Transcript
2022 Guide to Employee Onboarding
Introduction
Employee onboarding gifts help new employees feel welcome, connect new team members with company veterans and build team spirit.
The work world has dramatically shifted for countless industries. Organizations must think creatively to keep teams connected and cultures strong. Companies are innovating to retain current employees and gain new ones. Many organizations are adjusting to a work structure that’s unprecedented. With the change in work structure comes a change in onboarding. We surveyed professionals who often take on the role of overseeing new hires. Through this survey, we answered frequently asked questions, including:
- What types of onboarding do you offer?
- Who conducts onboarding?
- How long is your onboarding process?
- Do you offer a formal mentoring program?
- What tools do you use in onboarding?
We also gained new insights into onboarding gift-giving. Based on these findings, we’ve pulled together ideas to help you make new hires feel welcome in 2022 and beyond.
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Employee onboarding trends
When an organization works hard to ensure new employees are correctly onboarded, it makes a statement: We value you and want to help you do the best you can.
Whether your organization provides in-person, remote or hybrid onboarding, you face similar challenges: How long should employee onboarding last? What should we provide new hires? And who conducts, evaluates and schedules onboarding?
To discover how organizations onboard new hires, we went directly to the source, surveying hundreds of human resources professionals across the country to ask them how they handle in-person, remote and hybrid onboarding.
In this e-book, you’ll learn about the different ways organizations onboard new employees.
We also share which types of gifts they most often give new hires to help complement the onboarding process.
We hope these trends and ideas help your organization successfully onboard new team members in this rapidly changing world of work.
Kevin Lyons-Tarr, CEO, 4imprint, Inc.
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Processes
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Processes: What percentage of new hires go through a formal onboarding process?
Formal onboarding
Percentage of employees who go through formal onboarding
- 76-100% of employees go through formal onboarding in 58% of companies
- 51-75% of employees go through formal onboarding in 15% of companies
- 26-50% of employees go through formal onboarding in 15% of companies
- 1-25% of employees go through formal onboarding in 10% of companies
98% of organizations provide formal onboarding.
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Processes: What types of onboarding does your organization offer?*
Onboarding types
Most organizations offer in-person and remote onboarding
- 35% Offer hybrid (in-person and remote)
- 29% Offer in-person
- 12% Offer remote
- 7% Offer hybrid and in-person
- 7% Offer in-person and remote
- 5% Offer hybrid and remote
- 5% Offer hybrid, remote and in-person
*Multiple responses per respondent
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Processes: What is management’s role in onboarding?
Manager roles in onboarding
Percentage of organizations where department managers are involved, by onboarding step
- 46% CONDUCT
- 44% EVALUATE
- 40% SCHEDULE
- 34% PLAN
- 13% NONE OF THE ABOVE
- 2% DON’T KNOW / N/A
*Multiple responses per respondent
Less than 1/2 of respondents say department managers are involved in onboarding.
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Timeframe
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Timeframe: How long is your onboarding process?
Onboarding timeframe
Percentage of organizations by onboarding timeline
Most organizations onboard for 1-3 days.
- 36% onboard for 1-3 days
- 21% onboard for 4-5 days
- 20% onboard for 6-10 days
- 8% onboard for 11-15 days
- 8% for < 1 day
- 7% onboard for 16+ days
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Mentoring
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Mentoring: Do you offer a formal ‘mentoring’ or ‘buddy’ program for new hires?
Mentoring programs
Percentage of companies offering mentoring
The majority of companies pair new hires with a ‘mentor’ or ‘buddy,’ regardless of industry.
- 57% — Yes
- 40% — No
- 3% — Don’t Know / N/A
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Mentoring: How often do mentors/buddies meet with new employees throughout their first year?
Check-in times
Frequency of mentor meetings
- 50% REGULAR CHECK-INS MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK
- 29% ONCE A WEEK
- 15% MONTHLY
- 5% QUARTERLY
- 2% ONLY WHEN REQUESTED
Among organizations that offer mentoring, a majority see new hires and their mentors meeting at least once a week.
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Connecting
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Connecting: What tools do you use to help in-person, hybrid and remote employees feel part of the same team?*
*Multiple responses per respondent
Onboarding tools
Percentage of organizations using onboarding tools, by type
- 66% — EMPLOYEE CELEBRATIONS (WINS, BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES)
- 62% — REGULAR TEAM MEETINGS
- 55% — COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS (TEAMS, SLACK)
- 38% — SOCIAL TIME (VIRTUAL HAPPY HOURS, TEAM-BUILDING EVENTS)
- 2% — DON’T KNOW / N/A
- 1% — NONE OF THE ABOVE
- 1% — OTHER
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Onboarding gift trends
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Onboarding gift trends: What do you send remote employees prior to or during onboarding?
Onboarding communication
Percentage of organizations sending onboarding materials
- 48% — Welcome email
- 27% — Welcome snail mail packet
- 21% — Branded promotional items
- 3% — Don’t know / N/A
- 1% — None of the above
- 0% — Other
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Onboarding gift trends: What types of branded promotional items do you send before or during onboarding?*
*Multiple responses per respondent
Top rated
Among organizations sending branded promotional items to remote employees, notebooks, bags and pens topped the list.
- 19% — Notebooks or journals (Page 18)
- 18% — Bags (Page 20)
- 16% — Pens (Page 22)
- 16% — Apparel (Page 24)
- 16% — Drinkware (Page 26)
- 14% — Technology (Page 28)
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Onboarding gift trends: Uses and ideas
Notebooks or journals
19% of organizations that send branded promotional items to remote employees provide notebooks or journals as new hire gifts.
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Tip: New team members enjoy notebooks or journals they can use at home and work.
- #112945 Americana Leather-Wrapped Journal
- #157383 Brooklyn Notebook
“This item is exactly what we wanted. They feel nice, look expensive and we love the fact that they are recycled!!” – Heather from Phoenix
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Bags
18% of organizations that send branded promotional items to remote employees provide bags during the onboarding process.
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Tip: A bag that’s useful for a new employee’s role will be much appreciated.
- #147668 Crossland® 15″ Laptop Backpack
- #118010 Solid Cotton Yacht Tote
“Very sturdy material. Sales team super excited to have a branded bag to carry their demo products.” – Michelle from Philadelphia
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Pens
Pens: A popular, practical onboarding gift.
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Tip: Pair pens with notebooks to make double the impression on new hires.
- #155315 Paisley Stylus Twist Pen
- #3421 Bic® Intensity Clic Gel Rollerball Pen
“Great quality pen, writes so well. The design looks good on it too.” – Olivia from Aspen
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Apparel
16% of organizations that send branded promotional items report sending apparel to remote employees.
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Tip: Giving new employees apparel can help them feel like part of the team.
- #122078 Dry-Mesh Hi-Performance Polo
- #140966 Team Performance Polo
“Excellent quality shirt.” – Dominic from Scarsdale
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Drinkware
Promotional drinkware is sent by 16% of employers as part of the onboarding process.
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Tip: Look for drinkware that comes in handy for the home, office and on-the-go.
- #156533 Refresh® Mayon Vacuum Bottle
- #158052 Austin Vacuum Tumbler with Cork Bottom
“High quality mug, easy to work with, and very fast shipping!” – Mark from Princeton
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Technology
Tech gifts are a popular onboarding gift.
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Tip: Giving new hires tech gifts can help increase appreciation.
- #156173 Light-Up Logo Qi Wireless Power Bank
- #155908 Luna USB-C Flash Drive
- #147270 Ridge Line Light-Up Logo Charging Cable
“Very exciting to see your own logo in lights! FUN!” – Kelli from East Lansing
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Methodology
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Methodology: Respondent information
Data collection methods
In an effort to better understand the state of onboarding in a hybrid world as well as how and when organizations use employee onboarding gifts, 4imprint surveyed Wisconsin SHRM 2021 State Conference in October 2021 and through two online survey panels in November and December 2021.
A total of 445 respondents were surveyed. Unless otherwise stated, the data that appeared in this e-book is based on these responses.
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Methodology: Which of the following best describes your Human Resources job function?
Job function
Employers who send onboarding gifts hold these job functions:
- Generalist – 220 — 48.5%
- Recruiter – 84 — 18.5%
- Training – 42 — 9.3%
- Owner/CEO/President – 32 — 7.0%
- Organization Development – 29 — 6.4%
- HR Director – 10 — 2.2%
- Benefits – 7 — 1.5%
- HR Manager – 4 — 0.9%
- HR Assistant – 2 — 0.4%
- VP of HR – 2 — 0.4%
- Other – 22 — 4.8%
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Methodology: Respondent demographics
Respondent industries
- Manufacturing — 22.1%
- Small Business — 20.8%
- Healthcare — 17.4%
- Government — 11.2%
- Nonprofit — 5.9%
- Education — 5.5%
- Other — 17.1%
Organization size (by employees)
Most respondents work in an organization with 50-249 employees.
- 51-249 — 29.0%
- 250-999 — 27.2%
- 1,000-5,000 — 17.9%
- 5,001+ — 14.8%
- 10-50 — 7.9%
- < 10 — 3.2%
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Share your employee onboarding gift ideas.
Got a great employee onboarding story? Tell us! Email it with your photos to 4ideas@4imprint.com.
©2022 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved