Alyshia Hull
| Special to USA TODAY
Starting a new job is supposed to feel exciting — especially after months of searching for one. It’s a time to set up your laptop, meet your coworkers and begin learning your role.
But without strong onboarding best practices in place, that excitement can quickly fade. For many workers, the onboarding process can significantly impact their perception of their new company.
According to the TalentLMS and BambooHR Onboarding Report, more than one-third of employees didn’t feel they belonged even a month into the job.
The report found that “onboarding felt like the beginning of a continuous learning journey for 65% of employees. Yet 39% had second thoughts about their new job during the process.”
“I want people to be excited during the interview stage, and that excitement shouldn’t disappear when onboarding happens — it usually does if it’s disorganized,” says Jalonni Weaver, a recruiter.
That raises an important question for employers: What separates a successful onboarding experience from a bad one?
To find out, we asked Weaver to share her biggest dos and don’ts for setting employees up for success from day one.
Do keep employees in the loop
One of the easiest ways to build trust with a new hire is through consistent communication, and this starts before their first day.
A survey by BambooHR finds that more than one-third of employees express frustration over long onboarding processes that can leave them feeling excluded or bored.
“I know when I make offers, I tell candidates, ‘My onboarding team will be taking over. But if at any point in the process you feel out of the loop or you have any questions, you can always reach out to me,’” she explains.
She adds, “I don’t want them to think, ‘Hey, I just got this offer, and I haven’t heard from this company in, like, three weeks, do I still have a job?’”
If you’re looking for ideas on how to improve communication during the new hire experience, Weaver suggests having their manager call them. This call can simply be to share their excitement about having them join the team.
Then they think, “Hey, my manager just called me. They’re excited for me to start.”
For employers, keeping in touch shows new hires that they’re valued and prevents the silence that can quickly erode excitement about a role.
Do have a dedicated day for setup
Setting up new hires for success begins with providing them with the time and resources they need on day one — or through a comprehensive day of orientation.
This might look like giving them a day where you show them the facility, let them meet their teams or sometimes shadow a coworker, Weaver explains. It’s also a time to work out any kinks or simply to get them set up.
Your new employee might spend that time filling out benefits information, doing technical things or working on getting logged in.
“We have a dedicated day that we use — the first day to look over benefits, any technical issues and any questions. We help people through it because we know that first day is rough,” she said.
For employers, dedicating a full day to getting oriented signals that the company is organized and invested in its employees’ success from day one.
Do check in on new hires
Even after the first day or week, new hires benefit from ongoing check-ins. Regular touchpoints show that you’re invested in their success and help identify any issues before they become bigger problems.
Weaver emphasizes that support shouldn’t end once a candidate signs an offer.
“I check in with my new hires, usually around 30 days, to see if they have any feedback or if they have any questions that weren’t answered during onboarding,” she says. “I also tell them during the interview: don’t be afraid to raise your hand. If you don’t know [something], most likely, somebody else doesn’t know either.”
Creating a sense of safety is crucial for new hires to feel confident in their decision to join the company and supported in their new role.
“A lot of people want to come into a company feeling like they’re supported and that the company is prepared for them,” Weaver notes. “They want to feel welcomed and that communication is clear.”
For employers, regular check-ins not only reinforce support but also help new hires stay engaged and confident in their roles from the very start.
Don’t misrepresent the role
A bad employee onboarding process often starts before day one, when candidates are told one thing about a role but encounter something very different on their first day.
The new hire might then say, “I applied for this job, the recruiter explained this, and now I’m in this job, and it’s nothing that they described. They didn’t tell me that I was going to have to deal with this much — X, Y and Z.”
Their responsibilities shouldn’t be a surprise.
As the recruiter, it’s important to be transparent about what the role entails and ensure managers communicate the same expectations. If there’s a disconnect, it reflects poorly on me and could lead to losing a hire, Weaver explains.
Don’t dump information on employees and run
One thing to avoid when onboarding candidates is overloading them with everything they need to know in the first week — and then never returning to it.
It’s best not to dump everything onto candidates or employees all at once and then leave them with no guidance, Weaver shares.
When you do this, employees think, “Okay, I didn’t retain any of this information,” she says. Instead, it’s better to make sure that they are absorbing the information and truly understanding it.
“I think quizzes help people [to be] set up for success because you can really measure how someone is doing,” Weaver observes.
Without that, you throw them into the job and then wonder why they’re not successful — and later realize they weren’t trained properly.
Key takeaways
Overall, onboarding can make or break a candidate’s experience at their new company. Weaver explained that when an employee has a poor onboarding or training experience, turnover often follows, with people thinking, “This isn’t for me.”
By keeping communication consistent, dedicating time for setup and being transparent about the role, employers can create a strong, supportive onboarding process.
Conversely, overloading new hires with information, leaving them without guidance or misrepresenting the job can quickly erode excitement and lead to early and expensive turnover.
A well-planned onboarding experience isn’t just a formality — it’s an extension of recruiting and a critical opportunity to show employees that they’re valued, supported and set up to succeed from the very start.
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