An onboarding upgrade: where do I start?

28/01/2026

Revamping your whole onboarding experience might sound like a daunting exercise.

Streamlining systems, processes and practices that may be used by thousands of new starters a year, across multiple locations, countries and cultures can take time. And, balancing essential legal and admin elements, with a welcoming, informing and inspiring new experience does require commitment and vision.

So, where should you start?

Define your onboarding vision

Start by defining what you want to achieve with your new onboarding experience. This isn’t a detailed plan. It’s a sentence or short paragraph that clearly explains your objectives – why you want to change, and where you want to get to. Then, throughout the process, as you research, plan and scope out every aspect of your experience, you can refer back to your vision to ensure you’re still on track.

It goes without saying that an exec sponsor can also help smooth the way for your entire project, so we'd recommend getting an ally with a seat at the top table.

Discovery

Understanding where things stand with your current onboarding process is vital. Data is the great revealer. Use existing MI coupled with online surveys and focus groups will help you find out the good, the bad and the ugly. Make sure you’re getting a diverse range of views, from graduates to senior managers, new starters to the line managers who are involved in the process. And, if you're global, make sure to canvas views from multiple locations to unearth differences in cultural and process.

Surveying new joiners at the end of their first day, first month and third month can be particularly useful in helping you define exactly which parts of your process are working well, and which aren’t.

Discovery could also involve external benchmarking to help you understand exactly what good and bad onboarding looks like. Don't just invite businesses from your industry though - diversity is key.

Simplify

We’ve yet to find a company whose existing onboarding process wasn’t needlessly complicated - one of our engineering clients had over 40 different forms for their new starters to fill out (now they have eight). This is your chance to simplify your whole process, but it has to be done with the needs of the new joiner in mind. Remove all unnecessary stages, jargon, red tape and legacy complexity. Make it a simple process for all involved, not just your new starters, as that will help with buy in internally.

It's more than likely that you’ll get challenged here by the certain areas of the business (and certain people within them) who ‘have always done it this way’. Change doesn’t come easy for some, but stick to your guns and keep your vision front of mind, as well as the data from your discovery phase.

Collaboration

Ensure your new onboarding experience is designed in collaboration with your people, not for them. This is particularly key if you’re introducing a global system, because of the inevitable cultural differences. Don’t assume you know what people want. Be guided by your discovery phase, and be willing to create an experience that can be personalised and tailored for different audiences. That’s where the right onboarding tech can help.

We're a big believer in using AI to help you develop your preboarding and onboarding experience. It's great at data analysis. It saves time when creating content. And, it can streamline and automate loads of boring tasks that no one wants to do. But, don't let AI replace every human in your process.

Why? Because it's crucial that new hires connect with your culture and people during preboarding and onboarding. Connections at this stage nurture confidence and reduce anxiety, they also build knowledge and improve early productivity, all of which will have a highly positive effect on your early attrition rates. So, no matter how much you'd like to replace your line managers with an AI robots, don't 🤖😂.

Technology

Even if you're only hiring 10 people a month, onboarding technologies like Eli or Eli Go are designed to help you deliver exceptional experiences every time. They manage your process and tasks, build knowledge and awareness, connect people with those important humans (such as their peers, manager and buddy) and, best of all, free you up to spend more time on the value add - or simply tackle the next thing on your list.

Communication

Finally, don’t assume that the rest of the business will automatically be onboard (if you’ll pardon the pun) with your big onboarding plans. A robust change and communication strategy is crucial for success.

Yet again, this is where your vision and the vital information you’ve unearthed in the discovery phase will be invaluable. Presented compellingly to key stakeholders, they will provide concrete proof of how much change is needed – and the benefits those changes could bring to the business in everything from talent retention to enhanced performance and cost-savings.

And, as the launch date nears, ensure the rest of the business knows about it too, especially your line managers who should really own the experience.

For more advice on how to overhaul your onboarding experience, check out our suite of top tip videos in the insight section.