IT Onboarding Checklist For New Hires

Developing a consistent process to onboard new employees into your organization ensures that from the very start they feel as though they are part of a cohesive team, while management can also be assured that important information is consistently shared with everyone new.

This can be achieved by having a standardized IT onboarding policy that is delivered in conjunction with an IT checklist for new employees.

Table of contents

What is IT onboarding?

Why is IT onboarding important?

IT onboarding check list

New employee computer setup checklist

How DeskAlerts can help with the IT onboarding process for new employees

IT onboarding is the process of setting up a new employee in the company’s IT environment and then introducing them to it when they commence. In many organizations, this is achieved by following a new employee IT checklist.

Why is IT onboarding important?

Onboarding is important across the organization, but particularly from the IT department’s perspective. IT plays such a crucial role in most peoples’ work – from hardware and telephony through to accessing systems and software – when onboarding is done ad hoc or left to the employee they may not be able to hit the ground running.

Many organizations lack a consistent onboarding process and instead leave new hires and/or their managers to navigate their own way through the company’s policies, procedures and processes. They fail to realize that onboarding is more than simply ticking off items on a new employee computer setup checklist. The result is that many employees can feel lost and unsure of what they are supposed to be doing, waste time trying to work out how to access particular tools they need to do their jobs properly, make mistakes because they haven’t been inducted properly, and become frustrated by the company culture and begin looking for employment elsewhere.

>> Download IT onboarding check-list here <<

In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, around 33% of new hires begin looking for a new job within the first six months of their appointment and around 23% of new employees will leave a job within the first 12 months.  

A report by Allied HR IQ found that 22% of employees reported they didn’t take part in a formal onboarding program when beginning a new job, and of those who did, only 28% felt that the onboarding program was successful.

Onboarding is important across the organization, but particularly from the IT department’s perspective.  IT plays such a crucial role in most peoples’ work – from hardware and telephony through to accessing systems and software – when onboarding is done ad hoc or left to the employee they may not be able to hit the ground running.

Developing an IT onboarding checklist for new employees in your organization is a good way to ensure that new recruits have a consistent experience when it comes to accessing and using the systems within your organization.

IT onboarding check list

Every organization’s systems and processes are different, but there are many commonalities. We’ve created this IT new hire checklist for your IT department to use when onboarding new employees:

Before new employee starts:

• HR department to inform IT department with the new employee’s name, job title, workspace location, starting date and any other relevant information.
• Establish computer and telephony needs for the new employee. Do they need a laptop? Fixed desktop? Tablet? Mobile phone device? Consider other equipment such as monitors, keyboard, mouse, portable hard drives, cables, USB sticks etc.

(+ 10 more points)

Employee’s first day:

• Provide employee with login and password details.
• Ensure computer is set up properly with everything the employee needs.

(+ 12 more points)

Employee’s first week or month

• Send employee any mandatory online training modules to complete around topics such as cybersecurity, privacy and basic IT systems training.

(+1 more point)

Download our free full IT onboarding checklist for Excel.

This checklist is ideal for:

• HR specialists who want to ensure IT onboarding is sped up,
• IT personnel who have to support new hires to access the company’s IT systems
• Any company that is looking to onboard its new employees in a way that ensures a fast and efficient process.

New employee computer setup checklist

Making sure employees can use their computers from the very first day on the job is important for productivity and to help them feel like they are being looked after. The following should be ready to go when your new hire starts with the company:

• Actual computer hardware (desktop, laptop) assigned to employee and asset number recorded
• Any other hardware that is required is acquired and set up – for example monitors, keyboards, headphones.
• Login credentials are created.
• Email address is created.
• All software the employee requires for their role is loaded to the machine or they have credentials to access it on the cloud.
• Printers are installed
  

How DeskAlerts can help with the IT onboarding process for new employees

Once you’ve created an IT new employee checklist, you’ll need to take actions.

A handy tool for delivering IT onboarding for new hires is DeskAlerts. DeskAlerts is an internal alerting system that works by sending pop-up notifications to employees’ screens in a deliberately intrusive way.  The messages appear on screens regardless of the software application the user is working on at the time, and even appear on screens that are locked, on standby or in screensaver modes.

DeskAlerts can be used to deliver practically any important internal communications and messages can be sent to the entire company, or to niche, pre-defined groups of users – or even just to specific individual employees. The messages can include video, images and HTML links.

DeskAlerts can be used in the IT onboarding process in the following ways to deliver aspects of your IT new hire checklist:

• Use pop-ups to send notifications about policies and procedures that contain links to where these documents reside on the company intranet site.
• Use video to deliver training modules to new recruits.
• The surveys, polls and quiz module will let you test new employees on the information you’ve delivered to determine if they need any further training and IT support.
• Corporate screensavers and wallpapers can be used to remind new recruits about security policies and procedures
• Scrolling tickers can direct new recruits to information that they need to know about that resides on the intranet.
• Custom content can be sent to new users without sending it to the entire organization.
• Set up DeskAlerts messages in advance so they send at a specific time in the future, saving the busy IT department time by scheduling new employees’ onboarding in batches in advance.

***

A consistent IT onboarding process will help your new recruits to hit the ground running from their very first day with your organization. Work out what you need to do by creating an IT onboarding process flow chart or check list to ensure you follow the same steps every time. It also saves time for managers and you can be sure that everyone will receive the information and equipment they need for a smooth experience.

Frequently asked questions:

What are the four phases of onboarding?

There are four phases of the onboarding process that you need to follow. These are:
· Pre-onboarding – beginning when a candidate accepts the offer to work at your company.
· Welcoming new employees – providing orientation when the employees commence working.
· Training specific to the employee’s role – some employees will need to use specialized software or hardware.
· Transitioning the employee to the new role.

What is technical onboarding?

Technical onboarding refers to a strategic process where new employees are provided with comprehensive training and information about the technical environment the company operates in and sees that they are integrated within it. A tech onboarding checklist can help ensure all necessary measures have been carried out.

What is the typical onboarding process?

A typical onboarding process begins when a new hire is selected to join the company. This gives hiring managers time to set the wheels in motion to have that recruit onboarded onto the system before they start. Managers will arrange to have the employee given access to all systems that they need in order to do their role. When the new recruit begins with the company they can then be given instructions and training on how to access and use all the necessary systems.

What is included in onboarding?

IT onboarding includes providing an employee with information about and access to the systems that they need to do their jobs. In addition to providing an orientation process when they commence with the company, it can also include delivering training and providing ongoing mentoring.

What is the onboarding process in IT companies?

In an IT company, the onboarding process should also include familiarizing the new recruit with the IT services or products that it provides to clients.