Here's how to connect with employees: 11 best practices in onboarding and HR

Learn how top companies are engaging Gen Z, handling global HR onboarding challenges, and adopting purpose-based onboarding strategies. Discover simple, yet effective strategies to take with you into 2025, helping you refine your approach and build strong, lasting relationships with your new hires.

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1. Create connections for onboarding success

University of Portland - Talya Bauer

Onboarding has evolved from simply completing tasks to fostering social connections. This is also where you can truly make an impact. But, how? 

Talya Bauer, creator of the 6 C’s onboarding framework, shares five strategies to enhance onboarding success through meaningful connections:

1. Empathy: Put yourself in your new employee's shoes. For new hires, a new job is exciting but it can also be overwhelming. Don't overwhelm them with too much information; make onboarding centered around them. Engage them by asking questions and making sure they feel safe and motivated.
2. Time and timing: Onboarding is not merely a one-week event; it's an ongoing journey. Consider extending it to a year or longer. Organizations like PwC and NASA have crafted programs that span over 18 months!
3. New employee proactivity: Proactivity is key during onboarding, though not everyone is naturally proactive. Encourage new hires with emails including tips like "ask questions" or "schedule 1-1s”. Experiments at Google show that this approach makes employees more proactive.
4. Buddies and managers: Buddy programs can reduce turnover by 36%, increase productivity by 56%, and enhance satisfaction by 23%. Also, good relationships between managers and new hires can lower turnover. Involve these roles with simple actions, like organizing manager-new hires lunches or providing managers with a to-do list.‍
5. HRM tools and processes: Move beyond routine tasks and prioritize building connections with the help of HR tools. For instance, document your onboarding plan, schedule regular check-ins with key stakeholders, and implement 360-degree feedback programs.

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2. Find out what your new hires really think

Yes! We Connect - Frank Philips

Wondering how your new hires really feel about the onboarding experience? Ask them! Frank Philips did, speaking to over 100 new joiners in the past three years, and they didn’t hold back.

Some new hires reported to have given high grades on their evaluation form, when in fact the onboarding failed in many ways. But, what are they most unsettled about? Not finding an onboarding plan in place. 

In many cases, new joiners are not asked about their work experience and how that can benefit their team, missing out on big opportunities. To improve onboarding, start gathering honest feedback from your newcomers. Set aside time for one-on-one interviews and genuinely listen to the new joiner’s needs.

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3. To engage Gen Z effectively, rethink your strategies

Peple - Laura Bas

They demand high salaries, lack work ethic, and can't take criticism. These are common stereotypes about Generation Z (Gen Z). However, as Gen Z expert Laura Bas points out, change always encounters resistance, and these criticisms are timeless. In reality, each new generation introduces valuable changes. So, how do you effectively engage with Gen Z?

Tips for recruiting & onboarding Gen Z:

• Use engaging visuals: For example, "a day in the life of" video can show what working at your organization is really like.
• Offer flexible benefits: Provide choices in secondary benefits. For example, if they enjoy sports, offer a gym membership.
• Implement a buddy system: Gen Z may find it easier to ask questions to a peer rather than a hierarchical manager.
• Use video explanations: This is more efficient for Gen Z and offers an easy way to revisit content.
• Help them plan their path to growth and promotion (this is about clarity, not salary). Sit down with them and ask where they see themselves in 2, 5, or 10 years, and make a concrete plan to reach those milestones.

[.callout-small] Read more strategies on how to make your onboarding Gen Z-proof. [.callout-small]

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4. Think like a designer

CoLab.EX - Inez Abels

What if we look at what we do as a service or product and considered employees as customers?

Creating an effective onboarding process starts with designing a great employee experience. By using Employee Experience Design—rooted in Design Thinking—you can make onboarding smooth and engaging for your new hires and your organization. It can also ensure that you’re tackling the right problems.

At Onboard Amsterdam, Inez Abels from CoLab.EX shared some hands-on tips from the Employee Experience Playbook. She showed how focusing on each stage of onboarding helps reveal valuable insights using real-life examples.

3 Key takeaways for applying the Employee Experience Design Method:

1. View work as a service or product: Think like a designer to create meaningful and effective experiences.

2. Challenge assumptions: Be aware of your biases and question everything you think you know.

3. Test and validate: Ensure your solutions add real value by continuously testing and refining them.

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5. The ultimate no-brainer investment: Internships 

Censes - Maarten Brand

What can slash your recruitment costs, boost your retention, handle part of your onboarding, and build you a great employer brand? Internships!

Internships are a ridiculously smart investment—if companies know what they’re doing. Yet, while many companies love the concept, few put in the effort to make internships truly work. Common pitfalls, like demeaning or overly dominant mentors, often result in a poor intern experience. However, organizations that invest time and attention into building a strong internship program frequently see significant rewards.

So, what kind of company are you? Start by asking yourself these three questions:

1. Do our employees know how to be great mentors?
2. Do they have the time and leadership support to do it well?
3. Are we prioritizing the intern’s experience beyond just checking a box?

Internships are the ultimate first impression and if you get it right, they’ll lead to a (very cost-effective) lasting connection. If you don’t, well, let’s just say lasting connections aren’t built on coffee runs and awkward silences.

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6. Bring meaning to work from day one

Just on purpose - Alberto González Otero

With only 13% of employees in Europe actively engaged, according to Gallup, cultivating a sense of purpose can be game-changing. Interestingly, a common habit in the world's longest-living communities, known as 'Blue Zones', is that people have a clear sense of purpose that guides their decisions.

But purpose doesn't need to be a big thing you need to find, it can be as simple as understanding what's important to you and why you do what you do. Most employees come to work for more than just a paycheck. By understanding their motivations, you can help them connect what they do with the purpose of your team and organization.

Example: 

Alternative roles – think about what you consider your purpose or role to be at the company aside from your job title. Are you a “CFO” or a “Facilitator of fun”? And are you “Head of IT” or “Head of making things happen”? 

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7. Incorporate purpose into onboarding

Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, City of Utrecht, Municipality of The Hague, Noaberkracht

Now that you know how important purpose is, let’s see how you can center your employees' journey around your organization's purpose. Here are some ideas:

• Introduce personas. Personas put a human face to your mission. These personas represent people who benefit from your organization's work.
• During preboarding, focus on your goals and values, showing how they help these personas. Revisit this theme at different stages of the employee journey.
• Introduce key locations and themes relevant to your work area. Consider a bus tour of significant sites, workshops led by colleagues, or incorporating unique elements of your organization into your onboarding program. For example, the City of The Hague's onboarding program is linked to the city's tram lines.
• Give new hires a complete overview of your organization. The City of Utrecht involves new hires in activities like litter picking, being cuffed by enforcement officers, and sampling canal water to help them understand the diverse roles in their complex organization.

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8. Understand the expectations and pain points of every stakeholder

Danfoss - Eva Baluchova

Every onboarding process involves multiple stakeholders, each with unique expectations. Misaligned expectations can cause issues like information overload, isolation, lack of clarity, and missed opportunities for engagement and retention. To create an effective onboarding experience, it's essential to understand the expectations, needs, and pain points of everyone involved.

How can these challenges be addressed? Design your onboarding program with your stakeholders in mind—new employees, hiring managers, and the HR team. Employ tools like personas and journey maps to identify key needs and guide the development of a positive experience (Design Thinking, see also lesson no. 4).

• Use personas: Create human-centered profiles based on real data and research to represent hypothetical employees.
• Journey maps: Once you know your personas, map their journeys to identify potential pain points, key moments, and details to enhance the experience for both new employees and hiring managers.

By applying Design Thinking, you can move beyond mere checklists and foster meaningful, impactful onboarding experiences.

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9. Aim for a consistent yet flexible experience worldwide

Heineken - Leonie Bor & Alexander Joosten

Heineken's goal is to create an adaptable, future-proof business with a globally flexible onboarding experience that works seamlessly everywhere. So, how does HEINEKEN achieve this and what can we learn from them?

The secret lies in developing a global template applied across all operational companies (OpCos), while still allowing them the flexibility to tailor the journey locally. 

This is how it works in their onboarding app:

Each onboarding journey consists of five stories, like ‘Welcome to HEINEKEN’ and ‘Towards Day One” that OpCos must follow. Within each story, there are several global chapters. OpCos are free to add chapters with extra information relevant to where they’re located. 

There are also global pages, such as those detailing HEINEKEN’s purpose, where OpCos can modify or add information as needed. They can also incorporate their own branding into the app. 

The global template allows all operating companies around the world the flexibility to create their own local journeys while providing newcomers with a great onboarding experience.

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10. Bring your core values into onboarding and beyond

AZ Alkmaar - Jasper Rutgers

Incorporating organizational values into onboarding is key, according to Jasper Rutgers, HR Manager at AZ Alkmaar. But, how do you make that happen?

1. To weave core values into your onboarding process, start by defining these values together with your team. 
2. During the process of onboarding new employees, familiarize them with these values through presentations and mentorship so they truly grasp what your organization stands for. 
3. Keep these values alive by incorporating them into performance evaluations, making sure they’re central to decision-making and behavior.
4. Encourage board members and other key employees, like long-timers and volunteers, to connect and communicate.
5. Help everyone discover purpose in their role: whether they're a keeper or a ticket seller, encourage them to ask, "How can I excel in my role and contribute to the goals each month?"

Keep in mind: you can only become a champion if everyone truly believes in it.

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11. Identify ‘moments that matter’ in the employee journey 

Personio & Tilburg University

Across Europe, employee engagement is in a troubling slump. The data tells us that employees are never more engaged than in their first six months on the job — and that level of engagement never gets higher or recovers. 

That’s why organizations need to identify employee “moments that matter” around ways of working, trust, and career development and apply an onboarding mentality that keeps engagement high across the employee lifecycle.

Key moments, according to Max Specht (Personio), include:

• Discovering an employee's preferred work style and environment. Conduct surveys and offer flexible work arrangements.
• Encouraging employees to reflect on their career and future goals. Hold regular performance reviews and provide training.
• Building trust between employees and leaders. Train managers in effective communication and foster a transparent culture through regular check-ins.

Now that we are talking about ‘moments that matter’, Sanne Fijneman-Ghielen from the University of Tilburg studied over 500 impactful moments to optimize onboarding practices. This research reveals that impactful moments during onboarding significantly shape a new hire's experience. 

Newcomers bring a "backpack" of brand perceptions, candidate experience, and past work insights that shape their expectations. Meeting or exceeding these expectations is crucial. Positive experiences predict around 50% of their weekly work engagement and 35% of their intention to leave.

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Wrapping up

We hope these powerful takeaways guide you in refining your approach, ensuring that your new hires feel valued and connected from day one. By focusing on building strong relationships, you not only enhance the HR onboarding experience but also lay the foundation for long-term success for both your employees and your organization.

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