Onboarding Workflows

Onboarding workflows give every new hire a structured, trackable checklist of tasks — assigned to the right people, with due dates, so nothing falls through the cracks.

How Onboarding Works

When you start an onboarding for an employee, People creates a checklist of tasks derived from a template. Tasks are assigned to specific roles (HR, IT, Manager, or the employee themselves). Each role sees their own task list and marks items complete as they go. You get a real-time progress view across all active onboarding processes.

Onboarding Templates

Templates define the default checklist for a given role or department. Set them up once and reuse them for every hire.

Creating a Template

1. Navigate to Onboarding
2. Click Templates
3. Click New Template
4. Enter a name (e.g., "MSP Technician Onboarding", "Sales Staff Onboarding")
5. Add tasks:
   • Click Add Task
   • Enter task Title and Description
   • Set Category:
     • Documentation — paperwork, forms, policy sign-offs
     • IT Setup — accounts, hardware, software provisioning
     • Orientation — tours, introductions, culture
     • Training — courses, certifications, shadowing
     • Equipment — laptop, phone, badge, keys
     • Access — system access, credentials, VPN
     • Policy — policy acknowledgments, compliance
   • Set Assignee Type: HR, Manager, IT, or Employee
   • Set Due: relative due date (e.g., Day 1, Day 3, Week 1, Week 2, Month 1)
   • Set Order — determines the display order on the checklist
   • Optionally link an E-Sign Document — when the task requires a signature
6. Click Save Template

💡Create separate templates per role or seniority level. A technician onboarding and a manager onboarding will have different IT setup, access, and training requirements.

Sample Task List (MSP Technician)

Task	Category	Assignee	Due
Prepare workstation and install required tools	IT Setup	IT	Day 1
Create Microsoft 365 account	IT Setup	IT	Day 1
Grant ConnectWise / PSA access	Access	IT	Day 1
Send welcome email and team introduction	Orientation	HR	Day 1
Complete I-9 and employment paperwork	Documentation	Employee	Day 1
Sign employee handbook acknowledgment	Policy	Employee	Day 1
Assign onboarding buddy	Orientation	HR	Day 1
Office tour and team introductions	Orientation	Manager	Day 2
Security awareness training (mandatory)	Training	Employee	Week 1
Shadow senior tech on 3 service calls	Training	Manager	Week 1
Complete RMM agent installation training	Training	Employee	Week 2
30-day check-in with manager	Orientation	Manager	Day 30

Starting Onboarding

1. Navigate to Onboarding
2. Click New Onboarding
3. Select the Employee
4. Select a Template (or "No Template" to build a custom checklist)
5. Set the Target Completion Date — typically 30–90 days from start date
6. (Optional) Assign an Onboarding Buddy — a peer who shows the new hire the ropes
7. Review tasks and adjust assignees or due dates if needed for this specific hire
8. Click Start Onboarding

People sends email notifications to all assignees when their tasks become due.

Tracking Progress

From Onboarding, you see all active onboarding processes:

• Status: Not Started, In Progress, Completed, Overdue
• Progress: Percentage of tasks completed
• Target Date: When onboarding should be complete
• Overdue tasks are highlighted

Click any onboarding to see the full task checklist. You can mark tasks complete from this view on behalf of any assignee.

Task Statuses

Status	Meaning
Pending	Not yet started
Complete	Checked off by the assignee or an HR admin
Overdue	Past due date and not completed (flagged in red)

ℹ️People runs a daily job that marks overdue onboarding as "Overdue" status and sends follow-up reminders to assignees.

Completing a Task

Assignees can complete their tasks in two ways:

1. Via email notification — the task email contains a direct link to mark it complete
2. Via dashboard — assignees see their pending onboarding tasks on the main People dashboard

HR and admin users can mark any task complete from the onboarding detail view.

Onboarding with E-Sign Documents

If a task has an e-sign document attached (e.g., "Sign Employee Handbook"), completing the task requires the employee to sign the document first.

When the employee clicks the task, they are directed to the e-sign flow. Once they sign, the task is automatically marked complete.

Probation Tracking

People automatically tracks the probation end date for each employee. A daily alert fires 14 days before probation ends, notifying the manager and HR to:

• Confirm employment continuation
• Schedule the probation review (see Performance Reviews)
• Update the employee record if probation is extended

Typical Onboarding Timeline

Phase	Days	Focus
Day 1	1	Hardware, accounts, paperwork, welcome
First Week	2–5	Orientation, access, policy sign-offs, initial training
First Month	6–30	Role-specific training, shadowing, process familiarization
90 Days	31–90	Full productivity, probation check-in, goal setting