Starting the Stanford Journey

Set an inclusive, efficient and welcoming tone during your new hire's first 90 days

Onboarding is a critical phase in the employee life cycle

Welcoming new Stanford employees is a process that can take many months to ensure new community members feel informed, understand the expectations of their new role, and feel a sense of belonging within their new school, unit, and group. The Welcome Center provides an effective foundation and accomplishes key set-up and compliance tasks through virtual sessions and ongoing support. Starting on the second day (the first day on the job), managers take the lead on facilitating this key phase of the employee life cycle.

It takes a village to effectively bring a new employee on board. While you may lead the effort, there will undoubtedly be many others, such as your school/unit human resources manager, a lab manager, a department administrator, a formal “buddy” within your group, or your new hire’s teammates who will share in the tasks to help get your new hire oriented. Your local HR manager is your key resource along the way and can help to clarify local practices, and to collaborate with you to establish an effective work relationship and working environment for your new hire.

Studies show that a carefully planned and executed onboarding process leads to increased retention, productivity and performance.

Why onboarding is important graphic showing three stats. 58% of new employees who went through a structured onboarding program are more likely to be with an organization after three years. 33% of new employees who look for a new job within their first six months on the job 50% of organization with a standard onboarding process have greater new employee productivity.

Planning and executing the new hire's onboarding experience includes key elements to manage.

Elements of effective onboarding graphic: Logistics, culture, expectations, networking, continuous learning

Throughout the 90-day onboarding process, your attention and oversight can lead to a very positive start to your new hire's Stanford journey!

Infographic of a successful 90-day journey, person going from walking to running

View the infographic in a text-only format.

Onboarding process and tools

Share your feedback

All those using these onboarding resources are encouraged to share your input and feedback; feel free to let us know what's helpful, what's missing, or anything else you want to share about onboarding tools by emailing careers@stanford.edu.

NOTE: Managers of employees represented by either SEIU or SDSA should consult their respective collective bargaining agreements.