Digital onboarding: how to make new employees feel welcome and ready?

Why digital onboarding matters

How new employees experience their first weeks determines whether they thrive or struggle. Digital onboarding removes the guesswork. The key is in aligning preparation, communication, structure and support. People get up to speed faster, feel welcome from day one, and stay engaged. Read on to discover what digital onboarding looks like in practice, what it delivers, and how to build a process that transforms how people start.

Hoofdstukken: 

• What is a digital onboarding?
• Why a strong onboarding process matters
• How to build a succesful onboarding process
• Getting new employees up to speed effectively
• What needs to happen before and durign those first weeks
• How onboarding drives real engagement and productivity
• How to measure if your onboarding is working
• Better onboarding with BCS
• Frequently asked questions on digital onboarding

What is digital onboarding? 

Onboarding is the entire process of welcoming, informing and supporting a new employee from the moment they accept the role through to when they're confident and productive. How long that takes depends on how complex the job is.

Digital onboarding brings technology into the process. Onboarding software lets new starters access information, complete tasks in advance, meet colleagues and understand the culture. Everything is structured, personal and timed to keep them engaged.

Digital onboarding splits into two phases:

• Preboarding: between signing the contract and the first day. You handle admin digitally, share what people need to know, and build genuine excitement.
• Onboarding: the first weeks and months on the job. New starters learn their role, settle into the team and pick up how the organisation works.

Preboarding and onboarding form the foundation of a strong employee journey. That foundation shapes how people experience your organisation and whether they choose to stay.

Why a strong onboaring process matters

First impressions stick. And they're formed in those critical early weeks. Gallup's research shows just 12% of employees feel their organisation gets onboarding right. Most organisations are missing an obvious opportunity.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 70% of new starters decide within the first month whether they've made the right choice. 29% make up their mind by the end of week one.
• Organisations with strong onboarding see new hire retention jump by 82% and productivity increase by over 70%.
• Employees who experience poor onboarding are twice as likely to start looking for another job.
• 86% of new employees decide within their first six months how long they'll stay.

How the start goes also shapes your employer brand. What people tell friends, family and former colleagues matters. A rough beginning spreads quickly through networks.

There's also the financial side. Gallup shows replacing an employee costs six to nine months' salary. Good onboarding more than pays for itself.

How to build a succesful onboarding process 

Building a successful onboarding process requires clear thinking, defined roles and the right tools at hand.

Onboarding works best when HR, managers and teams are aligned. Gallup found that new employees rate their onboarding as exceptional 3.4 times more often when their manager is actively involved. Make sure managers know what's expected and give them the tools to do it well.

2. Structure the whole journey

Map out your onboarding programme clearly. Start with preboarding: what should happen before day one? Then day one, week one, first month, first three months. Many organisations use a 30-60-90 day plan, setting concrete goals, tasks and milestones for each phase so new starters know what to expect.

3. Make it personal

Junior hires and senior specialists need different approaches. Remote workers and office staff need different support. Digital onboarding platforms let you create tailored paths by role, department or location without creating extra work.

4. Pair them with a buddy or mentor

Microsoft's research shows that just one conversation with an onboarding buddy makes 56% of new starters feel more productive sooner. Four to eight check-ins pushes that to 86%. A buddy system is one of the most effective and straightforward ways to help people settle in fast.

5. Use technology the right way

Research by Vlerick Business School shows only a third of companies use technology for onboarding, but the ones that do report markedly better results. BCS onboarding automates admin, organises information, tracks progress and measures engagement as part of one integrated platform. When onboarding sits within one platform alongside recruitment, HR and payroll, everything connects smoothly. This frees HR to focus on what matters most: making people feel welcome.

Getting new employees up to speed effectively 

Bringing people into the team goes beyond sharing knowledge and procedures. It's about building trust, creating real connections and pointing the way forward.

Clear expectations on tasks and goals

Confusion about what's expected can derail a new starter. Provide a clear job description, set specific goals for the first period and hold regular check-ins to adjust course as needed.

Getting to know the culture and team

New employees want to understand what your organisation stands for. Make culture tangible by sharing stories, introducing colleagues through video or face-to-face, and showing how core values show up in everyday work.

Access to the right tools and systems

Technical issues on day one are incredibly common, and incredibly frustrating. Sort IT before they arrive. It takes minimal effort but shapes how people feel on their first day, and yet it's still overlooked too often.

Regular feedback and support

New starters aren't always confident asking questions. Build in regular feedback moments not just to review progress, but to create space for doubts, questions and personal needs.

What needs to happen before and during those first weeks

A successful onboarding process unfolds in different stages. Each one serves a specific purpose.

Before the first day: preboarding

The period between signing the contract and day one is a golden opportunity most organisations miss. Vlerick Business School found that 64% of employees get no preboarding or actual onboarding at all. Yet engagement starts here. New starters who had a good preboarding experience arrive with clearer expectations and hit the ground running more confidently.

What should preboarding include?

• A personal welcome message from the manager or team
• Handling administration digitally (contracts, forms, access)
• Practical details about day one (location, times, what to wear, parking, etc.)
• An introduction to the organisation, its culture and core values
• Meeting the buddy or mentor
• Access to the onboarding platform with a personal programme mapped out

The first day

First impressions matter. Arrange a warm welcome, a ready workspace and a clear schedule. Avoid information overload. Most new starters feel swamped by too much at once. Spread things out and lead with what they genuinely need straight away.

The first weeks and months

Onboarding doesn't end after day one. Most new employees take around six months to feel fully settled in a new role. An effective programme continues to provide structure, guidance and development opportunities throughout that time.

For example:

Week 1: Meet the team, learn systems and processes, tackle first tasks

Month 1: Work independently on concrete assignments, first feedback conversation with manager

Months 2–3: Growing independence, deepening the role, review how onboarding has gone

Months 4–6: Full integration into the team, contributing to team goals, ongoing development

How onboarding drives real engagement and productivity

Good onboarding makes a measurable difference to how engaged people are. New employees who feel welcomed and understand what matters to the organisation become more productive and stay longer.

Building real engagement

Engagement is something you have to create. Onboarding is where it starts. When new starters feel valued from day one, they understand the mission, see how they fit in and connect with colleagues naturally.

Faster time to productivity

Structured onboarding gets people productive much sooner. Without it, people take longer to find their feet and work independently.

Learning and development matter

Onboarding works best when it connects to learning and development. New employees who get access to training and growth opportunities early feel more valued and grow into their role faster. When everything – onboarding, learning and development – sits in one place instead of scattered across different systems, the impact is much stronger.

How to measure your onboarding success

Without measurement, you can't improve. The data from onboarding reveals what's working, what needs fixing and where people fall away. These metrics show you the real picture.

How many new employees stay after three months? After a year? This single number tells you a lot about your onboarding quality. High turnover in the first months means something isn't landing right.

2. Time to productivity

How long until someone works fully independently? Set productivity targets with their manager for days 30, 60 and 90, then measure how well they hit them.

3. Employee satisfaction

Feedback matters. Send a short survey after week one, after month one and after three months. Ask: Did you feel welcome? Did you have the information you needed? Did you know who to turn to with questions? Feed these answers back into your process.

4. Engagement scores

Track how engaged new starters feel in their first months. BCS's conversation management software makes this systematic, capturing data that reveals patterns you'd otherwise miss and showing what's actually moving engagement.

5. Completion rates on onboarding tasks

What percentage of planned onboarding tasks and training gets finished? Low numbers point to overload, unclear directions or weak support.

Better onboarding with BCS

Onboarding sets everything in motion. How people experience those first weeks determines whether they feel part of the team, want to grow with you and stay. That's why it deserves proper structure, not just a checklist and a company handbook.

At BCS, we treat onboarding as core to how your organisation works. Our platform gives you the tools to make it personal and intentional. New starters get guided through preboarding, admin, team introductions, training and key milestones all in one place.

Everything is modular, so you use what you need without paying for extras. Preboarding can stand alone. Or it can connect seamlessly to recruitment, payroll, absence management and development, all without the headaches of managing separate systems from different vendors. New employees settle faster. Engagement builds from the moment they say yes.

Ready to see how it works? Book a demo with one of our experts and discover how we can transform your onboarding process.