail how Rippling can level-up your onboarding process while reducing the amount of work involved.

What is an employee onboarding checklist?

An employee onboarding checklist is a simple but very effective tool. It helps businesses work systematically through the onboarding process. An onboarding checklist is basically a list of all the big and small onboarding tasks that HR, hiring managers, and IT teams need to tick off when bringing on a new employee. Ultimately, it sets new hires up for success.

It also makes onboarding smooth and consistent for the business. With an onboarding checklist, businesses don't need to scramble to remember what needs doing each time new hires start. They just follow the steps on the checklist.

Key elements of an employee onboarding checklist

There's a lot more to the employee onboarding process than filling out a couple of forms and handing over a laptop. A good new employee onboarding checklist breaks each step of the process into clear phases. Below, you can find some of the key elements that a good employee onboarding checklist should include:

A clear timeline that covers every stage

Onboarding goes way beyond a new employee's first day. A solid new employee onboarding checklist should map out everything that needs to happen at every stage of the process. For instance, before they start, on their first day, throughout their first week, and over their first few months. Here's an example of how this onboarding process timeline might appear on an onboarding checklist:

• Two weeks before the start date: Send the contract for signing and verify the new hire's ID documents.
• One week before the start date: Set up IT accounts, order any equipment, and send first-day details.
• First day: Introduce the new hire to key team members, run through the employee handbook and company policies, and make sure they can log in to all systems.
• First 30 days: Assign real projects, schedule routine check-ins, and confirm all necessary admin is sorted.
• First 90 days: Conduct a performance review, discuss potential training opportunities, and talk about long-term goals.

Tasks that are specific to the job

Some new hires might require a slightly tailored onboarding process based on the job they're starting. Because of this, a good checklist includes the essentials that apply to everyone (like setting up email access), but also tasks tailored to the new hire's role (like giving them access to job-specific software or introducing them to their team’s workflows).

For example, an IT specialist will probably need system admin permissions, while a salesperson will need a login for the CRM. If all the checklist says is 'set up software,' there’s definitely room for mistakes. A better onboarding checklist could break it down like this:

For an IT specialist

• Grant system admin permissions in [internal management system] before [date].
• Set up access to cloud servers, VPN, and [insert developer tools] before [date].
• Add to security groups and confirm multi-factor authentication is working before [date].

For a salesperson

• Provide login credentials for the CRM system before [date].
• Assign them to the correct sales territories and lead lists in the system before [date].
• Schedule product and sales process training for their first week.

Steps to make sure IT and equipment are set up before day one

There's nothing more annoying for a new employee than tech issues on day one! Thankfully, these tech issues are avoidable. An effective onboarding checklist for new employees makes sure the necessary IT setup is done before they start. This can mean that, on their first day, they don't need to sit around waiting for logins or a laptop that hasn’t even arrived yet.

Including 'set up IT,' on your onboarding checklist won't cut it. It needs to include the specific steps involved in the process of setting up IT for a new hire. For instance, 'create company email by [date],' 'issue laptop and accessories by [date],' and 'test all software access by [date].'

Steps to take care of compliance and paperwork early on

We get it. Paperwork isn’t the most exciting part of bringing a new hire on board. But it's a super important part! So, the checklist should cover the collection and processing of everything, from employment contracts to background checks, and tax and superannuation forms. This helps ensure that all this important stuff is done. Delays in the completion of compliance tasks can mean payroll problems (and potential legal problems) later on.

Some of the compliance and paperwork tasks on a good onboarding checklist should include:

• Send the employment contract for signing via [specific platform] at least two weeks before [date].
• Verify proof of work rights (e.g., passport, visa, or birth certificate) before [date].
• Collect TFN declaration and superannuation details before [date].
• Provide workplace policies and employee handbook on [date].
• Confirm submission and verification of bank details before [date].

Clear responsibilities for HR, IT, and hiring managers

Even the most thorough onboarding checklist that includes every single task is useless if nobody knows who’s responsible for each one. Every step or task should have a name attached to it. Otherwise, there's a high chance there'll be the general assumption that 'someone else is taking care of it'.

For example, a vague checklist item would be 'set up work email'. The stronger version would be 'IT department to set up work email and deliver login details by [date].' Similarly, a checklist item that says 'hiring manager to schedule an introductory team meeting on day one' is likely to be far more effective than 'introduce new employee to team members'.

Regular check-ins at key milestones

The onboarding process doesn't end when the new hire is through the door. A successful onboarding process should extend into their first few months of employment. This is generally to make sure they're settling into their new role well and delivering a mutually beneficial level of productivity. Because of this, an important element of an effective onboarding checklist is regular check-ins at key milestones. These may include, for instance:

• End of the first week: This first official check-in can include the hiring manager seeing how the new hire is settling in. During this check-in, they can also answer any questions the new hire may have and address any early challenges that might have arisen. This can be a great way to catch any niggly little issues before they turn into bigger problems.
• End of the first month: At this point, the HR or hiring manager can lock in a more in-depth check-in. During this catch up, they can find out what the employee thinks of their new role. They can also go over expectations and make sure the new hire has access to all the things they need to do well.
• End of 60 days: Consider this a mid-way touchpoint for the new hire. It can be a great opportunity to assess progress and discuss any training needs. It's also a good time to get feedback on the onboarding process from the new employee.
• End of 90 days: This would be the time during which a formal performance review takes place. This enables the hiring manager to offer the new employee feedback on their work so far, discusses career development opportunities, and outlines the next steps in their role.

Ways to help new team members feel like part of the team

More than an accessible list of values, company culture involves how people feel when they join a company. New hires need to feel welcomed, included, or connected. If they don't, there's a good chance they'll check out mentally (or throw in the towel altogether). A really effective onboarding process should prioritise team integration.

As such, a great onboarding checklist should include steps that have a focus on relationship building and encouraging engagement for in-office and remote employees alike. For example:

• Assigning a buddy or mentor before their start date
• Encouraging early participation in company culture activities
• Making leadership visible
• Giving them a meaningful first project

Structured and logically spread out training and development

New hires don’t need to learn everything on day one. In fact, it's really best that they don't. Information overload can cause serious overwhelm for a new employee.

A good onboarding checklist should include a training plan with a well-thought out structure. It should cover the must-know basics first and then introduce the new employee to more advanced skills and development later on down the track. For example:

First day

• Go over essential tools and systems (e.g., email, project management software, HR portal).
• Cover immediate must-knows, like security policies and basic workflows.
• Assign a simple task or shadowing session so they can see how things work in real time.

First week

• Introduce major job responsibilities and key expectations for performance.
• Set up training specific to their role (e.g., a developer learns codebase structure, a marketer learns the CRM).
• Book in regular check-ins to answer early questions or mitigate roadblocks.

First month

• Offer more in-depth training sessions on advanced tools, strategies, or internal processes.
• Get them involved in cross-team meetings so they can see how their role fits into the bigger picture.
• Encourage them to take ownership of a small project to apply what they’ve learned so far.

First 90 days

• Introduce long-term skill-building opportunities (e.g., mentorship, certifications, industry webinars).
• Go through a formal review to assess progress, set future goals, and discover any remaining training needs.
• Encourage them to put forward their ideas or take on slightly bigger responsibilities.

Employee onboarding checklist templates

As you can see, a well-structured onboarding checklist is very necessary. It can keep everything going to plan, make sure no important steps are left out, and help new hires settle in as well and quickly as possible. In the section below, we include two different onboarding checklist templates:

1. A general onboarding checklist that can apply to any new hire, covering the main phases of the onboarding process.
2. A role-specific onboarding checklist that includes job-specific tasks (in this case, for a marketing coordinator).

These checklist templates can provide a great starting point. Feel free to adjust them based on your business and new hire needs.

General new employee onboarding checklist

This checklist covers all the essential onboarding steps. Typically, these tasks apply to every new employee, regardless of their role or which department they're in.

Role-specific employee onboarding checklist

This one is a template for an onboarding checklist for a Marketing Coordinator. It covers everything from general HR tasks to role-specific training steps. If you're onboarding a new hire in a different position, you can use this template as a framework and just swap out the marketing-specific tasks for steps that fit the role at hand.

Benefits of using an onboarding checklist for new employees

A good onboarding checklist can make life a whole lot easier for everyone. This includes HR, hiring managers, IT staff, and the new hires themselves. Without a good onboarding checklist in use, things can very easily slip through the cracks. Here’s are just some of the ways a new employee onboarding checklist with an excellent structure can make all the difference:

Helps businesses comply with Australian employment laws

Hiring someone comes with a pretty long list of legal non-negotiables. Businesses need to collect the right documents and verify the new hire's right to work. They also need to set up superannuation and provide the employee with essential workplace policies. If they miss any bit of this, it can lead to compliance problems, penalties, and even legal trouble down the track.

Using an onboarding checklist can give a business peace of mind knowing that the legal paperwork is completed and collected before day one so there's no bad surprises.

Reduces admin errors and missed steps

Without a good checklist, onboarding can get messy. For example, some in HR might think that someone in IT has set up the new hire’s email. But IT thinks HR has done it. By the time anyone realises, the new hire has already started.... and can’t log in to anything.

Using a good onboarding checklist can seriously reduce this kind of miscommunication. It can assign responsibility and due dates upfront, so nothing gets left to chance.

Creates a smooth and consistent onboarding experience

When businesses don’t follow a structured onboarding process, it's often evident in the new hires' onboarding experience. One person might get a lovely warm welcome, full training, and a clear progression plan. The next could be left to figure things out on their own. Guess which employee ends up feeling more confident, motivated and engaged?

A checklist prevents this kind of onboarding inconsistency. It's a great way of making sure that every new employee gets the same well-organised onboarding experience.

Helps new employees get productive faster

A new hire that doesn't know what they're supposed to be doing is likely to waste bulk time trying to figure things out instead of actually doing their work. With the lack of a clear plan, there's a good chance they'll spend their first days (or even weeks) asking basic questions, waiting for logins, or simply second-guessing their tasks.

An onboarding checklist takes the guesswork out of the equation by giving them step-by-step guidance on what to do and when to do it. Essentially, this means that new hires can hit the ground running and start adding real value right from day one!

Improves engagement and long-term retention

More often than not, people don’t walk out on jobs because of the actual work. Usually, they leave because they feel disconnected, unprepared, or unsupported.

Using a solid onboarding checklist promotes a good onboarding process that can make new hires feel valued from day one. It sets them up for success from the get-go. In turn, this can increase the chance of them sticking around.

Streamlines IT and equipment setup

IT delays are a surefire way to ruin a new hire's first day. Nothing kills enthusiasm faster than arriving at a new job, only to spend hours waiting for a laptop or chasing down login details. A good onboarding checklist typically includes clear, time-bound steps for the setting up of a company email, software, and hardware. And this usually all takes place before the employee even walks through the door!

This means nothing is left until the last minute, making the new hire's first day smooth and productive instead of a tedious waiting game.

Enhances coordination between HR, IT, and managers

Onboarding isn’t just HR’s job. It's a group effort. It often involves input from several teams, like HR, IT, finance, department managers, and sometimes even senior leadership. A good onboarding checklist makes it a lot easier for each party to know what they're responsible for, and when they need to do it.

For instance, HR needs to take care of setting up payroll for the new hire. IT needs to set them up with logins. The department manager needs to sort out training. A well-structured onboarding checklist can ensure this all happens as it should without unnecessary confusion or delays.

Saves time and scales with business growth

A downside of company growth is that it can make the onboarding process significantly harder to manage. Thankfully, a great onboarding checklist can create a process that's easy to repeat and, therefore, scalable. It can enable businesses to onboard more employees efficiently... and without having to reinvent the wheel every time!

Ultimately, using a solid onboarding checklist can make it much easier to ramp up the onboarding of new team members without the chaos.

Common pitfalls of poor onboarding

Onboarding mistakes might seem like little mistakes. But the reality is that they can have a huge, negative impact on a business. If businesses don't follow a logical and structured onboarding process, they run the risk of creating an experience that's extremely frustrating. And this is true for both their new hire and their existing teams.

Here are some of the biggest and most common onboarding mistakes companies make (usually when they don’t have a solid onboarding checklist to go off):

Overwhelming new hires with too much information

Dropping everything on a new hire in their first few days might seem like the proactive thing to do. But, unfortunately, this approach usually doesn’t set them up for success. It usually just stresses them out. If they’re bombarded with policies, systems, processes, and training all in one go, they’re probably not going to remember much of it.

Onboarding should follow a good structure and have an appropriate spread. This way, new hires can absorb what they need and at the right time.

Lack of clear ownership of onboarding tasks

When no one knows who’s responsible for what, things start to fall apart. When it comes to the onboarding process, an assumption of who takes care of what is just not enough. Imagine if HR assumes the hiring manager is handling training, the hiring manager assumes IT has set up logins, and IT assumes HR has sent the equipment request. The result? A messy, frustrating first week for the new hire and the existing teams!

A checklist clearly assigns every single task. No assuming, and no guessing.

Inconsistent onboarding across teams and locations

If there’s no standard process, onboarding can be a completely different experience depending on the department or location. Some teams might do it really well. Others might leave new hires to fend for themselves. This inconsistency doesn't set up all new hires for success. It also can reflect badly on a company.

A structured checklist makes sure that every new employee has a quality onboarding experience. And this is irrespective of what department they work in and whether they're office-based or working remotely.

Failing to communicate expectations and goals

New hires need to know what the company expects of them. And not just in general, but specifically in their role. If they don’t get clear direction, they could spend their first few weeks second-guessing themselves, feeling unsure if they’re doing the right things or where they should be focussing their efforts. This can lead them to hesitate, feel frustration, or just waste time. What's worse, they might head in the total wrong direction without knowing, creating more work for their manager later.

A strong onboarding checklist can help guide the onboarding process in a way that sets expectations from day one.

Neglecting cultural integration and engagement

A successful onboarding process needs to go deeper than compliance and training. Many companies focus so heavily on ticking all the tangible boxes. In doing so, they can forget that new hires need to feel like they belong to thrive. Perhaps nobody makes an effort to introduce them properly or proactively help them build relationships with their team members. As such, they can easily feel like an outsider. And when people feel disconnected, they’re far more likely to disengage or even leave.

A solid onboarding checklist bakes in cultural cohesiveness, making sure every new hire gets a warm welcome.

No structured follow-up or feedback process

Onboarding isn’t a one-and-done event. If a company pours all its focus on the first week but doesn't check in later, new hires can end up feeling like they've been forgotten. They might be struggling with something small but don’t feel comfortable speaking up. They could also be unhappy but leave before anyone even realises there was even a problem.

A structured onboarding checklist includes scheduled check-ins that give managers the chance to address concerns, offer support, and make changes if needed.

Ignoring ongoing training and development

There's a good chance that a new hire might learn the basics in their first few weeks. But what happens after that? If training just stops once onboarding is 'done,' employees can hit a wall very fast. They may feel like they’re stuck doing the same old tasks, with no opportunity to grow or improve. Eventually, they could start looking for a role at another company that invests in their career development.

A good onboarding checklist ensures the onboarding process extends beyond the first month by including well thought out and spaced out learning opportunities.

Underestimating the impact of a poor first impression

First impressions stick. So, if a company gets onboarding horribly wrong, it can be pretty hard to undo. If a new hire’s first experience is disorganised, confusing, or just plain awkward, they’ll probably question if they made the right choice by accepting the job. And that doubt can linger, even if things improve later on.

Using an onboarding checklist can help make sure that the onboarding process is smooth and well-organised for every new employee.

Stress-free onboarding with Rippling

The onboarding process is hard work. Getting it right is even harder. But, thanks to Rippling’s all-in-one workforce management platform, your onboarding process can be great and almost effortless. The platform combines HR, Payroll, IT, and Spend management all in one system and built on a single source of truth.

Rippling's HCM, specifically its HRIS system, lets you put the whole employee lifecycle on autopilot, including the onboarding process. Here’s how Rippling can help with bringing on a new hire, before day one, on day one, and far beyond:

Before their first day

With Rippling, you can automate all the pre-boarding steps so everything is ready to go ahead of time!

• Send offer letters and new hire paperwork.
• Create employee records across all systems.
• Order, configure, and ship company laptops.
• Set up email and system logins instantly.
• Assign necessary onboarding tasks to different teams.

On their first day

With Rippling, new employees have access to everything they need right from the very beginning of their employment.

• Managers can assign introductions.
• All logins, software, and devices are ready to use.
• A personalised onboarding checklist guides them through their first tasks.
• HR can monitor progress in real-time.

After their first day

Rippling gives you a massive leg up when it comes to making sure new employees feel engaged, supported, and on perfectly on track for success.

• Schedule automated check-ins.
• Track training progress.
• Sync employee updates.
• Collect feedback on the onboarding experience.

Why Rippling?

Rippling isn't like other HR software out there. It's not a patchwork of disconnected systems. It’s a wonderfully cohesive workforce management platform, without silos. This means that any updates, including a title change, new work location, or updated tax information, automatically flow across all systems... and with no extra effort on your team's part!

Employee onboarding checklist FAQs

What are the 5 C's of onboarding?

The 5 C’s of onboarding refers to the various elements of the onboarding process. Each of these elements contributes to how prepared, engaged, and set up for success a new hire feels:

1. Compliance: Getting the paperwork, policies, and legal requirements sorted.
2. Clarification: Defining the role, responsibilities, and expectations.
3. Culture: Introducing company values and ways of working.
4. Connection: Helping new hires build relationships within the team.
5. Check-ins: Conducting periodic follow-ups to answer questions and provide support.

An effective onboarding checklist includes all five.

What are the 3 most important elements of successful onboarding?

Generally speaking, they include:

1. Preparation before day one: Get paperwork, IT access, and role-specific tools ready to go before the new hire comes in for their first day.
2. A structured onboarding plan: Decide on important milestones for the first day, first week, and first few months.
3. Ongoing support: Keep up with regular check-ins, training, and career development.

What is the best employee onboarding software for small businesses?

Rippling is one of the best options for small businesses because. It automates the whole onboarding process from A to Z. This includes everything from payroll and IT setup to training and performance management. 

With Rippling, even the smallest of teams can deliver an amazing onboarding experience. And without any extra admin work. It’s an all-in-one solution that grows alongside your business. 

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.