IT Onboarding That Works: A Process & Checklist Guide

Posted in Talent & Onboarding

by Sarah Mulcahy

As a new hire, one of the most disappointing experiences is showing up on day one and learning your laptop isn’t ready or your logins don’t work. Especially for remote and hybrid workers, there isn’t much you can do without a working computer or laptop. In this blog, we’ll walk through a sample IT onboarding process and checklist and share how you can use automation to make the entire process more seamless for everyone involved.

Once you’ve learned how to avoid these kinds of IT snafus (or maybe you’ve already got the basics figured out — go you!), take a look at how you can use Enboarder’s onboarding software to ramp your new hires to productivity and start smashing those 30-60-90 day plans.

What Is IT Onboarding?

To set your new hire up for success, you’ll want to walk them through HR onboarding (your company culture and values), functional onboarding (job-specific training), and IT onboarding – the tech, tools, and access they need to get their job done. 

IT onboarding is more critical than ever. A recent report from the National Skill Coalition found 93% of U.S. jobs require digital skills. So even the most “non-tech” job you can think of likely has a baseline element of IT at its core.

Whereas HR and functional onboarding can happen pre and post day one, most workers expect to show up on day one with hardware and software setup complete and their accounts and access ready to go.

The IT Onboarding Process and Checklist

Preboarding – Preparing Before Day One

As soon as your new hire’s offer letter is signed, it’s time to get to work with preboarding! Run through this entire checklist (where applicable) so your new hire shows up on day one and has all the technology, access, and security measures ready to go.

  • ✅ Assign IT onboarding tasks to the relevant team
  • ✅ Schedule IT onboarding training sessions.
  • ✅ Provision laptop, desktop, and mobile device
  • ✅ Set up email and collaboration tools
  • ✅ Grant access to VPN and secure networks
  • ✅ Assign software licenses based on role
  • ✅ Set up MFA and password management tools
  • ✅ Create IT support ticketing access for troubleshooting

Day One – IT Onboarding Essentials

Some IT onboarding can only happen after your new hire shows up or turns on their laptop remotely on day one. Today should be about distributing equipment (if on site), verifying systems access, and conducting essential security and compliance training.

  • ✅ Distribute and test all IT equipment
  • ✅ Conduct IT security and compliance training
  • ✅ Verify access to company drives, apps, and cloud services
  • ✅ Walk through IT helpdesk procedures
  • ✅ Schedule an IT onboarding meeting to address questions
  • ✅ Share file storage and sharing procedures 
  • ✅ Guide new hires through knowledge-sharing platforms

First Week – Training & Security Compliance

Have your IT team check in on new hires during their first week to answer any technical questions and provide ongoing support.

  • ✅ Provide additional training on job-specific software
  • ✅ Ensure new hire completes cybersecurity compliance tasks
  • ✅ Conduct a follow-up IT check-in for troubleshooting
  • ✅ Assign a mentor or IT support contact
  • ✅ Gather feedback on the IT onboarding experience

First 30-60-90 Days – Ongoing IT Support & Optimization

With the pace of change in tech, IT onboarding is never really “done.” As your new hire starts contributing in their role and ticking off those 30-60-90 day plan tasks, make sure you provide them with continuous learning and support. 

  • ✅ Review IT onboarding feedback for process improvement
  • ✅ Monitor system usage and permissions for security compliance
  • ✅ Offer ongoing IT learning resources
  • ✅ Regular IT Policy Refreshers

4 Tips for Seamless IT Onboarding

Now that we’ve covered the high-level process for IT onboarding, let’s dig into some onboarding best practices to enhance the experience for new hires.

Provide Role-Specific IT Training

Effective IT onboarding should cover not only the systems every employee uses – such as email, chat, and intranet/document sharing – but also the specific tools and processes needed for their role. Customize IT training based on job function (i.e. developer vs. sales person) and provide on-demand training resources for continuous learning.

Automate Routine IT Tasks to Save Time

With a platform like Enboarder, you can set up an onboarding workflow that automates key IT onboarding tasks such as IT provisioning. This speeds up the entire process, reduces errors, and ensures consistency. For example, Moneysupermarket Group was able to use Enboarder to “manage the small but important details” in IT onboarding. The amount of requests and questions coming through HR’s inbox at Moneysupermarket Group has dropped drastically and 95.5% of IT tickets are now submitted on time. Hiring managers and new hires are getting the right information at the right time in the onboarding process.

One of the best ways to uncover gaps in IT onboarding is to track IT support requests from your new hires. If multiple new hires are having the same issues, you may want to build a solution into your automated onboarding process and/or update relevant FAQs and onboarding documents.

Align HR & IT Onboarding to Streamline Transitions

HR, IT, and hiring managers should be in lockstep when it comes to building a comprehensive onboarding checklist. Use a shared dashboard (such as Enboarder) to track new hire progress in each step of the onboarding process. Here at Enboarder, here are some basic questions we ask hiring managers bringing on new hires so HR and IT can build a seamless experience:

  • Is this new user full-time, remote, or hybrid? The answer will inform whether IT assets need to be shipped via courier.
  • Will the new hire be starting in the office on their first day? If starting remotely, other items such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. may need to be shipped.
  • Does the new hire have a preferred email address? Consider building this question into the new hire’s preboarding workflow in case the manager forgets to gather this information. This way their email address is set up correctly before day one. 

Optimize and Automate Your IT Onboarding with Enboarder

Take a step back and consider how closely your current IT onboarding follows the templated process and checklist above. Are there gaps or areas of opportunity? How much of your process is reliant on hiring managers, HR, and IT remembering manual tasks? And be honest: How often do your new hires start without a working laptop or access to the software and resources they need?

The best first step to get your new hires ramped and productive as fast as possible is ensuring they have the tools and access they need on day one. Enboarder’s onboarding software makes it easy to set up IT onboarding journeys that automate provisioning, tickets, and new technology induction so every new hire gets the same experience no matter where they’re starting.

Schedule your FREE demo today to learn more.

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