Pre-boarding – what is it and how to implement it?

Preboarding – all activities carried out between accepting an offer and the first day of work—is one of the most important stages in building employee experience. Gartner research from 2023 indicates that up to 50% of candidates resign from employment before even starting onboarding. Is the reason for this a lack of contact from the organization before the first day of work? The time between accepting an offer and starting work is a moment of great uncertainty, high motivation, and, at the same time, susceptibility to changing one’s mind. In response to these challenges, more and more organizations are incorporating preboarding activities into their onboarding plans. We show you how to design them to support HR and managers.

What is pre-boarding and how does it differ from onboarding?

Preboarding is a set of activities planned from the moment the offer is accepted until the first day of work. Onboarding usually begins in the first week of work and focuses on adaptation, developing competencies, and preparing to perform duties independently.

Employee preboarding aims to:

• reduce uncertainty,
• build relationships,
• maintain motivation.

This is the stage at which the employee forms their first impressions of the organization and assesses the consistency between the promise and the experience. This is a particularly sensitive time, as most decisions to resign are made at this stage. New hires are more likely to withdraw due to chaotic communication and insufficient attention to their needs than for financial reasons.

The most important differences between preboarding and onboarding

Why is pre-boarding more important today than ever before?

Today, organizations operate in an environment of growing competition for talent, increasingly shorter decision-making cycles for candidates, and “recruitment ghosting” (a situation where a candidate suddenly disappears). Even after signing a contract.

Well-designed, effective preboarding minimizes this risk. At the same time, it helps maintain a high level of motivation and build a sense of security in the new hire. Why is this the case?

Preboarding determines whether the declarations made during the recruitment process are confirmed by actions. If a new employee experiences information chaos or a lack of information altogether, their level of trust drops. The benefit of preboarding is that it minimizes this risk.

In addition, starting the onboarding process so early allows some knowledge and materials to be transferred before the first day of work, so that once work begins, it is possible to move smoothly on to other operational tasks.

How to plan an effective pre-boarding process step by step?

Now that we know what can be gained, it’s time to answer the question “how to do it?”. We will do this in three steps.

Step 1: Communication plan and schedule

The first rule of effective preboarding is that communication cannot be left to chance. What should be included in the plan?

• A sequence of contact moments from the moment the offer is signed to the day before the start date.
• Consistent messages from HR, the manager, and the team (information should complement each other, and important information should be repeated).
• Communication channels – decide whether you will use email, LMS, a mobile app, a preboarding portal, or a short video.
• Checklists for HR and the manager.

Step 2: What should the preboarding package contain?

The preboarding package is the first tangible element of the organization’s experience. Its content may vary depending on the industry or position, but there are a few things that are universal.

1. A welcome message, i.e., a personalized greeting from the future manager or board member.
2. A cultural guide containing the organization’s values, a description of the team, and mini-case studies illustrating how the organization works.
3. Operational and formal materials. These may include information on equipment, safety rules, and access to systems. In distributed organizations, it is also worth adding information on equipment handover, first login, etc.
4. Microlearning or a “Start Here” mini-course. Even short educational modules (3-5 minutes) introducing basic processes contribute to increased productivity and confidence from day one.

Checklists may include, for example, tasks for the employee (what to prepare before day 1), for the manager, and for HR.

Step 3: Selecting automation tools

Yes, we know – communication, welcome packs, checklists, preparing materials, it’s all a lot of work. Fortunately, preboarding is one of those things that can be automated.

If you want to choose a tool that will actually relieve the HR team, pay attention to whether it allows for:

• content personalization (you will probably need different versions of preboarding due to the diversity of teams, seniority levels, and locations),
• build sequences of messages sent automatically at specific intervals,
• integrate with ATS/HRIS so that the preboarding process starts automatically when a candidate’s status changes,
• mobile access (especially important for operational and field employees),
• analytics and reporting to measure which preboarding activities are most engaging.

How does the HRcode platform support and automate pre-boarding?

Implementing effective preboarding does not have to mean building a process from scratch or involving IT. With the HRcode platform, you can focus on the new employee’s experience while the system automates and supports the organization of the process.

With HRcode, you can efficiently arrange and configure a package of messages, materials, and checklists within a single environment. You have access to all of this 24/7, on any device with internet access. So does the new hire.

The “Onboarding” module (or a dedicated set of activities) allows you to plan a communication schedule and assign it to specific groups of employees. This enables the system to send message sequences, share materials, and monitor task completion.

In addition, the HRcode platform allows you to implement mini-courses and share a knowledge base. You can also easily use microlearning tools (e.g., by creating short “Welcome to the company” modules) before the first day of work.

In addition to the fact that the platform can be integrated with the ATS/HRIS system, you can automate task list management (e.g., documents to be signed, equipment, access), assign responsibilities (HR, manager, IT), and generate reports that show the progress of preboarding stages.

Why choose HRcode for the preboarding process?

Implementation efficiency – a ready-made platform that we adapt to your needs, instead of building a solution from scratch.
Consistent experience – all preboarding activities in one tool.
Scalability and analytics – the ability to measure task completion, access reports, and compare results for different employee groups.

Speed of operation – it is possible to deliver the first materials immediately after signing the offer, which has a motivating effect and reduces the risk of resignation.

Pre-boarding – best practices and mistakes to avoid

First and foremost: you cannot address all roles with a single process. Employee expectations, emotions, and needs vary not only depending on their level of professional maturity, previous experience, or work model. Personalization (or at least segmentation) of communication will be of considerable importance.

In the first few days after accepting an offer, employees are looking for an answer to the question: “Is this the right place for me?” Personalization makes the answer “yes” because communication takes context and role into account.

One good practice is to use a clear communication schedule. Let the employee know what will happen when (and stick to that declaration). The schedule reassures, provides structure, and shows that the company knows what it is doing.

One of the best decisions you can make is to include the new person’s direct supervisor in the preboarding process. The manager is responsible for emotions, direction, and a sense of purpose. “We are waiting for you” means more if the new person hears it from the manager and the team.

And what mistakes lurk in the process?

Information overload comes to the fore. Long PDFs, multi-page regulations, and documents sent in one package cause resentment, frustration, and fatigue instead of supporting the employee. The brain under stress does not absorb excess data. Microlearning is a much better solution.

Another issue is the lack of automation. Manually sending messages and assigning tasks leads to mistakes, and as you remember, at this stage, a new person is particularly sensitive. This pitfall can be easily avoided at little cost, so it’s worth taking advantage of it.

Remember not to focus solely on formalities, but also include activities that build relationships. A conversation with a manager, introducing a buddy, or a short video from the team don’t require much effort, but they can work wonders.

Summary – what are the benefits of well-designed preboarding?

Effective preboarding is an investment with a very high ROI. The organization has the opportunity to gain:

• higher retention in the first year of employment,
• lower no-show rates,
• higher engagement and faster productivity,
• better cooperation between HR and managers,
• a consistent employee experience throughout their entire life cycle in the organization.

Would you like to plan it with HRcode? Write to us and let’s see what we can do together.

Bibliography

1. Gartner HR Survey Finds Within 12-Month Period, Half of Candidates Have Accepted a Job Offer – and Then Backed Out Before Starting, Gartner 2023 https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-08-23—gartner-hr-survey-finds-within-the-last-12-months–
2. Organizational Socialization: The Effective Onboarding, Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. 2011, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285000696_Organizational_socialization_The_effective_onboarding_of_new_employees