Onboarding New Employees

To make onboarding your new employee as smooth as possible, we recommend taking these steps before your new employee's first day.

1. Call Your New Employee

Every new employee has questions that are best answered by their supervisors. Use our phone call template to help you navigate this very important opportunity to connect with your new employee.

Phone Call Template

2. Review the Onboarding Checklist

This departmental onboarding checklist will help you ensure you've covered all the bases in preparing for your new employee. Feel free to customize the template to suit your department's needs!

Onboarding Checklist

3. Develop a Training Schedule

Please refer to the 30-Day New Employee Calendar when creating a training schedule for your new employee so that it includes the Onboarding and NEO Gone Virtual tasks and trainings they have to complete, too.

30-Day New Employee Calender

4. Notify Your Leave Keeper

Please let your Departmental/Divisional Leavekeeper know you have a new employee starting soon and schedule a meeting for them to train your new hire, if necessary.

5. Prepare to Welcome your New Employee

Make sure you have a plan for making your new employee feel welcome. How will they meet other members of the team? Is someone responsible for greeting them each morning? If the new employee is reporting to campus, make them a welcome sign using one of our templates to welcome them onboard!

Welcome Mat Template

Seahawk Statue Template

After weeks of planning and waiting, your new employee's first day is here! We know you have a great departmental onboarding plan for them, but here’s a list a few things you can do to help them through their First Five Days:

Day 1:

1. Set the Expectation
   • Your employee will be instructed to read essential information and complete vital tasks and trainings through the First Five Days Checklist on the Onboarding website. Please allot about an hour a day during their first week to work on this checklist.
2. New Employee Questionnaire
   • Let your new employee know that you will meet with them today or tomorrow to go through the New Employee Questionnaire . The questionnaire is a great template for a conversation to help you answer more of your new employee’s questions…even the ones they didn’t know they had. We added the most common topics new employees ask about, but your new employee may have other questions, too. So, be sure to schedule adequate time for this conversation starter and remember to keep the conversation going with regular scheduled meetings.
     View Questionnaire
3. Parking Pass
   • New employees should register their vehicle through the parking portal in MySeaport, which they can access once their UNCW email account is set up to avoid getting ticketed.
4. One Card (UNCW ID)
   • Please take a couple of minutes to review the One Card information on Day 2 of the First Five Days so you know the latest process. Tip: send an email if you have any questions or want to confirm their office hours.

Day 2:

Your new employee has some great resources and important tasks to complete during the next couple of days. Follow up with your new employee to ask if…

• they are experiencing any technology questions or challenges
• they were able to get their Direct Deposit submitted through MySeaport
• they have any questions about getting their One Card and/or Parking Pass

Day 3 or Day 4:

Mid-week is a great time to have other members of your team check in with your new employee. Also, it may also be a great time for your new employee to meet with your leavekeeper for a quick (or detailed) lesson on Leave Keeping.

Day 5:

Your new employee has several tasks to complete in SeaNet today and may need your help. Check in with them to see if they were able to complete their tasks, have any questions about the holiday schedule or Community Service Leave, and to ask how they feel their first week went.

Thanks for your help with your New Employee’s First Five Days. Once the First Five Days is complete, it will be time for your employee to start New Employee Orientation.

Even though the First Five Days is filled with great information, your new employee has more to learn about UNCW and has required trainings to complete, too. So, after your new employee completes their First Five Days, please instruct them to start working on the required tasks and trainings in New Employee Online Essentials.

New Employee Online Essentials includes important information, vital tasks, and required training. It includes three online components:

1. Required Online Safety and Security Trainings
2. New Employee Virtual Passport
3. New Employee Teams Community

Below are a few suggestions on how you can help your new employee get through New Employee Orientation successfully: 

1. Check out the New Employee Orientation Website

This is where you’ll find more detailed information on each NE Online Essential component and what required tasks and trainings your new employee should complete. It is also where you can read about UNCW’s in-person New Employee Welcome Seminar.

2. Check in with your new employee on a regular basis and ask about their progress.

Onboarding Online (the First Five Days and New Employee Online Essentials) should be completed by the end of the first month if possible, but it is okay if it takes up to two months. NOTE: Since every role at UNCW has different needs, their list of trainings for EH&S may include additional courses.

3. Adjust their schedule as needed.

Not only does your new employee need time to complete Onboarding Online, they also need time to attend their New Employee Welcome Seminar. This seminar is an activity driven introduction to UNCW designed to improve employee engagement and retention. So, it is important for new employees to know that you want them to attend. Reach out to onboarding@uncw.edu if you have any questions about New Employee Welcome Seminar.

Participants only attend one session and can register for either date. For more information, email onboarding@uncw.edu

4. Remember Your Why

We know that training a new employee is challenging. Onboarding Online is designed to help YOU by providing essential information and guidance to new employees, freeing you up to have more time to share departmental specific content, training your new employee in their role, and start building a connection with your new employee.

Employees who have a structured onboarding program are 69% more likely to remain with the company for at least three years and report a higher level of job satisfaction, productivity, and success. We recognize that the majority of onboarding happens at the department level, but you are not alone! We are here to help! Please reach out if you have any questions, are looking for additional resources, or need help creating a structured onboarding process for your department.