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Onboarding

Onboarding helps your team manage everything that needs to happen after someone is joining.

Use it to run a clear onboarding checklist: who owns each step, what stage the employee is in, and which tasks still need attention.

What Onboarding is for​

Use Onboarding when you want to:

  • set up a repeatable checklist for new joiners
  • move onboardees through clear onboarding stages
  • assign task owners for each onboarding step
  • track progress across HR, IT, managers, and other teams
  • see which tasks are done, ongoing, scheduled, or blocked

This is especially useful for activities like:

  • pre-boarding paperwork
  • laptop or equipment setup
  • account access
  • first-week manager tasks
  • policy acknowledgements
  • payroll or benefits setup

How onboarding is organized​

The checklist is built from three simple parts:

  • Stages: the major steps in your onboarding journey
  • Onboardees: the employees moving through that journey
  • Tasks: the checklist items that need to be completed inside each stage

Each stage shows:

  • the onboardees currently in that stage
  • the tasks available in that stage
  • each person’s task completion count

Key concepts​

Stages​

Stages organize the onboarding journey from start to finish.

Examples:

  • Pre-boarding
  • IT Setup
  • First Day
  • First Week
  • Payroll Setup
  • Completed

Each stage can include:

  • a title
  • an optional description
  • one or more Stage Owners
  • an optional Final Stage marker

The final stage is important because it marks the end of the onboarding checklist flow.

Onboardees​

An onboardee is the employee going through onboarding.

You add an onboardee into a stage, then move them forward as work is completed. The checklist shows their progress based on how many assigned tasks are done.

Tasks​

Tasks are the individual checklist items inside a stage.

Examples:

  • Send welcome email
  • Order laptop
  • Create company accounts
  • Collect tax details
  • Schedule first-week check-in

Tasks can have:

  • a task title
  • an optional description
  • Default Task Owners

When a task is assigned to a specific onboardee, the owner can also be adjusted for that one person if needed.

Task statuses​

Assigned onboarding tasks use these statuses:

  • Todo
  • Scheduled
  • Ongoing
  • Stuck
  • Done

These statuses make it easy to see where follow-up is needed without adding extra notes everywhere.

Typical onboarding flow​

Most teams use Onboarding like this:

  1. Create the onboarding stages.
  2. Add the tasks that belong in each stage.
  3. Add an onboardee into the correct starting stage.
  4. Assign tasks for that person.
  5. Update task statuses as work progresses.
  6. Move the onboardee to the next stage when they are ready.
  7. Finish in the final stage once everything is complete.

Set up stages​

Start by creating the stages your team uses for employee onboarding.

Good stage design is usually:

  • short
  • clear
  • owned by a real team or person

For example, instead of using vague stages like "Phase 1" and "Phase 2", use names such as:

  • Pre-boarding
  • Equipment & Access
  • First Day
  • First Week
  • Wrap-up

Assign Stage Owners to each stage so it is clear who can manage that part of the checklist.

Build the checklist tasks​

Inside each stage, add the tasks that should usually happen there.

Keep tasks practical and action-oriented. Good tasks describe work someone can actually complete.

Better examples:

  • Prepare laptop and accessories
  • Add employee to payroll
  • Schedule intro with manager
  • Send benefits enrollment guide

Less useful examples:

  • HR things
  • Setup
  • Complete onboarding

You can also set Default Task Owners on a task. This is helpful when the same kind of work is usually handled by the same role or team.

Add onboardees​

When an employee begins onboarding, add them to the right stage as an onboardee.

After they are added:

  • they appear in the checklist board
  • you can assign stage tasks to them
  • their completion ratio starts updating as tasks move toward Done

If an onboardee needs to move to another stage, you can update their stage directly from the board.

Assign and manage task owners​

There are two levels of ownership in the onboarding checklist:

  • Stage Owners manage the stage and its checklist setup
  • Task Owners are responsible for completing a specific onboardee task

This is useful when the stage is owned by one team, but the actual tasks are split across several people.

Example:

  • HR owns the stage
  • IT owns laptop setup
  • Finance owns payroll setup
  • the manager owns first-week check-ins

You can leave task ownership at the default level, or override it for one onboardee when needed.

Track progress​

The checklist board shows each onboardee’s progress as completed tasks over total assigned tasks.

That makes it easy to answer questions like:

  • Who is ready to move forward?
  • Which stage is slowing people down?
  • Which tasks are getting stuck most often?
  • Who still owns open work?

For most teams, this is the main value of the onboarding module: everyone can see progress without chasing updates in email or chat.

Who can see what​

People usually only see the stages and tasks relevant to them.

Depending on permissions:

  • admins and users with broader permissions can manage the full checklist
  • stage owners can manage their stages and related work
  • task owners can update the tasks they own
  • onboardees can see the onboarding work relevant to them

This helps the checklist stay useful without becoming noisy.

If you are setting this up for the first time, keep it simple:

  1. Create 4 to 6 stages.
  2. Add only the tasks you really want tracked.
  3. Set default task owners where the same team usually handles the work.
  4. Mark the final stage clearly.
  5. Run one real onboardee through the flow before adding more detail.

It is better to start with a small, reliable checklist than a very detailed process nobody keeps updated.

Tips for keeping onboarding useful​

  • Use stage names that match real ownership.
  • Keep task titles specific and action-based.
  • Avoid adding tasks that nobody will update.
  • Use Stuck when work is blocked so delays are visible early.
  • Review your checklist after a few new joiners and remove steps that are not helping.

From Hiring to Onboarding​

Hiring and Onboarding work together, but they serve different purposes.

  • Hiring helps you choose the right person.
  • Onboarding helps you get that person set up successfully once they are joining.
  1. move the candidate into a hired state in Hiring
  2. invite them to ClarityLoop with their company work email when you are ready for them to join as an employee
  3. after they join, the hired candidate is automatically linked to the new employee profile
  4. move the new joiner through the onboarding checklist until setup is complete

Invite to ClarityLoop​

For hired candidates, use Invite to ClarityLoop.

This is used to invite the person into your ClarityLoop workspace with their work email. After they join, the hired candidate is automatically linked to the newly created employee profile.

For most teams, the handoff looks like this:

  1. mark the candidate as hired
  2. invite them to ClarityLoop
  3. let the employee record be created and linked automatically
  4. manage progress through the onboarding checklist

When the checklist stays current, onboarding is easier to coordinate and much smoother for new employees.