The first 90 days of employment determine whether a new hire becomes a long-term contributor or an early departure. Research by the Brandon Hall Group found that organizations with a structured onboarding process experience 82% improvement in new hire retention and 70% improvement in time-to-productivity. Despite this, many companies — particularly in Bangladesh's growing mid-market segment — still run onboarding as an improvised sequence of paper forms, ad hoc introductions, and a hope that the new employee figures things out.

Digital onboarding replaces this chaos with a structured, automated, and measurable process that starts before day one and extends through the critical first 90 days.

Pre-Boarding: Before Day One

Digital Document Collection

The traditional approach requires new hires to bring stacks of documents on their first day — NID copies, educational certificates, passport photos, bank details, and emergency contact forms. This wastes the first morning on paperwork and creates a poor first impression. With digital onboarding, these documents are collected electronically before the start date. The HRM system sends the new hire a secure link to upload documents and fill out forms from home. By the time they walk through the door on day one, their employee profile in Ultimate HRM is already complete.

IT and Access Provisioning

Email accounts, system access credentials, software licenses, and hardware (laptop, monitor, access cards) should be ready before the employee arrives. Digital onboarding workflows trigger IT provisioning tasks automatically when an offer is accepted, with checklist tracking to ensure nothing is missed. There are few things more demoralizing for a new hire than sitting at an empty desk waiting for a laptop on their first day.

Welcome Communication

Send a welcome email or message 3-5 days before the start date. Include practical information: office address and directions, parking details, dress code, first-day schedule, and the name of their onboarding buddy or manager. This reduces first-day anxiety and demonstrates organizational preparedness.

Day One: Structured and Intentional

Automated Onboarding Checklist

Create a standardized day-one checklist in the HRM system that assigns tasks to multiple stakeholders:

  • HR: Company policy handbook review, benefits enrollment, compliance acknowledgments
  • IT: Workstation setup verification, system access walkthrough, security policy briefing
  • Manager: Role expectations discussion, 30-60-90 day goal setting, team introduction
  • Buddy/Mentor: Office tour, informal team introduction, lunch

Each task has an owner, a deadline, and a completion status tracked in the system. HR can see at a glance which onboarding steps are complete and which are pending, for every new hire across the organization.

Policy and Compliance Acknowledgments

New employees must acknowledge receipt and understanding of key policies — code of conduct, data protection, workplace harassment policy, and safety guidelines. Digital onboarding presents these documents through the employee self-service portal with electronic acknowledgment. This creates a timestamped, auditable record that paper-based acknowledgments cannot match.

First 30 Days: Structured Learning

Role-Specific Training Plans

Generic orientation sessions cover the basics but do not prepare employees for their specific roles. Effective digital onboarding includes role-specific training modules — product training for sales teams, system training for operations staff, process training for manufacturing workers. Ultimate HRM allows HR to create onboarding templates per department or role, ensuring every new hire receives consistent, relevant training.

Regular Check-Ins

Schedule automated check-in reminders for the manager at day 7, day 14, and day 30. These structured touchpoints catch problems early — unclear expectations, interpersonal friction, tools or access gaps, or workload concerns. Research consistently shows that new hires who receive regular check-ins during their first month are significantly more likely to reach their one-year anniversary.

First 90 Days: Integration and Feedback

Performance Baseline Setting

By day 30, the new hire should have clear performance expectations. By day 60, they should be working independently on core responsibilities. By day 90, they should be operating at or near full productivity. Use the HRM system to set and track these milestones, with manager assessment at each checkpoint.

Onboarding Feedback Survey

At day 90, send an automated survey asking the new hire about their onboarding experience. What worked well? What was missing? Was the training sufficient? Did they feel welcomed? This feedback loop is essential for continuously improving the onboarding process. Organizations that collect and act on onboarding feedback see year-over-year improvements in new hire satisfaction and retention.

Measuring Onboarding Effectiveness

Track these metrics to evaluate and improve your onboarding program:

  • Time-to-productivity: Days until the new hire reaches defined performance standards. Benchmark against role complexity.
  • 90-day retention rate: Percentage of new hires still employed at 90 days. Rates below 85% indicate onboarding or hiring process issues.
  • Onboarding satisfaction score: New hire survey rating of the onboarding experience. Target 4.0/5.0 or above.
  • Checklist completion rate: Percentage of onboarding tasks completed on time. Low completion rates reveal bottlenecks in IT provisioning, training scheduling, or manager engagement.

Building Your Digital Onboarding Workflow

Start by mapping your current onboarding process — every form, every meeting, every system access requirement. Identify manual steps that can be automated (document collection, task assignment, reminder notifications) and in-person steps that should be preserved (team introductions, culture immersion, mentorship). Then configure the workflow in your HRM system.

Ultimate HRM by Nexis Limited supports configurable onboarding workflows with task assignment, deadline tracking, document management, and training module integration. Contact us to see a demo of the onboarding module, or explore our implementation services for hands-on support in designing your digital onboarding experience.