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A sloppy, unstructured onboarding process can feel like being thrown into the deep end with your hands tied together. So, it’s no surprise that 80% of new hires who receive poor onboarding plan to quit.
The first few weeks on the job can make or break a new hire’s long-term success. Successful employee integration goes beyond paperwork and a boilerplate training session—it’s about making them feel welcome, involved, and informed. The more you invest in people from day one, the more it pays off.
With the right approach, you can turn those crucial early days into a launchpad for engagement, retention, and productivity. Here’s how to create an employee experience that sets new hires (and your company) up for success.
How great onboarding sets the stage for employee integration
At this point, you might be wondering “What’s the difference between employee onboarding and employee integration?” In fact, the two concepts are intertwined—although each serves a distinct purpose, they’re both key parts of the employee lifecycle.
Onboarding is the starting point for the employee journey, where you provide new hires with the tools, knowledge, and resources they need to get started. It should involve structured and practical steps like orientation, training, policy overviews, and setting up systems or equipment.
Picking up where onboarding leaves off, employee integration is less about logistics and more about connection. It’s where you create opportunities for employees to build relationships, understand team dynamics, and align with the company’s culture.
While onboarding might last a few weeks or months, integration is ongoing, ensuring employees feel a lasting sense of belonging and engagement. Together, they help new hires transition smoothly into their roles while building lasting connections within the company.
In short, onboarding sets the foundation; integration builds on it. When done right, they work together to contribute to better retention and performance. Here are some tips to integrate new employees and ensure they feel prepared, connected, and valued.
Onboarding and beyond: 15 ideas for better employee integration
Plan your onboarding schedule ahead of time
Don’t let your onboarding and training feel thrown together. A haphazard, last-minute approach tells a new employee you don’t really value their time or long-term development. To avoid this, create a clear roadmap for their first few weeks, covering essential tools, departments, and business functions.
86% of employees prefer having some time (e.g. more than a few days) to ramp up. So, get trainings on the calendar early and share the plan with your new hire before their first day. Knowing what to expect will help them prepare mentally and start off strong.
Schedule a tour (virtual or IRL)
Whether in-office or remote, a tour helps new employees feel more at home. Show them where the bathrooms are, where they can store food or hang their coat, and introduce them to key spaces or digital tools they’ll use. For remote workers, offer a virtual walk-through of the HQ and their digital workspace. Introduce them to team communication channels. This simple gesture makes employees feel more at home in their new environment.
Welcome them publicly
A public welcome creates an immediate sense of belonging for everyone involved. Give new hires a shoutout in Slack, introduce them in the team meeting, or have them post a bio and photo. This makes them feel noticed, welcomed, and lets existing teams connect with new employees right away.
Pimp your welcome package
Swag bags and t-shirts with the company logo are great, but don’t let your welcome plan end there. Create a memorable welcome package that goes beyond “basic”. To pimp your welcome package, consider including:
- Personalized welcome card or video
- Visual or interactive guide to company culture
- Curated list of nearby lunch spots, gyms, or other conveniences close to the office or useful for remote workers
- A gift card or credit for professional development resources like courses or books
- Free trial code or subscriptions for professional tools, apps, or services relevant to their role
Make learning fun with gamification
Turn onboarding into an engaging experience by incorporating gamification and interactive learning. The more fun the learning process, the more effectively new hires will absorb information. Here are a few ideas:
- Design a virtual scavenger hunt to explore departments or teams.
- Set up mini-quests with tasks and progress tracking to guide learning milestones.
- Use leaderboards and badges to reward achievements.
- Create role-playing simulations for practicing real-world work scenarios.
Review the basics with the whole team
Kick off your first few team meetings with “refresher” or “back to basics” sessions to review commonly used tools and procedures. Think along the lines of “Intro to Jira” or “Invoicing 101.” While it might seem simple, these sessions benefit everyone—not just the new hires.
Long-term employees get the chance to brush up on their skills, learn something new, or even lead the session, which boosts their confidence and gives them well-deserved recognition. Meanwhile, new employees feel more included—less like “the only newbie still learning,” and more like part of the team from the start. It’s a win-win for knowledge-sharing and team bonding.
Include a dedicated tech onboarding session
Between password managers, 2FA, and a dozen new platforms, tech can easily overwhelm new employees. Set aside dedicated time to walk them through the tools they'll use daily.
Create login credentials together so they’re ready from day one. Share insider tips that could potentially simplify the tools, and make sure they have the right equipment and permissions. Finally, provide access to support contacts—whether it’s a MyIT page or a go-to person for help. The more proactive you are, the fewer tech headaches they’ll face.
Assign them a mentor or buddy
Bamboo HR found that one of new hires’ biggest frustrations (65%) with onboarding was not having clear points of contact for questions. Consider pairing new hires with a mentor or buddy for the first 90 days to help them navigate tasks, overcome challenges, and learn company culture from the inside-out. The mentor becomes a go-to person for anything from software questions to team processes and even where to grab lunch.
The Access Group uses a buddy program to speed integration into their global business management company. This employee mentorship program personalizes the onboarding experience for new employees, so they feel more comfortable asking questions and navigating company politics.
They’ve seen great results, including a shorter learning curve for new employees, and a better impression of the company overall. They use mentoring software to lighten their admin load while still providing a great employee experience. Learn more about the Buddy Program at the Access Group.
Organize a job shadowing project
Job shadowing is the corporate world’s answer to “learning by doing”. Like riding a bike with training wheels, the employee takes on real projects (or sub-projects), with a guide to help them through every step. You can customize the job shadowing experience to fit the role and team. Here are a few examples:
- A web developer spends the week attending design reviews, participating in client meetings, and observing development sprints.
- A new marketing hire shadows a senior team member during campaign planning, content creation, and client feedback sessions.
- A retail shift leader walks a new employee through opening procedures, ring up customers, or perform the end-of-night cashout.
This hands-on approach gives new hires a chance to contribute meaningfully while still learning the ropes. According to one CEO, job shadowing reduced ramp-up time for new employees by about 40%.
Incorporate informal social gatherings
Help new hires feel like part of the team with informal gatherings, whether in-person or virtual. A few easy ways to do this:
- Host a casual welcome lunch
- For remote employees, send Uber Eats and plan a virtual lunch session
- Set up virtual coffee chats to encourage cross-team connections
- Plan a team-building activity that’s light, fun, and interactive
These small efforts go a long way in building employee engagement, preventing isolation and making new team members feel included from the start.
Provide self learning tools
Give employees the freedom to learn at their own pace with self-guided resources, such as a centralized hub for FAQs, handbooks, company values, and departmental training. A digital learning portal or wiki with guides, video tutorials, and helpful bookmarks makes it easy for employees to access what they need, when they need it.
This allows employees to answer questions independently and dive deeper into their roles. It boosts confidence, addresses different learning styles, and speeds up integration. And it means your new hires can still engage actively without interrupting busy colleagues.
Create a feedback loop
Only 26% of new hires recall being asked for feedback on their onboarding experience—don’t miss this opportunity to improve.
- Schedule regular check-ins during the first 90 days to address challenges and answer questions.
- Hold a one- or two-week review to understand the new hire's expectations, learning styles, and first impressions.
- Encourage open feedback and use it to refine the process for future hires.
No onboarding process is perfect, but listening to new employees guarantees it will keep getting better.
Schedule a 1:1 with their supervisor
New hires need face time with their manager early on. A one-on-one check-in after the first week or two gives them a chance to review their first projects, ask questions, and share initial impressions. It’s also an opportunity for deeper conversations, follow-ups, and setting clear expectations for the road ahead.
Mix things up for more engagement
Traditional onboarding can feel like an endless stream of dull training videos—but it doesn’t have to. Mixing up formats and presenters keeps new employees engaged and helps information stick.
- Use a variety of formats including videos, written guides, interactive sessions, and tech-based learning.
- Involve different team members as trainers to share diverse perspectives and ways of working.
- Have direct teammates teach department-specific tasks, while experienced users walk through company tools.
Each trainer brings their own approach, making it easier for new hires to find what resonates with them. A diverse, interactive approach speeds up learning and also gives new employees a true feel for your company’s culture and ways of working.
Hold a skill swap session to encourage knowledge sharing
Hennessey Digital uses skill swap sessions to bring the team together in a fun, relaxed way. During onboarding, each team member shares a unique skill or personal tidbit—it could be anything from SEO tips to their secret guacamole recipe.
Skill swapping encourages knowledge-sharing and helps break the ice in a laid-back, non-work environment. It’s incredible how quickly connections form when people share their true personalities.
Accelerate employee integration through mentorship
The better your employee experience, the more likely they are to stay long-term. This starts with onboarding and extends through integration. Structured strategies like skill swaps, job shadowing, and corporate mentoring set new hires up for success and build lasting connections.
Pairing new hires with experienced mentors creates a supportive environment for growth. And platforms like Together make it simple to schedule virtual coffee chats, match mentors with mentees, and track progress, and more.
Ready to help new employees and your company thrive? Book a demo with our experts to learn how Together can help you.
