If you’re planning to onboard a new employee, it’s important to factor in timescales. Depending on the role and the nature of the business, the onboarding process could take anything from a few days or weeks to months.

But for some companies, a long onboarding process isn’t ideal. New members of the team may need to hit the ground running, and resources devoted to training may be restricted. The rise in remote working also throws into the mix its own set of challenges.

To help avoid these headaches, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide. Below, we look at how long it takes to onboard a new employee on average. We share example timelines, give suggestions on how long onboarding should last, and share key details about laws and regulations in the US.

Crucially, we share some fantastic insights on optimizing and speeding up your onboarding process with the help of cutting-edge technology. 

How long does employee onboarding take?

So, how long does employee onboarding take on average?

To answer this question, it helps to define what you mean by “onboarding” within your business. For example, some organizations may consider an employee is fully onboarded once they’ve passed their probation period and feel settled within the team. Another firm may consider initial paperwork and inductions to consist of the entire process, and that may take a couple of days. 

A key consideration is the complexity of the role that the new employee will be carrying out. If it’s a senior or technical position, training and onboarding may be gradual and could last several months.

Let’s take a look at some roles and the typical onboarding durations.

 A lot of companies opt for a 90-day process. This practical standard gives new starters enough time to complete all paperwork, learn their role and responsibilities, receive and apply feedback, and begin to work with greater independence. 

What does “onboarding” actually mean?

One of the key considerations when it comes to determining how long to make your onboarding process is how you interpret the word. 

The main aim of an onboarding process is to help a new employee move from new hire to productive team member. Depending on the nature of the business and role, that could be anything from one day to 12 months. 

For example, the process for a casual or seasonal worker may consist of a few forms and on-the-job training that may take just a few hours. Whereas for a senior manager in a financial company, the process could take at least six months. 

Here’s a quick comparison table of the different meanings of the term onboarding and what that process could look like.

When does employee onboarding start?

It’s easy to assume that the onboarding process begins on the first day of the job. However, in many cases, it begins when the candidate accepts the job offer.

Steps need to be taken to prepare for your new hire’s arrival. This can include preparing contracts and forms, setting up logins on case management systems, and ordering new equipment.

The importance of doing this pre-boarding preparation cannot be understated. A new employee who joins a company that seemingly didn’t expect them sets a negative tone and creates an experience that may make them second-guess their decision.

From a business perspective, this is expensive both in terms of resources and time. So taking these easy steps to get things set up is well worth it. To help you get ahead of the game, here’s a handy list of suggested steps an employer can take before day one:

• Confirm the start date, working hours and location
• Explain what the employee should bring
• Share the first-day or first-week schedule
• Prepare payroll and HR records
• Order equipment
• Set up email, software and system access
• Assign an onboarding buddy
• Notify the employee’s team
• Prepare role-specific training materials
• Confirm any required accommodations
• Provide useful reading materials

A realistic new employee onboarding timeline

A good onboarding process should help inform and ingratiate a new hire, not overwhelm them. Providing useful information, such as that suggested above, can ease your new colleague into the role. But what about the days that follow? Here’s a handy breakdown.

Day one

The main aim of a new employee’s first day is to make them feel welcomed and prepared for what’s to come. This can involve the likes of:

• Introducing them to their manager and team
• Completing urgent employment documentation
• Confirming payroll and benefits information
• Reviewing essential policies
• Providing a workplace or virtual tour
• Checking that equipment and system access work
• Explaining the first-week schedule

The first week

As the week rolls on, the new hire should dig deeper into the role and begin to carry out tasks. 

During this time, it’s a good opportunity to explain performance expectations, review responsibilities, and encourage practical questions to help the learning process. 

It’s also an ideal period to introduce them to the team, their immediate colleagues, and managerial staff. 

The first month

After the first week, the following days should be devoted to deeper learning of the role, carrying out more technical tasks, and also providing vital feedback on performance.

Other common onboarding tasks during this period could include:

• Encourage shadowing or supervised practice
• Explain key processes in more detail
• Hold weekly one-to-one meetings
• Identify knowledge gaps
• Ask the employee for feedback on the onboarding experience
• Review workload and wellbeing

Day 30 to 90

After the first month is complete, you should be well into your onboarding process and the new hire should hopefully be feeling more settled. It’s during this next period that you can begin to introduce the likes of:

• More ownership of regular tasks
• Introduce more complex work
• Review early performance indicators
• Provide coaching and feedback
• Fill training gaps
• Assess role knowledge and confidence
• Confirm any outstanding training
• Discuss working relationships and communication

A 90-day review, one-to-one, is also a good idea to ensure that the onboarding process has been completed as much as possible. 

How long should onboarding last for different types of employees?

As we’ve seen, there’s no single onboarding timeline that works for every job and every company. It all comes down to the complexity of the work, the importance of avoiding mistakes, and the training required to reach an independent level.

Here’s a handy overview of some common roles and the onboarding durations.

US onboarding deadlines employers should know

If you’re hoping for some guidance from the law as to how long an onboarding process should last, unfortunately, there isn’t much to be had. However, several tasks have key deadlines that you must be mindful of. Let’s take a look at them:

• Form I-9 - this is used to verify an employee’s identity and authorization to work in the US. This needs to be completed by both the employer and employee, with the form submitted within three business days of the employee’s first day.
• Form W-4 - this is a form relating to federal tax. Employees need to provide a signed form when they start work, and the employer must apply it from the first pay packet.
• On a state level - there may be different requirements state to state, like evidence of workplace safety training, background and security checks, and licensing or credential checks too.

While these requirements don’t dictate your onboarding process, they give you some structure to build around. 

How automation can help speed up the onboarding process

If you’ve analyzed your onboarding process and feel like it’s too drawn out, slow, or inefficient, then you may be interested in learning about automation and how it can help speed things up.

For example, if you have to get documents sent out and signed, you could use software to do that for you, and software that’ll chase your employee so you don’t miss the likes of your Form I-9 deadline.

An automated onboarding process can also factor in the likes of gradual progression. You can, for example, set which tasks a new hire will complete in a particular week. You can gather feedback on how they performed on those tasks, and share pointers on what to do better next time.

By removing a lot of the manual and simple tasks from the onboarding process, you free up other staff members’ time, too, making it a win-win.

If you’d like to learn more about automated onboarding, head here. Here at Onthen, our software is designed to make your working life more efficient and stress-free, and you can try it today without having to pay a penny.