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Employee Onboarding for Supervisors

Onboarding is a process used to help new employees connect and contribute to their new workplace. Preboarding begins before the employee joins the City and onboarding starts with day one orientation and continues throughout the first year of employment. 

The Goals of Onboarding

Successful onboarding ensures new employees have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be effective in their roles and feel a sense of belonging in the organization. The City of Madison has adopted the Society for Human Resources Four-C Onboarding Model below.

Onboarding Structure Four-C's Compliance: Teaching employees basic city, state, and federal legal and policy-related regulations. Clarification: Helping employees understand their new jobs and all related expectations. Culture: Providing employees with a sense of organizational norms – both formal and informal. Connection: Helping new staff establish interpersonal relationships and informal networks.

City of Madison onboarding focuses on the following:

  • Making new staff feel welcome in the agency and organization.
  • Helping new staff understand their role and expectations.
  • Creating connections across the department, city, and industry, to help new staff grow.
  • Guiding new staff in exploring technical and people skills needed.
  • Co-informing a plan for learning and development.

Onboarding Guidelines and Tools

These guidelines and tools are a general outline of what new employees need to succeed. Supervisors should be using these guidelines to onboard each new permanent hire. You are welcome to customize them to include specialized trainings, equipment and requirements for your department or work unit. 

As a best practice, onboarding for Hourly/Seasonal employees should still follow the Four-C model; however, these materials are not tailored for Hourly/Seasonal onboarding at this time. Please refer to the Hourly/Seasonal Employee Orientation Checklist and Materials for details. 

Onboarding Timeline 

Preboarding (Before the Start Date)

For supervisors, onboarding begins well before the start date. Here is your opportunity to intentionally craft a welcoming work environment, to prepare your team, and ensure that equipment is ready and tested before the new employee’s first day.  Great planning here ensures that you are confident and prepared, which means that you can focus fully on your new team member.

Key steps:

The Employee’s First Day

The big day is here! Now is the time to focus on the new employee and make them feel welcome. While part of the day will be spent in City of Madison Orientation, the remainder is a time to begin connecting with the people, the position, and performance expectations.

You will use the New Employee Onboarding Task List and completed New Employee 2-Week Schedule throughout the first day.

The Employee’s First Week

To ensure that the new employee leaves the week on a high note, it’s important to start looking to the future, especially how they are going to continue building knowledge of internal processes and performance expectations.  Establishing a schedule and getting clear on feedback systems will allow your new team member to start settling into the new work environment.

View the New Employee Onboarding Guide and New Employee Onboarding Task List or first week activities.

First Month

By the end of the first month, everyone will likely be getting into a groove.  The goal is for the employee to expand existing knowledge of processes and to become cognizant of their performance relative to the position and expectations.  As that development continues, they should begin to see their role in the context of the larger team, the agency, and the City of Madison’s mission, vision, values, and service promise.

View the New Employee Onboarding Guide and New Employee Onboarding Task List for first month activities.

First 3-6 Months

By the three to six month mark, the new employee should become independent in new role.  They should be applying skills and knowledge, making sound decisions, contributing to department goals, understanding how their assignments affect others in the organization, developing effective working relationships, and seeing how their work supports the City of Madison’s vision. 

View the New Employee Onboarding Guide and New Employee Onboarding Task List or activities to complete within 3-6 months.

Remember to schedule your formal Employee Onboarding Check-in meetings and submit the onboarding reports to Human Resources. These are usually due at the three month and six month points, depending on the position and department. Contact Human Resources if you aren't sure when onboarding reports are due for a new employee.

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