How to Create an Efficient IT Onboarding Process for New Employees

Starting a new job is equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking. No matter how many interviews and coffee chats a new team member did during the hiring process, they’re stepping into the unknown. 

As a hiring manager or HR leader, your goal is to harness this energy and make them feel comfortable and fit in. 

But very few experiences will burst their bubble like feeling forgotten about. Showing up for their first few days with no computer, no login, and nobody to help is immediately alienating. And it puts pressure on their new colleagues to help out.

Only 12% of employees believe their company does a good job of onboarding team members. And in our modern, digital-first work environments, this starts with IT. 

This article explores the value of well-designed, efficient IT onboarding for new employees. And we also look at the keys to doing this well, without wasting time and effort.
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What is IT onboarding? 

IT onboarding is the process of getting new employees up and running with company information systems. These include computers, phones, and tablets, as well as user profiles, cybersecurity policies, and network access. 

A fully onboarded employee:

• Has their own devices, including remote workers
• Can log in and use them safely
• Has access to the wi-fi network
• Can use communication channels like email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom
• Knows where to look for more information should they need it

IT onboarding is arguably the very first thing a new employee needs to succeed. Before they can fully understand the company’s mission and cultural values, or even get to know their new team mates, they need IT access. 

Typical challenges when onboarding new employees

For such a fundamental part of the hiring process, IT onboarding remains difficult. In fact, it may be harder today than in previous eras. 

The cliché cubicle setup was simple. Everyone needed the same computer and phone on their desk, the same network access, with relatively few exceptions. 

Today you have remote employees using a wide range of both hardware and software. A salesperson may need vastly different IT equipment from an engineer. 

IT onboarding is challenging and often falls short for the following reasons:

• It’s time consuming: The average onboarding process involves around 50 administrative steps. IT setup alone can easily account for 20 or more of those, and will quickly become a bottleneck if your processes are inefficient.
  
  
• It’s increasingly personalized: Employees love to select their own hardware, and some have specific technical requirements. You may also have different nationalities, which means different keyboards and operating languages.
  
  All of this means a one-size-fits-all IT setup won’t work.
  
  
• There are lots of moving parts: Between the devices themselves and the software setup required, you can have more than 10 IT vendors per employee. Which also means different timeframes—hardware orders may take days or weeks, while creating a user profile might only take a moment.
  
  
• Some technical skills are required: Corporate systems may not be as technical as they used to be, but HR and office managers may not feel well equipped to manage IT hardware. If you don’t have a dedicated IT expert on staff, you either need to lean on other skilled employees for support or bring in outside help to resolve issues. Both of which add time and complexity.
  
  
• Onboarding is cross-functional. Every employee needs onboarding, but it’s not always clear who should lead. The hiring manager, an HR person, the IT person, or someone else? This inbetween status can mean onboarding isn’t given the attention it deserves, and new employees are overlooked. 

Whether you have a robust onboarding process or not, it’s a good time to look closely at your IT rollout. Ensure new employees get the smooth welcome they deserve. 

8 IT onboarding best practices

A good employee onboarding process is the best way to overcome the common issues above. Here’s what should be in yours. 

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1. Prepare your pre-onboarding routine

Even if each onboarding may have its specificities, you want a repeatable, consistent approach for every new employee. Ideally, you’ll have a checklist to work through as soon as a work contract is signed. 

This starts with hardware. Ensure all laptops, monitors, phones, and extras are delivered and ready to use before the person starts. That also means installing the necessary hardware and creating user permissions. 

There’s a lot more work here than many admins anticipate. You have to order from several providers (such as Apple for the computer, Amazon for the hub and screen), and track to make sure everything arrives where and as intended. 

You then have to configure these items by hand. Or ask your brand new employee to self-set up, which is not a great onboarding experience. 

Your best option is to use a service like Primo with zero-touch deployment. Primo pre-configures devices to your specifications, so they arrive with new employees ready to use:

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2. Provide secure access and credentials early

Start dates can shift and onboarding can throw up surprises, so it pays to prepare in advance. You can easily set up employee accounts and even share their email access ahead of time, so they’re ready to log in right away. 

Send the new hire their login credentials for email and other key software prior to their start date. They don’t actually need to do anything with it, but it’s good to know it’s ready for them. 

That includes security tools like password managers, and security protocols like two-factor authentication (2FA). Again, they don’t need to connect before day one, but they should have everything they need to get started right away. 

Finally, ensure newcomers have access to all key business software: Google Suite or Microsoft Office, Notion or Asana, Slack, and more. 

An IT operations system like Primo can also really help here. Primo lets you create new user profiles in just a few clicks, and automatically adds users to the tools they need in their specific role. The tools required can be job-dependent and vary hugely between users, so a one-size-fits-all software setup won’t work. 

Done well, you don’t have to manually visit each individual platform. And you never forget anything important.

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3. Document policies and create useful onboarding guides

Most young companies don’t have clearly-stated onboarding policies. This leaves it up to individual managers and admins to welcome employees on a case-by-case basis. That may work when you have the time to dedicate real attention to onboarding. 

But as soon as your attention is elsewhere—or if you’re hiring very quickly—newcomers can be left behind. And more broadly, you want a consistent experience for all new employees. So a documented process and policy is best. 

Include step-by-step guides for common tasks. Even better, prepare a 4-week onboarding template that any manager can quickly update and tailor to their roles.

That can start with IT. Provide easy-to-follow documentation, videos, or tutorials explaining how to use essential systems like email, project management tools, and key software. 

Even if a new employee has used Notion, Slack, or Jira before, they may not use them your way. 

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4. Emphasize cybersecurity training

With the amount of digital connectivity and data access every company has today, security training is increasingly important. New hires need to know the importance of protecting customer data and avoiding scams. 

Cybersecurity awareness and training should be one of the first steps in onboarding—as soon as possible after the employee has access to your systems. In fact, IT onboarding is now a core component of becoming compliant in many schemes. You must prove that employees know how to be safe and responsible with company data. 

Train new employees on data protection policies, phishing risks, secure file sharing, and acceptable use of company systems.

Just as crucially, emphasize the cultural value you place on security (if indeed it is a value). Don’t assume that team members come from vigilant, security-conscious companies. Many will need to develop good habits, and it’s best to start immediately. 

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5. Use mobile device management systems

IT management involves so many different processes, hardware, and software. Teams are increasingly distributed, and your devices are traveling all over cities and countries every day. 

This makes onboarding (and ongoing maintenance) really difficult. And it can be a major security risk. 

Good mobile management brings all of your devices together into one system of record, accessible and manageable from anywhere in the world. You can access, lock, and wipe any device, no matter where it is. You can also create accounts, change passwords, and update software. 

This software lets you confidently hand out devices on day one, including to remote employees. If they have any issues logging in or finding things, you can take control and help out.

This is obviously important for companies with remote staff. But even if your whole team is mostly on-site, in-office, modern employees have laptops and phones they take home with them. A centralized tool to track—and if necessary, access—these devices is paramount.

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6. Automate key steps in the process

Even in small companies, employee onboarding is a major task. For fast-growing companies, it’s a major hurdle to scaling. And preparing the IT hardware and environment is often to blame for holdups. 

Unless you automate. You shouldn’t have to manage onboarding on a 1:1 basis for each new employee. Good tools can manage the more manual, repetitive aspects. 

Key steps to automate include: 

• Ordering devices and having them delivered
• Pre-configuring the software and user profiles for these devices
• Creating accounts on all key tools, specific to each user’s role and responsibilities
• Guiding users to the right IT trainings for them

To do this, you need the right system. 

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7. Get feedback and ensure everything’s working

If possible, it pays to check in with new employees after a few days or weeks to make sure that everything’s working as they need. That could be a scheduled Slack message from the IT team, or a 10-minute Zoom call to show them a few advanced tips and tricks. 

That’s also important for companies without dedicated IT support. Their onboarding manager or HR rep will doubtless schedule catch ups in the first few weeks. Make a specific point to check that they’re happy with their devices and aren’t getting lost in the company intranet or communication tools. 

New employees are typically shy, and don’t want to admit when systems are confusing. But it’s perfectly normal to be confused, and a quick catch up should iron out any issues they’re having. 

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8. Streamline your IT onboarding process

Good onboarding can absolutely be the difference between companies with long-serving, happy teams, and those with high employee turnover. A negative onboarding experience is shown to cause employees to look for new opportunities in the near future. 

And it doesn’t take a huge amount to deliver a good experience. While some companies offer extensive welcome packages and onboarding retreats, the most important is to make employees feel valued. 

Show them that you’re excited to have them and have prepared for this moment. At the very least, that means having devices and accounts configured and ready to go. 

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And the best way to do this consistently is with good automation. For example, Primo helps companies manage IT onboarding in just minutes, without any team members specifically focused on this task. Devices are delivered anywhere pre-configured, and it only takes the IT or HR person responsible a few clicks. Which means every onboarding can be both easily personalized, and efficiently systematized. 

That’s the beauty of automated solutions—they work every time and save countless hours.