Effective employee onboarding
Onboarding new employees is often HR’s only chance to make a great first impression on behalf of the entire organization. It’s also a process that’s filled with legal responsibilities as an employer. In our webinar, Onboarding That Works: Why Long-Term Success Requires More Than HR, Human Resources Business Partners Olivia B. and Becky W. share their favourite strategies and best practices for implementing a successful onboarding process that goes beyond basics.
If onboarding still feels inconsistent or overly HR-driven, this webinar replay and expert Q&A is for you.
Sign up for our next webinar on trending HR and health and safety topics
SAVE YOUR SPOT – REGISTER HERE
Expert Q&A: Onboarding new employees
[Adapted from webinar transcript]
Onboarding that works: Why long-term success requires more than HR
Alex: The first few days and weeks in a new role play a significant part in whether an individual ultimately performs well and whether they stick around for the long term. Today, we’re excited to share some of the best practices our organization follows to set our new hires up for success. I’m joined today by two colleagues from Citation Group’s HR team, Becky and Olivia. You both onboard new hires into the same company, but you support very different departments. What’s unique about onboarding in sales versus professional services?
Becky: In our main sales function, we typically recruit in cohorts of at least three to four colleagues per intake. This is because we have a four-week training program designed specifically for group learning, including role-play, interactive sessions, and peer-based practice. For the first three weeks, new sales starters won’t be on the phones at all. Instead, they spend that time getting to know who we are as a business, understanding our products, and building the confidence they need before speaking to our customers.
If you’re a smaller business and not recruiting several people at once, the principles still apply. Just be mindful that without a cohort, the new colleague might need more of your time and attention because they won’t have those peers to learn alongside. A little bit of extra support in those early days goes a long way.
Olivia: I look after our service department, which includes our health and safety, HR, and employment law consultants. These roles are very different from being an on-site HR or health and safety manager, so it’s crucial that people fully understand the job before they start.
Our service onboarding is very different from sales. Our consultants are client-facing specialists in their fields with professional qualifications. Their orientation process focuses far more on knowledge, content, and technical understanding rather than pure skills-based training. We also embed what we call « the Citation way » into all our onboarding to ensure consistency in how we deliver consultancy and support to clients.
Alex: Thinking back to some great onboarding experiences you’ve led, what made them stand out?
Becky: One experience that stands out is when a new colleague, about three months into their role, told me our onboarding felt refreshing compared to previous sales organizations they’d worked in. In their past roles, the expectation was to get them on the phone as quickly as possible with minimal training. But anyone who’s worked with sales teams knows that confidence is key. Throwing people straight into calls might feel efficient, but it often undermines long-term performance.
What made our onboarding stand out was that we took the opposite approach. We take the time to nurture confidence before anyone picks up the phone. New colleagues go through structured learning on our products, services, and, most importantly, how we like to sell. This feedback reinforced that investing upfront in their development creates a path to true competency.
Olivia: One thing that sticks in my mind is a colleague who joined us from the fire service a few years ago. He described the fire service as very old-school and rigid, and couldn’t believe how many touchpoints he had with us before even starting and the support he received from different teams in his first couple of weeks. He joined as an entry-level health and safety consultant, graduated as a fully-fledged consultant, and is now a team leader. It’s a great example of how effective onboarding and a clear development pathway can elevate someone’s career, and it’s something both small and large businesses can achieve.
Alex: To stay organized, I’m sure you use checklists. At Citation Canada, we offer several helpful onboarding checklists and guides for our clients. But we know that’s just the starting place. Why is it the wrong approach to think that onboarding is mostly just HR and checklists?
Olivia: It’s easy to fall into that trap. While checklists and HR are helpful, I always say that HR probably makes up less than 5% of how colleagues actually experience onboarding. Once someone joins, the people who truly shape their experience are their managers and their team. Onboarding isn’t an administrative process; it’s a relationship-building process. The most meaningful parts happen through leadership, team culture, and the support a new starter gets in their first week. HR facilitates onboarding by running induction sessions and stepping in where needed, but the real onboarding happens through human connections.
Becky: Exactly. Onboarding can never sit solely with HR; it’s a team effort. So many people are involved: the recruitment team, HR, IT, the hiring manager, and sometimes even buddies or mentors. In larger businesses like ours, those teams are more defined, but even in smaller organizations, you can draw on the people around you to help create a great experience. Getting a mix of colleagues involved helps the new starter feel supported, connected, and part of something from day one.
Alex: Especially in smaller companies where people aren’t doing onboarding every day, what do leaders tend to underestimate about it?
Becky: I’d say the importance of planning that first week. You have to ask: if the manager isn’t with the new starter, what are they doing? Who can help support them? Having a new starter can feel like a full-time job because they need constant direction and don’t have a workload or stakeholder connections yet. Don’t underestimate the full life cycle of planning for a new colleague and setting aside time for the admin and training.
Olivia: Yes, the prep work is absolutely critical. Everything needs to be set up before the new starter arrives. Ask yourself: Do they have access to all the systems they’ll need? Have you created their orientation plan? Have you scheduled introductory meetings with key people? Taking the time to prepare these things upfront means the new colleague can hit the ground running and signals that you’re invested in their success.
Alex: Absolutely. So, we’ve touched on those first couple of days—what should a new hire’s primary takeaway be from their very first day in a new role?
Olivia: I think the most important thing is that your new colleague feels welcome, excited, and valued. Even if the induction or orientation isn’t perfect, they’ll remember how they were made to feel far more than whether every logistical step ran smoothly. At the end of the day, people matter so much more than the process. That is what should shine through on day one.
Becky: I couldn’t agree more. Starting a new job is a massive step. Leaving the comfort zone of a previous role can be daunting. By the end of day one, we want all new starters to feel confident that they’ve made the right choice and that the company culture and values genuinely align with their expectations.
It’s also about being authentic. We shouldn’t mask the challenges that the role or the company might be facing. Being realistic helps build trust. We proactively share those challenges in a constructive way—explaining that while these hurdles exist, we’re tackling them together. It makes a new hire feel needed, knowing their skills and experience will help move things forward.
Alex: That feeling of being needed is a great motivator. So, moving past the first day, what does a strong first week look like? How do you avoid overwhelming someone while still helping them ramp up?
Becky: The first week is about motivation and value. Beyond that, the « biggie » is regular check-ins. You need to gauge how they’re finding things. Are they ready to learn more, or do they need more time on their current focus area? You want to make sure people are comfortable before progressing to the next stage. It’s all about easing them in gently.
Olivia: That first week or two is also critical for relationship building. You can always go back and repeat training or nurture a skill set, but you can never redo a first impression or the way a relationship is curated. I recommend scheduling extra time into training sessions. This gives you the space to go off topic, ask questions, and really get to know each other. People often stay with a business because of the people they work with, so don’t underestimate the impact of those early connections.
Becky: Exactly. Knowing the individual is key. In fact, the entire onboarding process should be curated specifically for the person you’ve hired.
Alex: How do you actually put this into practice without completely derailing your existing onboarding process?
Olivia: It starts with checking in from day one. You need to set clear boundaries and take the time to understand how your new hire prefers to be managed and communicated with. Some great questions to ask during those first few weeks are:
- How do you prefer to receive feedback?
- What do you need from me to succeed?
- What helps you feel comfortable and confident at work?
Once you understand their preferences, you can adapt your approach. Those early conversations make it much easier to tailor the experience and make a real impact.
Becky: Absolutely. Every role has different expectations, but it’s vital to ensure the pace of learning is right for that specific colleague. Communication is key, but as a leader, you also have to be attuned to what they aren’t saying. A new hire might not always feel comfortable being their own advocate or admitting they don’t understand something. It’s on you as a manager to pivot if you sense things aren’t going right. Taking ownership of that is incredibly important.
Alex: Can you share an example where you had to adjust an onboarding approach, and what the result was?
Olivia: Definitely. We once had a new starter who was struggling because most of our training content was written, and they struggled to digest information that way. After chatting, we realized they learned best through hands-on experience. We quickly pivoted: we paired them with a buddy for shadowing and provided software that read text documents aloud so they could listen to the information instead. We didn’t want them to miss out on learning just because of the format.
Becky: This isn’t just a one-off case; flexibility is essential. You might have six people starting at once with six different learning styles. Tailoring the experience to each of them takes a bit longer, but the return on investment is worth it.
Olivia: Exactly. You get much higher engagement and long-term capability when learning feels right. If a new hire doesn’t know their learning style yet, use trial and error. Keep observing, keep checking in, and intervene early to set them up for success. Just because a new hire says « everything is fine » doesn’t always mean they’re comfortable—that’s where a leader needs to step in.
Alex: We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what successful onboarding looks like. But what’s the actual cost when it goes wrong? How does poor onboarding show up in terms of retention, performance, and the workload for managers?
Becky: It’s a huge investment to bring someone on, so getting it right the first time is really in your best interest. When it comes to retention, poor onboarding is one of the strongest predictors of early turnover. Research shows that companies with effective onboarding see up to 82% higher retention. Essentially, those first 90 days are the make-or-break period. A lack of structure or clarity drives those early resignations.
Olivia: It hits performance just as hard. Poor onboarding leads to slower ramp-up times, lower confidence, and inconsistent work. Without clear expectations or structured training, new hires waste time trying to figure things out on their own. This delays their effectiveness and increases the risk of early mistakes. On the flip side, a documented learning path significantly improves role readiness and helps employees understand what good looks like from day one.
Alex: And what about the impact on the leadership team?
Becky: That’s a major factor. Poor onboarding significantly increases managerial workload. When processes aren’t clear, new colleagues naturally lean heavily on their managers for basic guidance. This leads to a spike in one-to-one support and repeated explanations of simple tasks. According to the Harvard Business Review, excessive workload is the top cause of management burnout.
By making onboarding intentional and well-planned, you aren’t just helping the new hire—you’re protecting your managers’ wellbeing. It’s a win-win for long-term success.
Alex: Getting managers invested in onboarding is all about showing them the long-term benefits. When done right, it makes their lives much easier. So, looking at the current landscape, what are some of the most common onboarding mistakes you see?
Becky: The biggest one has to be thinking that onboarding ends after the first two weeks. Those early days usually only cover the basics—paperwork, system access, and quick intros. True onboarding takes much longer because new hires need time to build confidence, understand expectations, and really integrate into the team and culture.
Olivia: Another common trap is not being realistic about the role. It’s tempting to sugarcoat things during the interview stage, but honesty is the best policy. When you’re upfront about the day-to-day expectations, people know exactly what they’re stepping into. They are far more likely to settle in, stay longer, and actually enjoy the work.
Alex: That makes total sense. If you had to leave leaders with three key takeaways to remember about onboarding, what would they be?
Olivia: My first one is that onboarding isn’t a set period; it can easily last up to a year, so don’t underestimate that timeline. My second is that onboarding is a team sport—it’s not just a Human Resources (HR) task.
Becky: And for the third, Olivia and I are very much aligned: a personalized experience beats a perfect process every time. Your new starter will remember the people and how they were made to feel much more than they’ll remember a technical glitch with their laptop on day one. Focus on the individual.
Simplifying onboarding at your organization doesn’t need to be another time-consuming project
Our team of HR professionals and user-friendly HR software can simplify the entire process. While having a compliant onboarding process is a good start, it’s only effective if it’s consistently applied and tailored to the needs of your new employees.
Thousands of Canadian organizations trust our innovative HR software and team of experts to help with:
- Delivering compliant policies and documentation: Access an HR content library with hundreds of HR templates, including a contractor and visitor safety policy for every Canadian jurisdiction.
- Providing online training courses: Our online learning management system (LMS) offers over 240 courses to ensure your leaders and employees understand their roles and responsibilities about contractor and visitor safety at your organization.
- Accessing live advice and consulting: Whether you need answers about the specifics of developing your own contractor safety management program or anything else, our team of HR advisors and health and safety consultants is there to provide trusted guidance on any project you have coming up.