This article was updated on May 26, 2026, to reflect the latest information.
TL;DR: Onboarding best practices can make or break whether a new hire stays. Nearly one in three new employees leaves within 90 days — and when they do, replacing them costs up to 150% of their annual salary. This guide covers nine concrete practices that go beyond orientation checklists to build the kind of onboarding experience that retains talent, builds culture, and sets people up to do their best work fast.
According to research cited by the Harvard Business Review, nearly 30% of new hires leave their company within 90 days. That's three out of 10 new employees — qualified and well-matched for their position — headed out the door. For your organization, the talent is gone, but it also means a loss of time and resources spent on recruitment and hiring. The fiscal costs to replace an employee who has left are as high as 150% of the position's annual salary.
So, why do so many new hires leave their new company? There's often a misalignment between the recruiting and interviewing process and the daily reality of the role.
The best way to resolve this issue is with an effective and inclusive onboarding process. Building a solid onboarding process doesn't happen overnight. For every organization, there's going to be trial and error. But there are some onboarding best practices that can help you save time and avoid common pitfalls.
Here is a 2026 guide to nine of the best onboarding practices you'll wish you knew sooner.
Inclusive Onboarding: Introduction videoyoutu.be
1. Hit the Four C's
In the recruitment industry, there's a group of known onboarding procedures that all begin with the letter C. Any worthwhile list of top onboarding best practices will address all of the Four C's: compliance, clarification, culture, and connection.
These four procedures, sometimes referred to as levels, are the building blocks of successful onboarding — a framework developed by Dr. Talya Bauer and published by the SHRM Foundation.
Though the Four C's are widely known, it might surprise you to find out that only 20% of organizations achieve a process that addresses all four building blocks. And the statistics we mentioned earlier about new hires leaving their companies tell us that onboarding has its real-world implementation challenges.
How far do most companies get? About half of all firms have an onboarding process that addresses only the first two:
- Compliance: Informing employees of the legal and policy-related rules
- Clarification: Understanding job roles and expectations
Ensure your onboarding strategy goes beyond these two levels to include:
- Culture: Exposing employees to organizational norms and values
- Connection: Fostering interpersonal relationships and networks
2. Conduct a gap assessment
You don't need to create the strategy for your onboarding process in a vacuum. Conduct a gap assessment of your current onboarding processes to find out where your weaknesses are.
To analyze your current state, you'll likely need to survey new hires, HR staff, and — most importantly — new hires who are leaving. Ask open-ended questions like "what could we do better?" Take these individual responses seriously, as it's a rare opportunity to hear advice straight from the source when they have nothing to lose by being honest.
You'll also need objective measures such as quit rates at 90 days, six months, and one year.
With both subjective and objective feedback in hand, you can build a strategy that addresses your firm's specific gaps.
3. Pre-board
Onboarding best practices can truly start before the new hire even shows up for day one. It's a major recruitment mistake to ignore the candidate experience in the stages before their day-to-day work has begun. Preboarding will inspire excitement while easing any anxiety they might have.
- Send a swag bag with mugs, pens, and water bottles — include whatever fun, branded stuff your organization has.
- Let them know what to expect. Send an email with a clear checklist of what they'll be doing on day one, where to go, and who to ask for when they arrive. Include logistical information, like public transportation or parking, that will make their first day run smoothly.
4. Plan the welcome
The onboarding process in HR should be about rolling out the red carpet for your new employee. A warm welcome will go a long way to showing that the organization is just as excited about their arrival as they are.
- Inform the front desk staff. Nothing feels worse than arriving at a company and the front desk isn't expecting you and you don't know where to go.
- A welcome sign and balloons. Don't dismiss it — everyone loves a colorful, perhaps even cheesy, celebration.
- Prepare their desk. Have their computer set up as well as the basic office supplies they'll need. Bonus points: set them up on the office copy machine for email printing and administrative tasks that may be hard to figure out.
- Put them in the newsletter. How does your team communicate? Put a picture and quick welcome message about the new employee in a public space for everyone to see.
5. Five-start service: find your "wow" factor
Take a page out of five-star customer service training and insert some hospitality into your onboarding practices checklist. The "wow" factor is often used to describe what distinguishes five-star customer service.
So, what makes a new employee go "wow"? Having their favorite morning drink ready to go on their desk. Perhaps a bowl of their favorite candy. Going out to lunch at their favorite restaurant or providing their favorite type of cuisine.
It doesn't take a lot of extra preparation on HR's part — just a little sleuthing around — and it can bring an unexpected personal touch to the onboarding process.
6. Foster connection
Employee onboarding best practices must foster connection to other team members and employees. Onboarding shouldn't be the responsibility of HR and managers alone. Involve the whole team in the onboarding process, and ensure they understand what their responsibilities are in that process.
- Video welcome. Make a 60-second video of all the new employee's team members saying their name, hello, welcome, and can't wait to meet you.
- Buddy-up. Partner the new hire with a positive role model — someone they can check in with regularly and who can show them the formal and informal ropes.
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7. Check in often
Your onboarding best practices should be clear about how often you check in on your employees. Onboarding is not a one-day orientation. It's a process that can last for a year if necessary. Check in with new hires daily for the first week, and gradually lengthen check-in periods to weekly, monthly, quarterly, and so on. The purpose of the check-ins:
- Ensure they're comfortable
- Acknowledge their good work and progress
- Give them an opportunity to express their needs
Consider alternating check-in agendas. One is manager-led for you to communicate tasks and upcoming projects. The following check-in is employee-led for them to voice their needs. It can be difficult for an employee to ask for support or voice challenges when the check-in is always manager-led.
8. Ease into work
Getting thrown into the deep end is a quick way to drive new employees towards the door. Onboarding best practices should ease the employee into work gradually. Ensure they've had enough time to get the physical lay of the land, receive any training necessary, and connect with the right coworkers first. Shadowing another employee with similar responsibilities or an outgoing employee in the same position (if possible) is a great way to introduce daily work tasks in a low-pressure environment.
Shadowing also helps current teams to accept the new hire as an authority when someone figuratively passes the baton.
9. Design accountability
Hiring managers as well as team managers need to be held accountable for carrying out a consistent onboarding process. Create performance metrics for managers that capture their role in the onboarding process.
Retain more talent with inclusive onboarding best practices
Incorporating inclusive onboarding best practices is the key to retaining your newly hired talent. Remember, the onboarding process is more than a checklist or a single-day orientation. It's an ongoing process to ensure your new employees have everything they need to perform their best work as efficiently and quickly as possible. After reading through this list, are there any specific practices that you wish you had known sooner?
Build a team that stays
Onboarding gets people in the door. What keeps them is an ongoing investment in their growth, belonging, and development. PowerToFly's employee retention and training solutions help organizations build the kind of workplace culture where people want to stay — through expert-led live training, on-demand courses, and inclusion programming that drives real engagement.
See how PowerToFly helps you retain top talent.
FAQ: Onboarding best practices
What are onboarding best practices?
Onboarding best practices are the structured actions an organization takes to help new hires become productive, connected, and committed employees. They go well beyond paperwork — covering role clarity, culture introduction, peer connection, and ongoing check-ins that extend through the first year.
How long should the onboarding process last?
Research supports onboarding that lasts at least 90 days, and ideally up to a full year for complex roles. Programs that extend beyond the first month are associated with stronger employee retention, higher engagement, and faster time-to-productivity.
What are the Four C's of onboarding?
The Four C's — compliance, clarification, culture, and connection — are the building blocks of an effective onboarding process, developed by Dr. Talya Bauer for the SHRM Foundation. Most organizations only address the first two. The most effective onboarding programs reach all four levels.
Why do new hires leave within 90 days?
The most common reasons are misaligned expectations, poor role clarity, lack of connection with the team, and feeling unsupported from the start. A structured onboarding process that addresses all Four C's can significantly reduce early attrition.
How does onboarding affect employee retention?
Organizations with standardized onboarding procedures experience up to 50% greater new employee retention, according to the Harvard Business Review. Investing in a thorough, inclusive onboarding process is one of the highest-ROI actions an HR team can take.
